I managed to get a doctor's appointment for Late yesterday afternoon. My doctor is a very slight and soft spoken Chinese-American who must weigh almost half of what I do. I've only been in to see him twice in the 2.5 years he's officially been my primary care physician. But somehow I didn't think my Obstetrician would see me with a hives complaint.
The doctor waved at the boys, who were patiently waiting with me, eating the chocolate chip cookies I gave them as a bribe. Then he turned to me with a "What's going on?"
"Well, I have hives," and I bared my wrist, which was swollen like a sausage.
"Yes, you do." Gosh, he good! He asked what I was taking and I was telling him the antihistamines I had been taking weren't working.
"I see some on your arms and on your neck - are they anywhere else?" He was just going on about how he could get me a perscription stregth antihistamine when I lifted my shirt and the look on his face was... indescribable. But I will add that he then took one giant step back.
"I'm going to give you some steroids to knock these out of your system," he said.
My immediate thought was that I would grow a nice, thick mushtash, and I'd have to shave every morning. Perhaps he sensed my hesitation, because he then started listing off possible side effects. "You might have bloating - water retention. You might get a little jittery. It might upset your stomach just a little. But you look miserable right now."
So yesterday I took my first dose of Prednisone. It's a bit confusing because I have to keep track of the number of pills I take each day. 4 one day, 3 the next, etc. Until I'm taking half a pill. The pharmacy added that it could cause sleeplessness and that I should, under no circumstances, just STOP taking the pills! Horrible things could happen! And that makes me nervous. But what is one to do? It also mentioned than one other possible side effect is rash and itchiness, in which case I will just never notice, will I?
Most of my hives are gone - just a few small patches here and there that sting and feel bruised more than itch. It's like having just a few mosquito bites after having poison ivy all over. I feel better, I am full of energy, and that is all I'm saying for now.
4 comments:
Wow! Prednisone! At least it works; forget the side effects for the time being. You can always get the mustache lasered off. And if you add a cup or two of coffee, you'll get all that laundry done & have energy left over to play with the boys! See, there's a silver lining to everything!
I love you. Feel better, Fleen.
Do mind what the doctor says about not stopping it abruptly. PopPop did that and it sent him into a terrible down spiral. I'll tell you about it sometime. On the other hand, I took it for a week one time for a super head-ache and I did not experience all those dreadful symptoms. Of course, I never had hives either. Sounds like it's working and I hope you feel better anyway.
Sounds like brighter days are ahead.
So glad you're all feeling better.
I took prednisone once for a bad case of poison ivy. It worked beautifully and I enjoyed the sudden burst of energy that went with it.
Ahhh, better living through pharmaceuticals. (When necessary, of course.)
I've had prednisolone for my asthma which is very similar (I just googled them and checked!).It seems that opinion is divided over how you should take it - some doctors I've seen told me to take, for example, 8 tablets for five days and then stop. Others said take that and then gradually tail it off like you've been told to. At the end of the day I guess you just do whatever the doctor who prescribed it tells you to do! So are they ones you have to disolve in water (yuck), ones you can just swallow (that still taste a bit yuck) or the sugar coated ones (don't taste of anything much at all).
Anyway, I hope it works and you don't get any horrid symptoms - I've never had any on any of the times I've had them (which is actually scarily more times than I can count!)
Get well soon :-)
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