Health Stuff… If you’ve ever gone through it you probably dread the conversations you get. So many people mean well and try to help. You get all sorts of diet, treatment suggestions, news and magazine clippings…. it does get tiresome.

I have added to my diagnosis in the last few months. I’ve been diagnosed for the last two years with Meniere’s Disease, but in the last several months have received a diagnose of “likely” seronegative rheumatoid arthritis. I had been having joint pain all over since October (which was a rough month for flu bugs at our house.) I can’t help but think that may have triggered all the problems. Right now they’re trying to regulate medicines, but I’m on the prednasone, plaquenil, a couple of allergy medicines (as that is a trigger for the Meniere’s…. (sigh) and a myriad of more conversations I can have where I get recommended foods that are antiinflammatory. I know – they are trying to help, but good grief… sometimes you just need to try one thing at a time and see what happens. (Unfortunately many of the treatments take a while to take effect, or have side effects that are scary.)

May/June was a very active spinning stretch. I had about 5 episodes through a stretch of a few weeks. It seemed like a spin every 3 days. I think the start of it was a missing of the allergy shot due to a fever and then several necessary visits into the attic to identify a leak location. So, I’ve had it all lately vertigo (although it was “mild” vertigo – I didn’t have the MAD spinning that I have experienced before…)

I can’t help but wonder if the two diseases are related for me. Both of them seem to have inflammation as a symptom and autoimmune related causes. I guess my immune system is just working too well…

Here’s a weird note. For some 20 years I’ve avoided milk like a vampire avoids the sun because of several experiences of terrible stomach upset after milk. For the last 15 years I really had wished I could drink milk and resolved to try it again when I had a free afternoon (because I new I’d feel like I had a stomach full of knives afterwards.) Well. Sunday evening I took a chance and poured a skim milk, added chocolate (great cold drink for a late spring (Hot) evening btw..) No bad effects. So, every night this week I’ve done likewise and have been on a roll energy wise (I’m thinking that may play a part in my energy of late as I’ve been on this low dose prednisone for quite a while so I doubt it’s that.) If anything my stomach/digestion seems to be perking along better than it has been over the last several months.

So…. that’s weird. I’m assuming that before maybe it was the fat (I seem to recall that it was something like 2% skim and I think what we have is …. well best described as 0% skim.) Who knows, maybe my stomache chemistry has changed?

First off, I think I’ve finally managed to learn how to spell prednisone! I was just about to call this prednasone and meniere’s disease… but I think I’ve finally got it straight. (Although my spell checker thinks it’s wrong either way. I guess I don’t have medicines in my spell checker?)

Anyway… I have been on prednisone again this week. This is, I think the 4th time I’ve had a short run of prednisone. It’s been prescribed with the idea that my symptoms are a result of inflammation. (I see a lot of references to prednisone being prescribed for auto-immune type issues.) Anyway, it’s been some week! Saturday night I had a lousy nights sleep. I was spinning in my dreams and woozy Sunday morning. Got the prescription filled and was starting to get things done Sunday evening (I think I worked on my antivirus removal tools page at hubpages that night.) I was feeling better though…. and then I didn’t sleep much that night.

Then Tuesday was the first day of school for our oldest and I didn’t sleep much going into Tuesday, then ditto Wednesday and Thursday nights as well. I’ve probably had about 2-4 hours sleep per night. It’s so frustrating I’ve gone to bed and just laid there. I close my eyes and just lay there, occasionally I think I drift off to sleep, but usually I wind up getting uncomfortable, rotating, looking at the clock, fidgiting. Get up and work on the computer because another thought came to mind. Go sit on the couch in front of the tv and try to be a zombie…. well… frankly trying to be a zombie isn’t necessary. This is because I’m still taking the benadryl as well. So…. I’ve got drowsiness from that, insomnia from the prednisone. But, hey, my ears aren’t stuffed up and I’m not spinning. So, it is a plus(!) I feel like I’ve put on 20 pounds in the meantime. (Prednisone always makes me want to eat every 2 hours I think..)

I feel as though most of the week I’ve been oscillating between my usual personality + high caffeine, some crazy lunatic that flies off the handle at little things and can make anything into a crisis and someone on dope in la-la land…. (I was translating beatles songs into spanish on the way home yesterday…. “in el pueblo en que nací vivó un hombre que zarpó el mar….” is it really submarino amarillo? oh nevermind….)

Well, I have got quite a few things done, but I’m really in need of some good sleep I think to get back to some sort of balance. (Temperament wise, the vestibular balance has really been better.) Do they sell straight jackets on ebay?

It seems like the last round of prednisone I was prescribed may have been a lower dosage to start out with (like 5 pills of 5mg on day one, stepping down to 4, 5mg pills, etc.) This time around it was 2, 20mg pills for the first three days and 1 for the last 3. It has seemed more effective this way, but like I say the side effects are tiring.

It has at least kept me from a really bad spin. Sunday morning was not fun, but I’ve had much worse. It isn’t often that “the vortex” invades my dreams like that but it’s not a good way to start the day.