Crisis Averted

For what may be the first time I can think of, I averted an Addisonian crisis!

This happened a couple days ago and between being wiped out from that and having family in town for the holidays, I haven't had time to post. But I wanted to be sure to record what happened, in case it can help me or you in the future.

If you read this blog regularly, you know I have been trying to slowly wean back the mega dose of Prednisone I was on. I started on 25mg in early November and was down to 7.5mg the week of Christmas. The day after Christmas, I only took 5mg. By the next morning, I was a shaking, sweaty wreck.

I woke up around 7am and fed the kittens, like I do every day, but I forgot to take my Prednisone. I know, so not ok. I was just so tired and I kept falling back asleep. I finally remembered I needed to take my meds at 10am so I had gone a good 20 hours without any steroid.

My body got PISSED off.

I started to feel the familiar signs. Severe nausea and feeling like I need to vomit. Shaking and heart racing. Followed by heart slowing.

I checked my blood pressure and heart rate twice during this episode. My heart rate went from 48 bpm to 110 bpm in the space of about 60 seconds. I have no idea what that means, I would think it was wrong but the bp reading came out the same, so I don't know.

I knew I needed to stay hydrated, get some food in me, and probably take more steroids than the 5mg I had managed to down around 10am. I called my oh so awesome dr, who totally calmed me down. I was in tears at that point, I was so sure I was going into crisis and I didn't want to spend the last few days of my family in town in the hospital.

My doctor advised me to take another 5mg since I hadn't thrown up yet, and then take another 5mg in an hour. My sister made me some scrambled eggs and I downed about a liter of Kangen water.

And for the first time since I don't know when, instead of falling down the scary cycle of nausea, throwing up, then hospital, I actually started to feel better! I stayed in bed and watched movies with my sister most of the day, but by yesterday I was actually feeling pretty good. I kept taking 15mg/day which was my dr's recommendation. I think I will stay on 15mg through the holidays and then start cutting back by 2.5mg a week again.

The goal is to stabilize around 7.5mg or 5mg of Prednisone so I can switch to the equivalent dose of Hydro Cortisone. It has been a long, slow process but I'm determined not to give up.

I can't stand the side effects of Prednisone or Dexamethasone and HC feels like my only hope!

PS: If you pray or believe in positive thoughts, please send some love to my friend Heather, Baby Gavin's mom, whom I have posted about before. She has a very important blood test tomorrow that could affect the course of her life. Please keep her in your thoughts. Baby Gavin passed away 11 months ago today. We were able to perform a Random Act of Kindness in his memory on his 11-month birthday, December 26th. I will post pics from that day soon. It was incredible.

10 Reasons Why Steroids Don't Suck

This time of year, the internet is chock full of Top 10 Lists: the best of the year in music, TV, movies, viral videos, and more. While it would be much easier to write a Top 10 List of reasons why having Addison's Disease and Hashimoto's Disease sucks, I am challenging myself to think of 10 Reasons Steroids Why Don't Suck.

I read a book this year called "The Magic". It's all about different ways to integrate gratitude into your daily life. It's a great book and I can't recommend it highly enough. It is meant to be read a chapter a day, giving you a new way each day to practice gratitude.

One of the days, the writer asks the reader to think of a relationship they struggle with and then write down 10 reasons to be grateful for said relationship. The idea behind this being that if you focus on a person's positives, you might forget all the ways they are driving you bat-shit crazy. I tried it and it worked pretty well for me. I still have people in my life that drive me nuts, but hey, that's what family is for.

I crankily got out of bed today and considered writing a long post about how much steroids suck and how tired I am and how my upper chest and neck have broken out in hives for the millionth time this year. I'm down to 5mg of Prednisone in the morning and 2.5 in the afternoon today. It's my first day on such a low dose and I would have given good money to stay in bed all day. I am just exhausted. I know my body just needs time to adjust from the super dose of 25mg I was on. But it still sucks. I have a to-do list a mile long, family starts arriving tomorrow for Christmas, and I just want to crawl in bed and hide. Oh, and did I mention I am also bottle-feeding two orphaned kittens?

OK, this is starting to sound like that long, complaining post I promised not to write. 

As a practice of gratitude, and with the hopes of changing my stinky attitude towards these medications, here are 10 Reasons Why Steroids Don't Suck:

10. FAKE DRAMATIC STORIES: "oh, those are claw marks from when I was attacked by a bear. I don't mean to brag, but I won that fight" sounds so much cooler than "those are giant, angry, red, stretch marks caused by steroids". Also works for the excessive bruises you accumulate from things like people hugging you too hard or a feather falling from the sky and grazing your arm.

9. NO WRINKLES because when you get "moon face" and grow a double chin from the swelling steroids cause, it's pretty much impossible to have wrinkles on your face too. I'm almost 33 and I am totally wrinkle free.

