Thank God for steriods

No, not the 'roid rage-inducing, muscle-building anabolic kind, I'm talking about prednisone. My rheumatologist put me on steroids last week, and initially, I was hesitant to take them--they are known for causing weight gain and acne and making you feel like you are starving all the time. But after about 5 days of being on the pills, my lupus has improved dramatically. I was having trouble just getting out of bed and managing my daily tasks before, but now, I feel better than I have in months. No more aching joints, no more exhaustion. I am hungry quite often and I have a hard time sleeping at night (the steroids make me jittery), but eating 6 small meals a day and taking Tylenol PM before bed on the rough nights has taken care of those side effects.

Unfortunately, the steroids seem to have affected Aubrey a little in the pooping department. She's been horribly constipated this week and absolutely miserable today, so I gave her her first bottle of diluted apple juice. Surprisingly, she took it well--she doesn't take her bottles of breast milk as well as she does the juice! If no poopy diaper by tomorrow, we'll have to start the serious stuff--prune juice (yuck). Hopefully the juice will take care of things for Aubrey, 'cause Mama really needs her meds right now, but I hate to think that what's helping me is making her miserable!