STEROIDS

Steroids and the Incredible Hulk

Well as some of you may know when I'm having a particularly bad flare up I have to take a course of steroids.  I HATE them.  They turn me insane.  Like actually mental.  I am surprised I haven't been sectioned.

Now, I shouldn't really complain as I know people who have to take them all the time so I'm very grateful this is not the case for me.  However, that little course I do take is hell on earth.

So for the first few days I'm fine then all hell breaks loose.  I get what I call ‘steroid rage’.  EVERYTHING makes me angry and I often imagine kicking people in the shin. 

I do believe that some of this ‘steroid rage’ could be in my head because I sort of expect it to happen.  But, sometimes steroids make me feel euphoric.  I could literally burst with happiness.  I feel like singing and dancing and I can’t get the smile off my face.  Basically they mess with my miiind.

When I get angry, Sami says I turn into the incredible hulk.  It is quite scary, my dad says I could break iron.  And I did once.  I tend to just stomp my feet a lot, grit my teeth and throw the occasional household item.

Another unpleasant side affect is the hunger.  By golly it’s serious. I turn into a ravenous animal, eating everything in my way.  I would probably eat a brick. 

MMM TASTY....

Needless to say this hunger often causes weight gain.  I guess I could try not eating but it’s the kind of hunger that makes you feel nauseous so for me, it’s not really an option to starve myself.

Once I couldn't cut a pizza quick enough so I got the scissors out and used those instead.  It works SO much better than a knife or pizza cutter. 

There are too many horrible side effects of steroids for me to write down so I've attached the following link:

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Asthma/Pages/MedicineSideEffects.aspx?condition=Steroid%20responsive%20conditions&medicine=prednisolone

It's shocking how many side effects there are.

This is a pic of my face when I'd been on a high dose for a couple of weeks.  Check out the puffy eyes and cheeks - 

I look like someone on Crystal Meth. 

This is me on a good day so you can compare:

The trouble is, they do their job and they do it well.  Often when I'm in agony and having a really bad flare up, I take the little tablet of hell and within a couple of days I feel a lot better, although a few pounds heavier and slightly more mental.

Once when I'd been on them a while, I got into bed  and the neighbours were being noisy.  This was the third day in a row and I'd had enough.  I lost it.  I went outside with my pug pyjamas on, hair like an afro, face covered in night cream and I knocked on the door and told them what I thought of them. I think there were some swear words involved.  Needless to say, we haven't heard a peep out of them for a while.  Don't mess with me when I'm on steroids.  

So anyway what I've decided now is, I’ll get an Incredible Hulk costume so I can wear it when I'm on a course of Steroids and everyone will know to stay out of my way and/or give me their food.