Wow, do I feel awesome! How many times do you read that as an opening line for an RA blog? I feel on top of the world. I can conquer 2 kids, a messy storage room and have energy leftover for cooking, cleaning and some working from home. In sum - I am on fire. And my joints are not.
Welcome to the wonderful world of short course, high dose of Prednisone. Oh, the energy. The freedom of movement. The freedom from pain. The freedom to plan. Did I mention the energy?
After a pain-filled, soul-searching two months of 2 mgs of Prednisone, I realized that it is just a number, I value the quality of my life over what my current Prednisone dose is, and I needed to get over my frustration of not fully getting off Prednisone and face the fact that I was flaring and there was nothing else for me to do, other than increase my dose. So after a call to my rheumy, he suggest 10 mg per day for 2 weeks, 7.5 for 2 weeks and 5 until I see him.
This has been a tough pill for me to swallow. I read other bloggers experience with getting off Prednisone as they conveyed their frustrations and thought, "that, of course, won't happen to me", fully expecting that I would march down the road to being Prednisone-free in 10 smooth months. I had a plan, afterall, and I am a planner. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, as usual. RA had other plans for me, as it usually does. So I am now enjoying my Prednisone-induced pain-free time, knowing that I will try again. And again. And I will be free one day, just not today.
