The Toddler Proves She's Amazing and I Am Calamity Jane

So after the stomach flu and the missing dog, I almost set the house on fire yesterday.

All those times I've referenced being in a fog and going through stop signs? All the cognition on time delay due to adrenal stuff?

That caught up with me.

Apparently, recovering from the stomach flu with impaired adrenal function on top of not being quite fully awake yet is the new fire triangle.

I turned on the wrong burner, the burner without a pot on it, and went to take a shower. A nearby dish towel caught fire.

The toddler noticed the smoke and pulled me out of the shower with shouts of 'smoke'.

Not one smoke detector went off. Not one. Which is amazing because there was a lot of smoke.

I ran out of the shower and threw the towel in the sink and doused it with water. I am now terrified, even a day later, which is irrational, that I missed a spark somewhere and the whole house will burn down while we are asleep.

The house smells terrible and the asthma is not so happy with all the smoke inhalation. I don't know what the threshold is for smoke damage, but we may lose our drapes and I suspect our clothing will never quite lose the smell of near disaster.

I still have not updosed, but I am dragging enough now that maybe I will. I continue to hope if I leave my body hanging just a little bit, it will step up and do the right thing. That may not be logical. If the asthma gets bad enough, it's a moot point anyway as I'll have to updose for that.

PS: We will be installing many many more smoke detectors. The current configuration would not sound the alarm until after all exits had been blocked by fire, which is pretty dumb.

Unstirring the Pot

This taper is going very well.

I am happy.

The fatigue is okay, but I am not pushing myself either. Spent several hours in bed while the toddler watched way too much PBS. Ate a lot of pickles and they helped. (Can they be prescribed? They are really a miracle in vinegar.)

My mood was definitely affected by... not sure what.

Is the HPA axis recovering and now I have too much cortisol?

Or is it just from being on steroids for so long?

Although typically mood issues caused by steroids occur at higher doses and early on.

Not at the sub-physiologic dose I'm taking, which, if the medical literature is to be believed, is about as potent as a homeopathic remedy when it comes to impacting mood.

(Of course, this is not exactly a rigorously studied area of medicine.)

But I've never had The Crazyee before. I gather it's not expected to happen to someone in my shoes, yet here I am.

Dear Universe: Just once, can I just be like every other patient? In a good way? Please?

I feel much much MUCH better now that I've tapered. Oh my God. So much better. I'm not losing it, it's not me, it's the meds.

(Don't tell me that's what they all say.)

It is scary to realize how far down the abyss I fell without realizing it was the steroids.

I mean, yeah, my life sucks.

But it's sucked before and I've coped. So?

Yeah, steroids stir the crazy pot.

Be careful.