8. BUILT-IN TRAVEL PILLOW in the form of the "buffalo hump", aka the extra fat deposit between your back shoulders.

7. BIG(GER) BOOBS. Enough said. Sorry, men on steroids. You're welcome, men in general.

6. Along the same lines, EXTRA PADDING when you sit on on uncomfortable chairs or couches. Steroids provide an extra layer of cushion between your bones and the seat.

5. IGNORING ANNOYING PEOPLE is a lot easier when you gain 50 lbs and they aren't sure if it's you or not. Just make eye contact, show no sign of recognition, and keep walking. 9 times out of 10, they'll assume it wasn't you.

4. GREAT WARDROBE from your weight changing so often. When a friend of any size needs to borrow something, you have them covered (pun intended...and pretty lame).

3. POP CULTURE CONNOISSEUR because lots and lots of time to read and watch everything as you are hospitalized, put on bed rest, call in sick to work, or feel too fatigued to get out of bed, at least once a month.

2. You quickly learn who your REAL FRIENDS are. The ones who understand when you have to cancel at the last minute and don't make you feel even worse. The ones who aren't shocked when you are "sick again" (note: chronic illness means I am always sick. Duh.), the ones who call even though you were too tired to text them back, the ones who will drive you to the ER in the middle of the night to save you yet another ambulance bill. Sure, it sucks when people you thought were forever friends turn out to only like you on your "good days". But you are better off without them in your life. And the people who step up, or step into your life, more than make up for ones you lose.

1. Of course, the number 1 reason steroids don't suck and the reason we all take them every day: STEROIDS KEEP ADDISONIANS ALIVE. That's a pretty awesome thing. Modern medicine allows me to live. And for that, I could not be more grateful.

Thanks, steroids. I wouldn't be here without you.

Still, it took all day to think of 10 nice things to say about you. 

Love,

an Addison alien

Vitamin "P"

Dr. Mark Hyman wrote an article about Vitamin "P" or the positive affect pets can have on a person's health.

Of course, when you have Addison's or other chronic illnesses, you have to balance the benefits of having a pet with all the work they require. Even when the work is done joyfully, it is still another thing to do. Some days, I just can't get out of bed. 

But something about helpless kittens and puppies actually energizes me. I love caring for others. For whatever weird reason, that makes me happy. So even though I am sleeping a bit less than normal, doing an extra load of laundry every day, and bottle-feeding these little guys every few hours, I feel great! I was awake before they were this morning! 

I even made them outfits, as you can see. And look! They think my puffy steroid cheeks are nice, soft pillows. Finally, a positive to puffy cheeks!

Tomorrow I start my last step of the weaning process of Prednisone. My schedule is pretty packed so I'm praying my energy levels stay steady. Thankfully, the kittens are already sleeping through the night. 

I think they look a little like aliens too, especially in this picture! Take me to your leader!

Love,

An Addison alien 

The Kittens Are Coming!

It is cold and rainy outside and actually feels a bit like fall. Or winter. Whichever season it's supposed to be. Generally, we have two seasons: rainy and dry. The blustery weather gave me a chance to pull on a pair of knee-high boots that haven't zipped since I started on steroids and the wonderful swelling began.

Guess what?!?!?

They ZIPPED UP!!! All the way! 

I tried to wear these boots just a few weeks ago and I couldn't get them to zip over tights. Today, they zipped over thermal leggings. It appears the steroid swelling is starting to go down! I am thrilled but not terribly surprised, since I have cut my Prednisone back from 25mg/day to 10mg/day. Just one more reduction to go and then I think I will switch to HC, since that is what so many others feel best on. 

Oh, what's that? You don't care about my boots and just want to hear about the kittens? Ok, fine. 

A friend of mine fosters animals since there is such a pet over-population problem where I live in Mexico. The shelters are always full and there are always animals in need. He generally has about 20 animals in his home! He is incredible. And deserves a vacation. So he is heading to the beach for a few days and asked me to take care of two tiny kittens he recently rescued. I jumped at the chance (hello ticking ovaries)!

The kittens were burned in a fire that killed the rest of their litter mates and their mama. They are only about a week old, eyes just opened and bright blue. They were singed a bit but their mama managed to get them out of the fire. My friend came across them about that time and waited and watched for the mother cat to return for the two babies but when she did not, and he could not find her, he had to assume that she died in the fire. So he scooped them up and took them home, as he does with every animal he sees in need. 

We are enjoying bottle-feeding them and marveling at how tiny they are. Their heads are no bigger than a ping pong ball. If they ever stop squirming, I'll try to get more pictures. 

They both need names. Let me know if you have any ideas. 

In the meanwhile, we are calling them the white one, and the black one, which honestly sounds a bit racist and I'd like to stop calling them that as soon as possible. 

Love, 

an Addison alien

Excuse #2

Excuse #1