It's been an eventful week. I can do without eventful weeks like this!
In an attempt to clear up this persistent pericarditis that I've been troubled with, my cardiologist had me double up on a med called Colchicine this past weekend. Not quite the expected outcome, it actually made the symptoms of pericarditis quite a bit worse (chest pain, difficulty breathing, exhaustion, dizziness, dry cough - I'm adding a bit more medical detail in this post because dear and thoughtful friends let me know that they were looking for more of an update on my physical status!)
A quick call to my diagnostician in the city (have you seen the TV show "House"? His team works in a similar fashion, minus the cranky SOB character that Hugh Laurie plays) got me into see the team the next day (yesterday). I'll go further, not only are they minus "Dr. House" they're an amazing team of caring and dedicated medical professionals who have made me feel like nothing is more important to them than treating my illness as effectively as possible while taking my comfort and concerns into consideration at all times. I'm truly blessed to be their patient.
It was agreed that it was finally time to try Prednisone (a corticosteroid used as a last resort for pericarditis). I'd been dreading this step. I've heard all kinds of nightmares about this drug (weight gain due to water retention, huge appetite leading to additional pounds piling on, moonface, crankiness,restlessness, bone density loss, insomnia etc.). My medical team had me on all kinds of other drugs prior to this hoping to avoid Prednisone, but it appears that if I want rid of this nuisance, it has to be!
I took my first dose this morning, and I'll admit that I raised a bit of a fuss about it. A few tears as I told me husband "see you on the other side!" meaning nothing more dramatic than hopefully my moods wouldn't change too much and that after the course of treatment I would feel like myself again. Minus the pericarditis of course.
It's been about six hours. Some waves of nausea, a period of fairly intense restlessness (maybe not such a bad thing, I went on a tidying frenzy), and a BIG appetite that I'm trying hard to ignore. Overall not too bad. I'll be cautiously optimistic, I'm aware that side effects can escalate as treatment continues.
Feel free to share your experience with prednisone if you or a loved one has been on it. Especially if you have any suggestions for dealing with the side effects. GRRRRRHHHHH! (Just kidding, I haven't been feeling irritable. Yet. Because if that happens, my family might be seeking additional meds that will put me to sleep for a few weeks. :-)
Thursday, June 18, 2009
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Strange. If I were sick Dr. House is the only doctor I would want to treat me.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless You and I hope the treatments aren't too bad.
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ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind wishes! (to Anonymous, see comment above)
ReplyDeleteI should clarify, my lead doctor is certainly as competent and doggedly determined as the character of Dr. House on the show. However, he's an extremely kind and gentle man, and a true credit to the medical profession. It's a matter of an entirely different bedside manner! :-)
Chin up Sessa!
ReplyDeleteMy 'Google News Alert' on Percarditous has led me to your blog.
I have been on Prednisone for about ten months and am being weaned off right now. No harm done, it took care of my problem, Pericarditous.
fyi: My Pericarditous was hard to diagnose (idiopathic)spot or track to see if it was getting better.
I too was worried about side effects of the drug. As a salesman I did not need a balloon face to go with my already naturally extra large head. I feared I'd look like Jerry Lewis did a few years ago, man he had a giant face. I have alway battled weight and feared I would turn into a version of the Goodyear blimp and in fact I did put on about thirty pounds.I have since lost fifteen. I just told myself that 'ya gotta do what ya gotta do' the alternatives were not good. If I was gonna look like a pumpkin with legs so be it, in the words of Popeye 'I yam what I yam'
After a month or so of taking 60mg of Prednisone I reduced my dosage (without my Doctors knowledge) to see if the Pericarditous had gone away. I got the dosage down to I guess 6-10mgs per day and that kept the Pericardiatus in check. Then with my doctors advice I started to reduce the dosage as instructed by my Doctor. I would take 5mg a day for a month, then the dosage went to 5mg one day and 4mg the next then 5mg then 4mg, you get the idea. About every three to four weeks the dosage has been reduced.Now I am at 3mg/0mg and hope to be off by mid summer. My Doctors told me that the body just forgets all about a problem when Prednisone is dealing with that problem. By weaning me off the Prednisone my body 'wakes up' to the problem that is Pericaditous and deals with the problem. So by slowly reducing the dosage one hopes the body will go "hey I gotta deal with a little something over there" and start taking over. So far it seems to be working for me. I look forward to being off Prednisone and hope that your experience with it is not as bad as you fear. Chin up! Good luck!
Thank you for your thoughtful and detail comment Wano, I'm glad to hear that Prednisone was effective for you (as I'm sure it will be for me too). I sure appreciate that my "audience" is writing in!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping that I can follow through on treatment, I developed a fever late yesterday that is of some concern to my doctor. Just waiting for the lab results, and hoping it's a coincidence and I've picked up a mild bug rather than it being a complication of the drug.
How about that hunger, eh? Like everyone else I'd rather not gain too much weight - so far I've been able to stick with my usual portions and just ignore the pangs. If it weren't for the chocolate calling my name.... :-)