a week worth of pils, and a milestone

​It's Tuesday, and a regular afternoon ritual on Tuesdays is to refill the pillbox for the upcoming week. Wednesday marks the start of a new pill week. The reason it's Wednesday is simply because it was a Wednesday in December that I started my new life as a pill and corticosteoroid junkie. When the body feels filled with burning cement, there is no alternative to wait until Monday to match the text on the pill box.. 

Tomorrow actually marks a little milestone. I'm tapering down to the maintenance dosage for Prednisolone. Taper complete! I'm finally at the maintenance dosage and it feels like a small victory. 5mg/d felt forever away when I was chewing 40mg a day and tried to google what are high and low doses of Prednisolone.

Prednisolone is actually a chemical version of a so-called glucorticoid hormone that the body produces itself, cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that the body needs to cope with stress and strain, and has an anti-inflammatory and immune-suppressing effect. This is the effect you are looking for when you are treated with Prednisolone. When you take Prednisolone for a long time, the body eventually stops producing cortisol. That's why you need to taper down the dose, to get this production started back up again. Cutting down too swiftly after high doses and prolonged use can actually be dangerous and lead to serious side effects. My personal experience with side effects associated with tapering is that I have felt unwell and squeamish a few days after the taper. With a new dose on Wednesday, I usually notice on Thursday around lunchtime. Then after a day or two, it's back to normal.

Due to all the side effects, I hope I'll get well enough to discontinue the prednisolone completely. But for now I'm psyched about the last taper!!

Sources;
https://www.legeforeningen.no/foreningsledd/fagmed/Norsk-revmatologisk-forening/pasientinformasjon/medikamenter/prednisolon-tbl/
https://sml.snl.no/glukokortikoider
​https://nhi.no/sykdommer/muskelskjelett/legemiddel/kortison-avslutning-av-behandling/