Steroids, my miracle drug!

Who would have thought I would be raving about drugs! Rick has to force paracetamol down me when I'm in pain as I much prefer just taking myself off for a sleep! Unfortunately the sleep tactic had stopped working after Christmas and I had found myself not really in pain but breathless when got out of bed or tried to maintain a conversation for more than a couple of minutes, ( hard to believe I know!! ).

My heart was being squashed to its limit giving me the weirdest sensations. It beat so irregularly it felt like it was stopping every so often then bouncing round my chest the other time! If it was your foot or toe that was hurting then its easier to ignore but once my heart set off being funny it felt like I was in the middle of running a marathon. No matter how much I deep breathed or though of relaxing thoughts it made no difference. This used to happen for hours at a time where all I could do was lie down looking very relaxed but inside I was doing lots of strenuous activity!!

Many a time rick urged me to go to A&E as he was un nerved being alone with me! Feeling or listening to my pulse was also rather scary as there was many missing beats and it used to bounce so much you could see it against my chest. I found it more impressive but I know if it was happening to Rick I would have been having kittens!!

I was also having night fevers, these are classic B cell lymphoma symptoms but running a temperature of 39 each night not only made me sweaty, but also very restless and disturbed my sleep.

Because my PET scan was still weeks off I knew I could not carry on so the hospital started me on 50mg ( 10 tablets ) of prednisalone ( a steroid ). I took them one morning and by tea time I was a different person!! I was truly amazed.

As I continued on the steroids for the 2 weeks prior to my PET scan I felt better and better ( surreal really when inside getting worse ) and then got the steroid munchies! They were great! Not only did I fancy eating everything I could actually fit it all in too.

Another interesting fact about steroids in lymphoma is they act like suicide bombers and the steroids make the and normal lymphocytes kill themselves so can actually (to a point) reduce tumour size and manage symptoms.

Once I started my chemo I doubled my steroids and took 100mg ( 20 tablets a day ) and I'm currently weaning over the next few days till I'm on none! I'm not allowed to just stop as apparently il have a big drug withdrawal and end up in bed with shakes and sweats, I'm down to 6 tablets tomorrow and hoping I wean off without my body missing them too much!

I have really loved these things! I get 5 days of 100mg ( 20 tablets ) at each chemo cycle so il still have little tasters. Maybe now I will loose the 3kg I've gained just from being on steroids and the food shopping bill will also go down accordingly.