What are you taking?

Yesterday was a day of tremendous awakening for me. I have been experiencing increasing medical concerns over the past three years. These issues have been increasing somewhat steadily, and over the past few months have essentially climaxed in: I can't ignore this. I have to get it taken care of. I WILL get this figured out.

Yesterday I finally saw an endocrinologist (AKA a hormone doctor, and no not just girly hormones, we're talking ALL hormones). He looked at my thyroid (which was what I was believing to be the culprit of my misery) and he said that it's not swollen at all. He said it does not think it's my thyroid. Then he started looking at my medicines. Let me be frank, in the last five days, I have gained five pounds. Yes, I said gained. Let me tell you what I've eaten for the last five days: nothing but raw and cooked vegetables, with lean protein, and an occasional piece of whole wheat bread. Nothing fried. Nothing fattening. Nothing unhealthy. In addition to this, I work out every day (with one day of rest after a five day workout period). I do this religiously. I even keep food and workout journals to document everything I'm doing. There is NO REASON why I should have gained weight. If anything, I should have lost weight. He said, "The fact that you're gaining weight so quickly is a very severe medical concern. This is the gravest concern of all."

He asked about my diet (which I had my food journal, so we were good to go). He asked about exercise (it's with the food journal, so again, good to go). Then he reviewed my medications...

To explain, let me take you back almost 20 years. A long time ago I started having crazy allergy attacks. My eyes would swell shut, and then my throat would follow, cutting off my airway. This is called Anaphylaxia. After a couple of near death situations, I was sent to an allergist. I was then placed on Allegra. Allegra was changed to Claritin, then changed to Claritin-D, then changed to Flonase, then changed to Astelyn and Veramyst plus an additional steroid cream for eczema (these last three are my current allergy meds, and I must point out that I was aware that the cream was a steroid). ALL of these lovely medications are steroids. They're in a class called Corticoids (or cortical steroids). ALL of these medications build up the steroids in your system over time. Steroids do "bad things" to people.

Yes, these steroids are all in very small doses. And yes, these steroids do not all do the same things to the same people over very long periods of time. However, Dr. P said that steroids should only be given incredibly sparingly as they destroy one's Adrenal Glands. He believes my adrenals are totaled, but we can't be certain until I have been OFF of all steroids for ten days. You see, steroids screw up ALL hormone tests. That's right, I said ALL. He said that any bloodwork I've had done while on these medicines are inaccurate because steroids lower the levels of your hormones in your blood. So could there be something wrong with my thyroid? Yup. Could it be my adrenals? Yup. Could it just be that 20 years of steroids has so wreaked havoc on my body that I'm now dealing with the long term side effects of the majority of my life being on a steroid? Yup.

I don't know what will happen in the next few months. But I can say that detoxing from steroids has been awful. I'm exhausted. I have a horrible headache (which started yesterday when I began detoxing). My whole body just feels like crap. Is this my system rejuvenating itself? Is this the process of my body saying "Hey! We get to do some work now instead of that stupid medication doing it!"? I don't know. It's been so long since I've been off of steroids that I don't remember what it feels like.

He also believes I'm allergic to some food item that I'm unaware of. He essentially said (paraphrased) "What the heck is your allergist doing!?" The acne I thought was acne turns out to be a "rash" which is probably some sort of reaction to food (which I'm itching, because they itch, so then they look like acne).

I left his office yesterday incredibly upset. I feel so betrayed. I feel so lied to. I have had gastric bypass shoved down my throat for the last three years by all things Army physicians and not ONE of them said, "Hey! Did you know you're on a lot of steroids for your allergies?" Now I know that I should have known, but in my defense, I specifically ASKED the allergist if these new medications he put me on were steroids and HE. SAID. NO.

So we'll see. The verdict is still out. I don't know what the answers are. After I finish detoxing from steroids, I have to go get a bunch of tests done to try and figure out what's happening with my body. Then I have to wait for those results, and then we'll see what he says.

In the meantime, it's incredibly depressing to work so hard, and eat so maticulously, and still gain weight. It's enough to make me cry, to be perfectly honest. I hate what is happening to me. But, ultimately, who can I blame but myself? No one held a gun to my head. I took those medications willingly. I didn't research them as much as I should have. This is my body and I let it down.

So why am I writing this? Because I want you to be informed. I want you to think about the long term effects of the drugs that you're taking. I want you to think about how this could effect you in 20 years. I want you to advocate for yourself, and wait it out. Just because a doctor gave you a medication, it doesn't mean that you NEED to take it. Be educated. Research. Ask questions. Fight for yourself. Fight for your body. No one else is going to do it. And the solution to the complications that arise 20 years later from all of the crap that you put into yourself is not necessarily to do more crap to yourself. Make informed decisions about what's best. Sometimes that means that you take steroids. But be aware that it could cause horrible things to happen to you down the road.

Note: I am not anti medicine or medications. I have a passionate love for the medical field. I also recognize that there are things that people need to do/take in order to remain healthy. I am upset that very few physicians talk about long-term effects of the medications/surgeries/procedures they're "recommending". It is up to all of us to ask questions, research, and think long term. I am incredibly inquisitive with my physicians and yet this situation has occurred in my life.