My Cancer Diary 23rd May 2024

Coming to the end of the second week of taking the steroid Dexamethasone and the side effects are kicking in.  On the positive side I've got my appetite back - and some.  I'm clearing a full plate of food at each meal and am even then not feeling full.  The downside is that there's often a nagging hunger and in desperation I'm likely to turn to sweet things.  I'm eating more digestive biscuits (they are not so high in sugar as other biscuits) and brioche, though I'm usually avoiding cakes and choclate biscuits.  Raspberries (4.6% sugar) and planet yoghurt (2% sugar) are probably the best filler, but that gets expensive! 

The worst aspect is sleeplessness and I'm finding my nights disrupted.  At first I'd sleep until about 2 or 3 then gdo downstairs, make a drink, read awhile and sleep soundly on the sofa.  Last night I slept only for an hour and a half.   I'm not feeling too bad this morning, but it's not good, especially since we're about to go away to a hotel for a week and I won't be able to get up and wander about in the night.

I've decided to stop taking the Dexamethasone for two days to let it disipate from my body somewhat, then start on a half dose (1mg) and see how that goes.  I like enjoying my food again and I'm familiar with having disrupted nights (it's an age thing!).  But usually I sleep very deeply on the sofa.  Not so with the steroids now it seems.   Even so, I still feel better in myself than I have for a very long time.

My observation from this experience and others like it is that it is essential to do all we can to support and maintain our immune system. When it is in good working order it is capable of doing so much without any medical intervention .  Our main task is to avoid giving it unnecessary things to do through poor maintenance of Mind, Exercise, Diet and Suport regimens.  (It's noteworthy that reports indicate that 70% of patient presents at GP surgeries would get better without any treatment at all.)   If the immune system is in good condition then any medication we do take will be much more efficacious, reducing the dose needed and side effects suffered.  I believe that to be the case with me.