Roid Rage

Well the past few months on steroids may have made my stomach issues more tolerable, but now I'm dealing with the lovely mood swings, aggression, anger and depression associated with these drugs. I have always been extremely sensitive to steroids, whether it be prednisone for severe eczema/allergy flares as a kid, or my first rounds of Entocort. A few doctors say "oh no, prednisone and Entocort will be safe with your history of anxiety/depression/PTSD", even though I argue with them about it. I know my body better then anyone else at this point. It is so frustrating to see these changes within my daily life, and counting down the days until I am fully tapered off, and returned to normal.

Since I will have to stop the steroids, I'm anxious what the next course of action
may be. 

My joints are still terrible, but I am doing my best with taking it easy, training and running smart, and making sure to stretch, rest and ice as needed. My new rheumy was extremely thorough, and was worried about how much I sleep, amongst everything else. For the past nine years since my TBI, I have required at least 10 hours of sleep every night, as well as napping daily. Most nights I get about 12 hours. No other doctor has seemed to be concerned with this, aside from the neurologist at DuPont, over five years ago. REM is directly related to how well the immune system works, which is crucial in immune disorders like Crohn's. Non-REM sleep is said to even put the immune system in overdrive, which can make Crohn's worse. Lovely. So I'm having a sleep study in a few weeks to see just what is going on, and I'm anxious.


I'm starting to feel like a hypochondriac. It's hard to relate enough with having Crohn's disease, not to mention the severity of having a TBI. I have finally met and talked to others with Crohn's, but really haven't spoken to many people with TBIs that I can relate to. I had a moderate TBI, and feel out of place. Having both conditions makes me feel even more like an outsider, a medical rarity and a freak of nature.