Steroids

Steroids are helpful. They relieved some of the side effects from chemotherapy, and helped treat the pneumonitis that was caused by the radiation. Some get aggressive when taking them. This was not the case with me, but I did get frustrated more easily. It is not fun feeling out of control, especially when you are a control freak like me.

It was not easy, but I was able to control my frustrations most of the time. Knowing it is drug induced and therefore most likely not the effect from what someone said or did helps. You cannot walk around being angry or frustrated with people who really haven’t done anything to deserve it.

My first experience with taking steroids was the pre-med for the chemotherapy. I took 8 mg of Dexamethasone per day the day before, day of, and the day after the infusions. My cheeks looked like they belonged on a chipmunk, and my face was round and ruddy. 

The infusions were every three weeks. By the time my face started looking more normal it was time for another treatment. That was the cycle, a total of six infusions every three weeks. My belly got distended, and I was not able to fit into most of my clothing. I hurt from being bloated. Because of this I wore sweats almost exclusively. 

I don’t know if the biggest culprit for the stomach issues was the chemo or the steroids. Maybe it was so bad because of the combination of the two. It took some time for those issues, as well as feeling jittery and shaky, to go away after the last infusion, but eventually they did. My stomach above the navel is still quite large, but it doesn’t hurt, and will hopefully go away soon. 

When I had the radiation induced pneumonitis my doctor put me on a six-week course of Prednisone. The first two weeks I took 60 mg, the following two, 40 mg, and the last two weeks 20 mg. It did not give me the steroid moon face, but it made me very jittery and shaky. That part was more difficult this time as my eyelashes had grown back and applying mascara was difficult.

I have never been good with hair and makeup, and almost always must clean mascara off my top and bottom eyelids. Having shaky hands does not help. I looked like a five-year-old who had applied her own mascara. :D You can clean it off, but it never looks as good as if you had not messed it up to begin with. 

That was bad enough. There were quite a few days when I needed to take migraine medication. The combination of steroids and migraine pills made things even worse. I was not capable of making mascara look good on my lashes. It’s a good thing it’s not permanent. Today I have 1 1/2 week left of the Prednisone. 

There are still days when I feel jittery and shaky, especially when I have a headache and take medication for it. My eyelashes don’t look perfect, but SO much better than they did. Yay for drugs to help you get better, YAY for not needing those drugs much longer, and YAY for almost pretty eye makeup!