Well THAT was an epic FAIL!

Look, you won't hear me say I'm perfect.  I'm not even willing to say I'm striving to be perfect.  Why on earth would ANYONE set such impossible goals for themselves?  Not me.  Not now.  Not ever.  The only thing I can promise myself, or anyone, is to do the very best I can.  Having said that, so far... I've kind of sucked at it.  Dammit.

If I mention prednisone, it's for a reason.  Anyone who's had to take high doses for any real length of time (more than a few days) understands PERFECTLY about what it will do to a body, even to someone's thinking and personality.  It's a steroid, so yeah, it can do those things, whack out your entire body.  Corticosteroid or not, it's STILL a steroid.  And this particular steroid is a complete BITCH.

Swelling is a huge and very common side effect.  It's also a concern in that it can raise BP to an alarming degree.  That same swelling (edema) can also make it hard to breathe or sit or stand or lay down comfortably.  And that is only ONE of the nasty side-effects.  The next biggie... APPETITE increase!

Now, as I've mentioned before, the mechanics of this are annoying and bewildering.  And puzzling!  On one hand your taste buds end up dulled, leaving foods that you once liked tasting like clay.  Nothing tastes good.  But your appetite is through the roof 24/7 and doesn't ever take a damn break.  Well, unless you get the nausea... but even then that gnawing hunger is still there, you're just now turned off by food and can't imagine WHY you want to eat when everything sounds down right disgusting.  What the hell?

Fine.  So most of us who end up in this place, the place where I find myself now, have tried so many things to make it so anything we eat won't be a hit against our health.  Thing is, there doesn't seem to be an easy answer on how to handle this where it actually works in keeping the water weight, or actual weight gain at bay.  Younger people, teens and 20s often have an easier time of this as their metabolisms are still pretty fired up.  And if you're suffering from the crushing fatigue that is one of the hallmarks of AI diseases, then you end up not being able to exercise, or only able to exercise so little that it hardly does any good.

Well, right now I realize I made mistakes in what I choose to snack on during the day.  The usual "Small meals, more frequently, to lose weight" idea DOES NOT WORK WHEN YOU'RE ON PREDNISONE!  Know this!  And if you're over 30... beware, because you're fixing to find out just how much slower your metabolism is from when you were in your 20s.  Is it guaranteed?.. this weight gain?  No.  Everyone is different.  But don't be shocked if you find yourself swelling up and retaining Lake Michigan.

I just keep keeping on and riding this thing out.  From all I read this can all be fixed once off prednisone, given that one's adrenals haven't completely shut down.  THAT... is another story altogether.

Sheesh.  I need to go lay down....