The doctor said that the prednisone would clear up the edema in 2 days & she was spot on. I was put on 60 mil. or 3 pills for 4 days, 2 pills for 4 days 1 pill for 4 days & 1/2 a pill for 4 more days. "It's to really load you up" said friendly neighborhood pharmacist John. He's so nice, used to be in the navy. Apparently your adrenals stop making cortisol when you're on this & you can get really mesed up stopping it cold turkey. I follow the entire script faithfully.
The 2 days are looong. I don't pick up Miranda at all. I don't let Victor & Charlotte sit in my lap to pretend to drive down the driveway. I certainly don't want to go into town to shop, I don't think I ought to be around food at all, but Mike wraps me up good in gauze. Poor Mike! I'm doing the bare minimum for the house & I know it drives him crazy but I only see pity when he looks at me.
The worst part is I don't allow hugs because it sloughs off my skin & creates oozier wells. Miranda cries & holds up her arms for me & when I squat down next to her she points to my arm & says"Ow." I can only agree. My poor babies, they live off of hugs. My shirts sleeves are turning yellow & my left arm is starting to feel really weird, from atrophy, I think. It's been tied up straight w/ diapers for 6 nights in a row & there is a HUGE patch of poison right in my inner elbow that cracks & sends out copious amounts of oil so I straighten it as little as possible.
After 2 days of that, Sat. I wake up & can see my bones & veins again, that's good. The oozing is nearly gone & I can see patches of new skin growing. One of the good side effects of prednisone are energy bursts. I take full advantage of this, catch up & do several bigger projects. Weird & bad side effects that never happened were shifts in body fat, "chipmunk" or puffy face, joint pain, increased appetite, & other things you can research for yourself. My left knee did swell out of no where but returned to normal in a day or so as I decreased the dosage to the next level.
I made a batch of very bland beans that no one liked but I won't have leftovers so I ate them. The children did eat them when I pureed them & mixed them w/ venison for burritos & spaghetti. I probably had 4 meals of beans one week & w/ my extra projects (2 days in the root cellar, double digging up garden squares for fall, goat hooves, 3 outside meals, some others) & energy bursts I actually lost some weight. I didn't need it but I won't say no. And cooking outside IS a workout, that dutch oven is easily 30 lb. when full. You're squatting, holding it away from you on a stick because it's been on a fire for a couple of hours & I don't know how to factor that in, but it's heavy.
Well down to the 1/2 pill days I've still got a light itch but the poison is dried up & gone. Prednisone wasn't so bad. I'm off the pill for a whole day & my upper legs are itchy, but I know there's no poison there. My neck & throat are irritable & scratching feels pretty good. Big patches of itch & scale are on the backs of my arm.
4 days off of predisone & I have a full blown w/drawl rash from my chin -my toes. Little blisters are in all of the wrinkles of my finger joints & cuticle edges. It is no longer a pleasure to scratch it but fairly painful. Where hot water felt good on the poison rash, now only cold will do. Sweat is maddening. But hey, the swelling is gone & that was my main concern. I started w/ a rash & ended w/ a rash. Here I am w/ new skin.
I'm getting used to my arm looking this way, it reminds me of the disease where you lose your melanin. I look like I got into a fight w/ Hamburger Helper. It's pretty sun sensitive & won't hold a tan. In part that's why I've picked up blogging again this last day or so. I can't scratch if I'm typing. The van has been emptied, cleaned & vacuumed for the first time in a year. More projects ahead.
The 2 days are looong. I don't pick up Miranda at all. I don't let Victor & Charlotte sit in my lap to pretend to drive down the driveway. I certainly don't want to go into town to shop, I don't think I ought to be around food at all, but Mike wraps me up good in gauze. Poor Mike! I'm doing the bare minimum for the house & I know it drives him crazy but I only see pity when he looks at me.
The worst part is I don't allow hugs because it sloughs off my skin & creates oozier wells. Miranda cries & holds up her arms for me & when I squat down next to her she points to my arm & says"Ow." I can only agree. My poor babies, they live off of hugs. My shirts sleeves are turning yellow & my left arm is starting to feel really weird, from atrophy, I think. It's been tied up straight w/ diapers for 6 nights in a row & there is a HUGE patch of poison right in my inner elbow that cracks & sends out copious amounts of oil so I straighten it as little as possible.
