I started taking 2mg of Dexamethasone steroid on 10th May. Usually I had not looked forward to food, only ever ate one course and often didn't finish it. My weight was down to 10st 7lbs (147lbs, 66.8 Kg) the lowest it's been seen 1959. I'd had to have severeal pairs of trousers taken in. In the last year I've rarely felt well and my energy levels have been low.
On the following Wednesday I felt much better and felt and felt properly hungry. The next day I still felt well and decided to take little walk. Over the previous months I'd walked for an hour now and then but it wasn't regular and often I hadn't felt able to. That Thursday I walked nearly a mile and felt good, so carried on, and then on. I walked 2.8miles in 1.25 hours and felt tired, but good. I was really getting back to my old self.
Today, Sunday 19th May, for the first time since I can't remember when, I tucked in heartily to a three course meal! I even finished off a ccoffee buscuit my grandson left.
Friends have told me that they have been prescribed
30 or 40mg of steroid, which sounds a lot. If the minimum dose has had
the effect on me it has, what would I be like with 15 or 20 times the
dose? Liz would be shopping for food everyday! No, 2mg is plenty, I think, and here's another factor: Since I've had only one adrenal gland since 2012, and though I've
generally coped well until my replacement shoulder in 2023, I wonder if age may
be taking its toll so remaining adrenal gland needs a little
help.
I shall monitor the situation. I've written to my
oncologist asking for information on the longer term implications of
taking the drug and whether my adrenal gland theory is possible. I'll keep you in the picture in social media, but do visit my blog because there's a lot more
helpful inormation there and this will be increasingly so over the
coming months.
Best wishes
Brian
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