Doctor's Orders

I went out to Philly last week to get an musculoskeletal ultrasound done on my hands. They're the only place in the country really that does it so far. It can be even more detailed than an MRI for some things. They found a lot thickening of my joint linings in my hands, but luckily no bone damage.

I'm back to trying to get off steroids again, and paying the price dearly as usual. Steroids are an interesting thing. They can vastly mask the symptoms of a great number of things; making you feel pretty okay. Even if you're very much not. When you're on steroids for a long period though your adrenal glands stop making steroids of their own. Tapering off steroids can make your body literally go into withdrawal if your adrenals don't 'wake up' quick enough. You get sweaty, nauseous. It's pretty much a 24/7 fight or flight response. Put that on top of whatever symptoms of your disease the steroids have been covering up.

I've been on steroids for so long, it's debatable if my adrenals will wake up. So slow and steady is the key, which is hard when all you really want to do is get it over with.

Why stop something that has such great benefits and such crappy symptoms to stopping? Artificial steroids are bad for you. The amount of steroids your body needs is far from an exact science, and changes throughout the day. An excessive amount of steroids in your system causes all types of crappy side effects. Major weight gain, bone thinning, organ damage just to name a few.

Imaginary Arguments

Today was my neurology appointment. Somehow we overslept and were almost late. Luckily my grandmother called and woke us up at about twenty of ten. My appointment was for ten. I never got dressed so quick. I'm not sure if I turned off the alarm and just don't remember it, or if the batteries are dying on the clock and it never actually beeped.

We got there on time though. My neurologist was running late though as usual. Where his office is positioned it's a decent walk and my ankle was killing me the entire time. Later when I came home I discovered I forgot to take my meds last night before bed. That'll do it. I've been really bad with that lately, especially my blood thinner injections. I need to do better. Chris used to be really good about reminding me which was helpful. I need to set an alarm on my tablet for it or something.