Mood rollercoaster, anyone?

lratliff

My rheumy put me on good ol' prednisone again, and it is hard to keep my emotions in check when i'm tired, in pain, and have that necessary calorie deficit, and on those steroids! I don't suppose there's a ton to be done about it besides enduring it, but I was just hoping to commiserate with other people about it. Does anyone else have trouble with the emotional roller coaster these days? Side story: The other day I was doing just fine, strolling through the grocery store, trying very hard to have a convincing look of "Life is good, I'm walking this slowly on purpose, i'm just THAT laid back and cool," when a lady sped past me in an electric cart, and said, "You really need to be in one of these! It helps a lot when you're in pain." I was so surprised and kind of embarrassed that my composure wasn't convincing, I turned down the next isle, got immediately misty, and nearly cried... but I stopped myself of course because that would have been way more embarrassing. What if someone had turned the corner and found a random woman crying in front of frozen goods.

I think the emotional side of RA is almost as hard as the pain and inflammation, anyone else agree?

JuliWels

Oh my, yes! The emotional side is definitely a very difficult part of learning to live with RA.

We have the fun prednisone roller coaster of emotions to contend with (I'm on it too) **insert mood swing**, and we also have to come to terms with the pain and changes our bodies go through. **insert tears**

Pre-RA, I would have associated many of the physical changes that I have gone through (and am still going through) with a person *much* older than myself. I have way too much in common with my two Aunts that are in their 90s! It is never easy to accept physical limitations, especially while seeing friends continuing to go through life at the regular fast pace and often not understanding why we are unable to keep up. Friends aside, *I* am having trouble with why I can't keep up! **insert frustration which turns to anger which turns to sadness which turns to tears which leads to a nap which completely restores my mood...for at least 5 minutes...**

KarenK37

I can totally empathize with you my husband unfortunately takes the brunt of my moods. They say the ones you love the most are the ones that you feel most safe and comfortable fighting with. I go thru many ups and downs with moods and I know it is from enduring pain all the time. I read that even when you sleep your body is in pain so you never feel fully rested and I have to say that is so true. I blame the mood swings on the fact that I never feel truly rested and good. People have a hard time understanding that even when we look okay we really are still not feeling okay we have just learned to hide our pain. Its nice to hear other people say they have mood swings too sometimes I feel like guilty about my moods.
I have learned to take everything one day at a time. Today may be a good day or may be a bad one but tomorrow will be a new day!
Hang in there it's tough but we also are tough!

ndbex

I am also on prednisone and have been on it for over a year. I took myself off of it but had enough pain that my doc told me to keep taking it for now. Oh hell, I almost forgot to give myself my Enbrel shot today! Anyways, I also have mood swings but I forgot that the steroids do that to you! I'm glad I found other people who have this going on. It is really tough and I finally started taking Welbutrin so I would be less weepy and sad. Ugh, I hate this. I do agree that the emotional side is worse than the physical side. I can take the pain but I hate how I mentally beat myself up and compare myself to others. Oh well. Thank you all for sharing this because it makes me feel less lonely about the whole thing!

jsp2374

I can totally relate. Been a hard couple of weeks here. The kids keep getting sick and I feel like I haven't had a decent break in over 2 weeks. Last night my hubby told me he wasn't going to work today cause it didn't seem like I was coping very well. I took that the wrong way, and decided I was a horrible mother cause I couldn't just deal with a sick 9 year old with acute tonsillitis, two acute ear infections and asthma on top of it all, a 7 year old who has been on antibiotics for well over a week and still has swollen glands and a sore throat, and a 5 year old who started coughing and climbed into bed with us at least 5 times. Apparently he was right I wasn't coping cause I fell asleep on the couch for over 3 hours this afternoon.

Prenisilone is jut plain evil, but sometimes we just have to do it. I always keep something I know will improve in the house for when I have to go on it.

amaryllis88

I've been on Prednisone for close to 3 yrs, I'm just now getting to a point where my doctor is gradually decreasing my dosage. I think My highest was 40 mg, and now I'm between 1mg to 5mg a day, depending on how yuck I'm feeling. My RA is just weird, yesterday, out of the blue, (at work of all places) my right knee was hurting so much, if it could scream at me, it would, I know that sounds silly, but I feel as though yall understand the pain associated with flares, so yall would understand what I'm talking about.

My feet/ankles and wrists/hands have it the worst, so yesterday was just not a good day at all for me. I recently bought a new pair of shoes, and they were fine, but now my feet have these bumps on the side (and I'm pretty sure it's my bones) I feel like my bones are re-shaping themselves, and it's not to my benefit whatsoever, so they kept rubbing against the sides of my shoes for my entire 8 hour shift yesterday.

I was in so much pain towards the end of my shift, and my family wanted to go out to dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday, that I completely shut down because the pain was so overwhelming for me. It's so hard to stay positive sometimes when I'm dealing with pain, and sometimes it feels like nobody around you understands what your limits are, and when you're going through a painful moment/day, it really takes its toll.

KarenK37

To the last post I have to tell you I stongly recommend using croc shoes. I know they aren't the most fashionable but days that my RA is in my feet I use my crocs and I can atleast walk. They seem to take most of the impact when walking.
I totally understand how you feel when you say no one understands the pain you have, I too have pain almost everyday but for my family and friends I try to just act like I feel fine. I do have days that there is no one to put on a happy face and everyone gets the grumpy Karen. It really stinks to feel this way and everyone brushes it off. I find most people have no idea the pain we endure and have very little empathy.
Hang in there and know there are others just like you!

lratliff

Thanks for all the replies! I suspected there were a lot of other people experiencing a similar roller coaster of emotions ) It's nice to get it off your chest!

ndbex

I worked out yesterday and this morning my bones in my hands and ankles hurt. It's always worse in the morning at at the end of the day. I have to throw in my opinion on shoes too. I have some of the GoFit Skecher shoes and they are AMAZING. I didn't buy them because I thought they actually shape your butt. I read the reviews about how people with knee and back pain did really well because of the shoes. I have to agree. I've never had a more comfortable shoe!

I hope to wean off steroids soon. I'm tired of the constant carb cravings.

lratliff

Oh man, maybe we need a whole topic for shoes! I have dr. scholls sneakers which I basically live in! It's so much harder to walk/balance barefoot, I trip on the teeniest things (a grain of rice!??) since my ankles and feet have become SO weak that they can't handle any sort of unexpected shift in weight/balance. My rheumy told me last year that my feet had gone flat from the RA (wierd huh!?) so I have to wear orthotic insoles now too. Plus, maybe its just from swelling joints but I wear 1 size bigger in shoes now, anyone else have that happen?