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Saturday, April 5, 2014

Drugs and Blogging

Occasionally I will put up a post about a dream I had. I do it for fun, not because I think the dreams have any significance. Some of my dreams are exceptionally vivid, how can I not want to record it? I also do it as an exercise in fiction writing. Can I tell the story well enough to make it readable?
    I put up several posts about dreams last month, six to be exact. I have put up 35 posts about dreams over the last six years, which is an average of one every two months, so six in one month is kind of extreme. I used to get some vivid dreams when I was taking Tricor (an expensive cholesterol medicine). The dreams seemed to stop when I stopped the drug. That might explain why I don't have any dream posts in 2011.

    Week before last I was feeling a little under the weather, but by Monday I thought I was getting over it, whatever it was.
    Tuesday I went to the doctor for an annual checkup and he told me it looked like I had some pressure in my ear. I have always had trouble with my sinuses and hay fever, so this is not unusual, but my ear wasn't giving me any trouble. I was getting some pain in the sinuses in my cheekbones, so okay, trouble in one often leads to trouble in the other.
    I go home and think about all this and conclude that I probably have a sinus infection. In years past I seemed to get one every winter, and they were invariably horrible experiences, headaches, fever, trips to the doctor, miss a couple days of work, nose like a faucet, yadd yada yada. I haven't had a bad one recently. I suspect this is because that now that I am unemployed I can sleep whenever I want, which means I can get enough sleep, which is key to staying healthy.
   So this was a new concept: a sinus infection where I didn't feel like death warmed over. I call the allergist and they have a spot open on Thursday which is fortuitous because it's spring and the typical wait for a regular appointment with an allergist this time of year can be measured in light years.
   I see the doc, the doc looks at me, concurs with my diagnosis and gives me some sample antibiotics. Usually when I went to see him about a sinus infection in the past he would give me prednisone, and when I ask him about that he prescribes some prednisone as well.
   Now prednisone is an interesting drug. Take it too long and it will disable your adrenal glands. A usual course for me is about one week. Start with a full dose and cut it in half every couple of days until the week is up.
    In the past when I have had a bad sinus infection and taken prednisone the only thing I notice is that I start feeling better right away. On the other hand, if I am not horribly sick, the prednisone will get me all jacked up, which is how I felt Thursday afternoon when I put up seven posts on this blog before I was tired enough to try going to sleep. Sleeping didn't work very well. I got maybe 3 or four hours of sleep on Friday. I didn't take any more prednisone because I wanted some sleep more than anything. Today (Saturday) I took a half dose and I seem to be doing okay.

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