Polymyositis & Dermatomyositis Support Group
Polymyositis (PM) is a type of chronic inflammation of the muscles (inflammatory myopathy) related to dermatomyositis and inclusion body myositis. The inflammation is predominantly of the endomysium in polymyositis, whereas dermatomyositis is characterized by primarily perimysial inflammation.
Hey y'all,
I deleted my old account (okapi) and disappeared for a while... but now I am back.
For the sake of sharing my lovely experience with PM lately... here's what I've been up to:
As I may have mentioned before, I am in my fourth year of college. I got sick in my 2nd year. I started prednisone at the end of my 3rd year (May 2010).
I was put on 60mg of pred initially, it started working in about 2 months. I got progressively stronger, I am still weak but definitely better off than I was before. BUT I hated that I had to sacrifice my mental state for my physical one. I got extremely depressed on prednisone and eventually went through steroid-induced psychosis. I was sent home by my psychiatrist and forced to withdraw from school.
I had to taper down after that, I am now at 25mg and feeling ok. I still get depressed but it is manageable, the more severe symptoms like hallucinations are gone. Still physically ok, can still sit up on my own etc...
I am trying to get off of this stuff asap, and after that I am beginning the Marshall Protocol. I will keep everyone updated on my progress because I really have a lot of faith in it and am very excited about it.
-Okapi!
I deleted my old account (okapi) and disappeared for a while... but now I am back.
For the sake of sharing my lovely experience with PM lately... here's what I've been up to:
As I may have mentioned before, I am in my fourth year of college. I got sick in my 2nd year. I started prednisone at the end of my 3rd year (May 2010).
I was put on 60mg of pred initially, it started working in about 2 months. I got progressively stronger, I am still weak but definitely better off than I was before. BUT I hated that I had to sacrifice my mental state for my physical one. I got extremely depressed on prednisone and eventually went through steroid-induced psychosis. I was sent home by my psychiatrist and forced to withdraw from school.
I had to taper down after that, I am now at 25mg and feeling ok. I still get depressed but it is manageable, the more severe symptoms like hallucinations are gone. Still physically ok, can still sit up on my own etc...
I am trying to get off of this stuff asap, and after that I am beginning the Marshall Protocol. I will keep everyone updated on my progress because I really have a lot of faith in it and am very excited about it.
-Okapi!
I have an appointment with my other doctor next week. Since I'm gonna be doing the Marshall Protocol, he's going to start me on Benicar which is theoretically supposed to minimize the withdrawal symptoms while getting off prednisone.. I'll let y'all know how it goes!
I'm sure everyone can relate to the love/hate relationship with prednisone. Don't get me wrong, it helped me a lot. And maybe if I were in a different place with my life right now I would be more able to deal with the psychiatric side effects. Stress seems to really exacerbate it!
Good luck with your new doctor and treatment plan; I hope all goes well!