Life on Steroids

Well I haven't written much about life on steroids..its really been hard for me! Here are some of the symptoms:

**I only sleep a few hours every night and falling asleep and staying asleep is really hard to do!
**My mind is always wired, I have to be doing something 24/7 and my mind won't stop racing..I'm an insane person
**I am hungry all the time and have to eat all the time, I really do or I physically become ill, I get a headache, etc.
**I'm irritable and very moody--just ask my family--sometimes Mom needs a 'time out' lately =)
**I'm gaining weight and am an acne poster child...yes, both side effects of the Decadron Steroid
**The worst side effect is the pain in my legs, my legs hurt so badly and it gets worse and worse throughout the day...to the point where I can't hardly stand up or walk by the afternoon.

Last week I fell a few times because my legs gave out on me. I was in so much pain and wasn't sleeping and was going insane in my brain---my OCD was kicking in really bad with the brain racing thing--and so on Thurs I called my Dr. and BEGGED them to take my dosage down. I had asked before and they had said Jan 8th was the date I could start going down on my dosage. As we remember I do have a brain tumor here we are trying to treat. However, I just cried to my Dr. that I couldn't go on living with this leg pain and the racing brain thing (really I needed to be put in a funny farm)

I'm happy to report that the Dr. allowed me to taper off from 12 mg. a day to 9 mg. a day starting last Saturday night. I'm here to report--one week later---that my life is 50% better today than it was last Sat. because of that 3 mg. a day difference! Guess what? I've felt tired the past few days---for the first time since late November..I'm TIRED! Yeah!! And my legs--although still struggling--are not so painful that I cry all the time.

I'm so grateful for this blessing and I'm looking forward to January 8th...maybe they'll say I can taper down to 6 mg at day??? Who knows...there's a glance at life on steroids...i don't recommend it...but then again I don't recommend brain tumors either...no fun... =)

Love, Heidi