After 2 days of that, Sat. I wake up & can see my bones & veins again, that's good. The oozing is nearly gone & I can see patches of new skin growing. One of the good side effects of prednisone are energy bursts. I take full advantage of this, catch up & do several bigger projects. Weird & bad side effects that never happened were shifts in body fat, "chipmunk" or puffy face, joint pain, increased appetite, & other things you can research for yourself. My left knee did swell out of no where but returned to normal in a day or so as I decreased the dosage to the next level.
I made a batch of very bland beans that no one liked but I won't have leftovers so I ate them. The children did eat them when I pureed them & mixed them w/ venison for burritos & spaghetti. I probably had 4 meals of beans one week & w/ my extra projects (2 days in the root cellar, double digging up garden squares for fall, goat hooves, 3 outside meals, some others) & energy bursts I actually lost some weight. I didn't need it but I won't say no. And cooking outside IS a workout, that dutch oven is easily 30 lb. when full. You're squatting, holding it away from you on a stick because it's been on a fire for a couple of hours & I don't know how to factor that in, but it's heavy.
Well down to the 1/2 pill days I've still got a light itch but the poison is dried up & gone. Prednisone wasn't so bad. I'm off the pill for a whole day & my upper legs are itchy, but I know there's no poison there. My neck & throat are irritable & scratching feels pretty good. Big patches of itch & scale are on the backs of my arm.
4 days off of predisone & I have a full blown w/drawl rash from my chin -my toes. Little blisters are in all of the wrinkles of my finger joints & cuticle edges. It is no longer a pleasure to scratch it but fairly painful. Where hot water felt good on the poison rash, now only cold will do. Sweat is maddening. But hey, the swelling is gone & that was my main concern. I started w/ a rash & ended w/ a rash. Here I am w/ new skin.
I'm getting used to my arm looking this way, it reminds me of the disease where you lose your melanin. I look like I got into a fight w/ Hamburger Helper. It's pretty sun sensitive & won't hold a tan. In part that's why I've picked up blogging again this last day or so. I can't scratch if I'm typing. The van has been emptied, cleaned & vacuumed for the first time in a year. More projects ahead.
4 comments:
Prednisone is bad, bad stuff. It can cause other problems, which can take much longer to cure. Further, in some people, mostly in men, it can make them extra aggressive and grouchy.
I can tell you a treatment for poison ivy, and most other rashes. First, HEAT. I'm talking about 130-140 degrees farenheit. If you can get that hot from a hair dryer, go for it. Otherwise, use hot, running water. It should be so hot, that you can barely hold your arms under it. It shouldn't be hot enough to scold, but hot enough to be uncomfortable, and that when you move your arms out from the water they are red from the heat. Keep the heat on, until it stops hurting, and stops itching.
Next, let your arms air dry, and then get ahold of some large aloe vera leaves (a local store here sells them in produce. I used to have my own plant, and hope to get another, soon.) Take aloe very leaves, slit them open, and lay them flat. Put the meaty side against the rashes, and tape them to your arms. Leave the aloe leaves on your rashes until ALL of the aloe meat and juice is gone, and only the green aloe skin is left. You will be amazed. I would be shocked if this didn't work. I've never seen this NOT work, and that goes for all sorts of skin conditions - fungal, bacteria, parasitic, and more.
Sorry to hear of your troubles it will all be over soon. A blog at "foothills of the great Smokey mountains" has some help if you care to read it, it could perhaps be helpful in the future. Blessings Marie
Ha! Candy, thank you. I had actually written 2 paragraphs on the heat & then deleted them, I figured people would think me an idiot. A hot shower is the only relief available,but I'm not sure that it didn't contribute to the scarring. Although water in the temperatures you describe is BLISS sending a huge endorphin rush through my system I can't recommend it. I did use the aloe plant for my poison rash in highschool though I didn't let it stay on as long as you detailed. I killed my last aloe plant, I do would like a new one, Mike could really use it for his yearly sunburns too.
Marie, I did check out her blog & I've got a ton of Jewel-weed out front that I'll be trying out. Thanks for the link!
Hot water was my best friend when I had Shingles. It's what kept me sane. :-)
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