Andrea,
Very good info on the cataracts. Gosh, I am sorry to hear this happened to you. May I ask how long and what dose of steroids you were on? I have had prior use of long term care with steroids for pain. Thats what allowed me to continue to work for years. It was a real love-hate relationship with the steroids. I was moon faced, put on tremendous amts of weight, mean, but not in as much pain. My very first experience with steroids was a shot of Decadron every 6 weeks for nearly 3 yrs. My neurologist was the one that had me on that regime. It was not until one day I could barely get off the couch that I knew something was wrong. So, I went in to my old dr who was worth his weight in gold. He took my BP and let out a string of cuss words, lol, yes this was just the way this old dr was. I had been on BP meds since I was 28, I come from the bad gene pool. When we went over medications when I told him about the neuro giving me Decadron for nearly 3 yrs, OMG the cuss words really flew from his mouth. lol. The first thing he did was call the hospital and tell them he was admitting me right then & to get a room ready. This was how he did things and when he called that hospital & he said jump, it was how high today would you like for me jump. A wing was built for this dr and they catered to him no matter what. The same w/drs in this town-when he called them he said I am sending so & so to your office now, you were seen. There was none of this given an appt the next day or next week,lol. He wa a hoot and we loved him dearly. He was either loved dearly or despised there was no in between. The 2nd call was to my neuro who he had referred me & everyone else to. He gave my neuro a cussing that would burn the ears off anyones head, accused him of trying to kill me because I was stroke line on BP. lol He is still practicing but he has slowed down alot. He refused to join any HMO or PPO program-said he didn't need any ins co tell him how to be a dr. He offered to treat me & my husband free when our ins went in that direction. Back then we had the old indenmity policy 80/20 and then major medical. People were lined up at his door every morning starting at 7:30. His father specialized in compounds & taught Albert compounds. He could come up with meds for bronchitis and peumonia that knock it right out. He had a pharmacy next door that did all of his scripts. Our medical profession would be a hell of a lot better off if this world had more drs like him, but those guys are non-existant.
Crohns disease is still treated with Prednisone and some of the peeps on the crohns forum are the long term steroid dependants who have developed necrosis of their hip joints in particular. Some have had hips replacement or waiting to have it. It can be such an evil drug but such a wonderful drug if used properly and only short term.
I no longer can handle steroids in any fashion, as I go into congestive heart failure which is another lovely side effect of the drug. A few years back on New Years Eve, I went into a full fledged flare with my crohns, I had both ends going non-stop for hours, then came the dehydration the whole bit. Got hauled into ER my usual gi was out of town. The Gi that admitted me was informed no steroids because of CHF, we told every Tom, Dick & Harry that walked in the room no steroids & why. I got hooked to a pump w/morphine and was off in lala land, and this guy took it upon himself to start giving me what he called a small dose of 60mg Prednisone in the IV. On the 3rd day of this I am full blown CHF with this guy at my bedside asking me what happened!!! I said well, I will tell you what happened, you did not listen to me or my husband and you gave me steroids anyway. Thats when he admitted he had been giving me the small doses,lol. God, what an idiot. So, in essence I go with a crohns flare come out w/CHF. What a terrific health care system we endure.
I have got this terrific pain in my left hip and its nothing but bursitis. A nice shot of steroid would certainly take care of this, however, with my history my usual docs would not even think of a shot of a steroid, so I get to suffer with this booger. My rheumy offered to inject as well as my new pain mgt dr-but when I told them what happens w/steroids they both stopped dead in their tracks. I am just about to the point of saying please try a tiny amt, anything to get relief.
Please take care of those eyes and keep us posted on how you are going. Hugs......Susie