Friday, May 11, 2012

More numbers

I finally got a call about the lab results from my 24-Hour urine & lab work last week.  My creantanine is down to .87, which is good.  My GFR is 90, which is also good, & my protein is down to 85g which is awesome.  But I'm super depressed because I was hoping to convince her to drop my dose sooner.  But no.  I have to stay on 40mg for 3 more weeks.

So my 6 week mark on 40mg is May 31st, but of course Dr. B is out of the office that week & can't see me CLEAR until June 8th.  So I've decided to drop myself to 20mg on May 31st.  She'll probably not be so happy with me about that but I don't freaking care.  I really like her but I'm sick of how often she is out of the office & unavailable for appointments.  A week may not be a big deal to her but its like 2 lbs for me.

Speaking of... definitely the most prominent symptom I'm having is the weight.  I've gained 12 lbs in 7 weeks.  I am quickly growing out of my clothes.  Of course this is happening right at the beginning of summer, which makes it harder to layer & hide the fat.  I've never been this big except right after I have a baby.  By the time I'm finally off this drug, at this rate, I'll be bigger than I've ever been NOT pregnant.  Its seriously so depressing.

I've luckily been able to sleep better since dropping down from 60mg but the other side of that same coin is that I have really low energy, especially in the afternoon & evenings.

Another lovely physical side effect I'm experiencing is hair growth on my face.  Its growing in blond (thank goodness) but its still awful.  I don't want to get my face waxed because then I'll always have to.  But I might not be left with a choice.  When I went to get my eyebrows waxed, the not-so-tactful Vietnamese salon worker informed me that I need my lip & chin waxed.  Thanks lady.

The most depressing part about all of this is that my actual kidney disease isn't what's causing the problem right now.  That's in remission.  All of this crap is from this damn drug.

3 comments:

Hilary said...

Stupid vietnamese lady, just trying to make more money. I'm so sorry :( i wish you were here so i could take your kids and let you just rest

Storaloppan said...

Oh yeah...nice little Vietnamese lady. I ended up waxing nearly my entire face, and eventually my chest. Talk about "feeling like a woman"...wow, that was hard. I actually did gain more weight on prednisone than when I was pregnant. I'm almost as heavy right now as when I was pregnant, which is awesome. I'm glad we're in this together...

Holly said...

I SO agree with you about Prednisone making you feel worse/sicker than the actual disease!

I have never actually been all that unwell from FSGS itself, but, I kid you not, since I started Prednisone in February I have not had one day where I have felt like my normal, pre-treatment self.

I'm lucky in that I'm still well enough to work and function and stuff, which I appreciate, because I know some people can't, but still, I cannot WAIT until my dosage is 0, or at least 10 or less! :)