No More Prednisone!!!

Just got back from the retinal specialist (fancy eye doc) and they're taking me off of that vile Rx!!!

Here's the story.... get some popcorn, it's kind of long. And kind of funny. If you think STDs are funny.

In November last year, I went to see my regular eye guy because my vision seemed to be changing. He said everything was fine. By December, I had vertigo all the time but my vision had improved so much I didn't even need glasses anymore - and I'd been wearing glasses/contacts for 10 years. The doctors still didn't know why. Then one day in January I woke up and there was a BLIND SPOT in my peripheral vision. My eye guy sent me to the ER. My darling husband took me, made me laugh and kept me calm. After a CT and some basic blood tests, they said I didn't have any tumors pressing on my optic nerve. Great, but why am I going blind?! My eye guys suggests these things can be caused by cocaine use, and asks me very seriously if I'd been snorting anything powdery. No! Of course not! Fix my eyes, dammit! I don't need drug counseling!

3 days later I woke up with a blind spot smack in the middle of my vision. Alarmed? Yes. To put it mildly. Went back to eye doc and literally grabbed him by the shirt and screamed some not-nice things at him about it being his job to find out what's happening to me. I was terrified. All I could think of was that the next day I'd be blind and I'd never see my children again. So off I went to a retinal specialist.

This retinal specialist was a colorful character. Made jokes, really listened to what I was saying, and explained everything in very technical terms, which I appreciate because I'm a walking dictionary. He ordered some more tests and came up with a working diagnosis. We went to lunch, and when we were back in crazy retina guy's waiting room, my original eye doc calls my cell phone. He tells me that he got my first blood tests back and that I tested positive for syphilis.
WHAT?!??!!
So crazy eye doc calls us in and I'm in tears trying to tell him what my regular eye doc said. He flips through my chart and starts pointing at numbers and lines that mean nothing to me. He says my regular eye guy is reading the tests wrong!!! So what does my very funny husband say? "Well see, if you weren't such a coked out whore this wouldn't be happening" It made ME laugh :)

After an MRI, some more blood tests, a spinal tap, and a total neurological work up, crazy eye doc's diagnosis was confirmed and he started me on a high dose of prednisone. He said it might make me feel euphoric. I asked, how so? He replied, "Like you were dropped into the middle of a Bears game during 1st and ten" .... uhhh, okay.

Soooo I start the vile Rx only to find I can't sleep, I eat everything in sight, and suddenly no one wants to hang around me because I'm not a very nice person when I'm taking it. Did I mention the eating? Steroids cause puffiness around the face all on their own, but add a few pounds from indiscriminate eating and well, that didn't add to my lovely personality either.

Now, thanks to that quick thinking and wacky doctor my vision improved, my eyes are healed and all is right with the world. Oh, and I don't have syphilis ;)