This didnt seem to be a lot of solumedrol...
 

Just got home from getting my steroids.

Is it just me, or is a 500mL bag of glucose with a ONE GRAM of solumedrol in it, is that a really small dose??

I have the nasty taste in my mouth, but it just tastes like I didnt brush my teeth for a few days. It's no where near the nastiness I had in 2007 when I had oral pred.

They had food there! I ordered a salad and some garlic bread. (garlic bread helped with the dirty penny flavor actually...I'm getting that again tomorrow...maybe with a hamburger) The food wasnt the greatest, but it was pretty tasty.

Yes the amount's tiny. I forget what the rest of the contents are. I had asked before, sugar mostly I believe, but don't quote that.

I chew gum when I get mine done, keeps that nasty taste away.

Actually, 1 gram of solumedrol equals 1000mg , so it is not a small dose. It is the standard dose given IV for MS. Just think how many nasty prednisone pills you would need to take to equal 1000 mg.--Thank goodness, we can get IV.--Hope you are feeling better.

and each one of those nasty little pills taste THOUSANDS of times nastier than the 1 gram of solumedrol. So much easier.

I had a bigger problem being bored out of my mind than any problems with the IV. I also thought I'd have to pee more with 500mL's of glucose. Maybe I need to drink more water?

I'm taking my laptop tomorrow and leaving most of my crochet/knitting projects at home. Taking my Kindle because it was really nice to be able to just sit and read without anyone bugging me every 10 minutes.

I'm really surprised that I'm not bouncing off of the walls tonight. Those nasty pred pills made me absolutely wonko two years ago, and the IVSM seems to be making me feel calm and relaxed and feeling kind of good. My index finger is burning a teeny bit right now, but it kind of a pleasant sensation, so I wont complain much.

Cant wait till I'm done, it's just so boring!!!! I started walking around the short hallway because my knee was stiffening up (it does that) and I just wanted to have a laptop and some dvds and hadnt thought I'd want one until I got there and decided I didnt just want one, I needed one! SOOO BORING!

Two more days to go...and I forgot to ask if they're going to torture me with oral pred after this. They didnt mention it. So, maybe they're not, or they're just waiting to surprise me. (ohyay...not!)

Erin,
Sodium, not sugar, is in the IV bag along with 1 gram of methylprednisolone (Solu Medrol). Eat potassium foods. Bananas, yogurt, potatoes, etc., to keep from retaining the salt.

That may be why you did not feel the need to eliminate the fluids.:) High sodium depletes Potassium (K) in the blood. It can't hurt you to eat less salt, and drink fluids, while getting the IVSM, and for a week after too.

Good Luck Erin. I hope you feel better real soon.:hug:

Wouldnt it be great if they make the pills in cherry flavor or <insert flavor of choice>????

Or at least make them less gag-inducing somehow.

Thank you Lady! That's why I said don't quote me on it! :winky::hug:

I looked at the bag and I also saw the orders. It was 500mL of Glucose, not Saline.

My dad (a CRNA: Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist) saw the bag too...he confirmed to me that it was Glucose.

Now I'm going to raise the white flag. LOL! ;)

In all honesty, I think they used glucose in mine.

As Bluenurse stated, 1 g is normal. I was in a study once with taking 1 g of prednisone a day for 5 days every 4 months. That is A LOT of pills and so nasty tasting that I would take them a few at a time in between bits of food. GROSS!

I do find it interesting that they mixed yours with glucose as the 'roids can increase your blood sugar levels. People with diabetes have carefully monitor their blood sugar levels when taking steroids. So I do find that interesting as well as kind of scary. :eek::eek:

I'm not diabetic (insofar as I know)

I also noticed that I felt fine during the entire infusion yesterday except for the metallic taste in my mouth, which never got as bad as it was when I had oral pred in 2007 (that stuff is NASTY!)

I did have some munchies and a craving or two last night, but I didnt pounce on the package of Hershey's with Almonds that's in the refrigerator last night, and I didnt go after the piece of chocolate that's been sitting on my desk for the past 3 days like a starving lion going after a wildebeest. It's still there (I'm thinking of saving it for the last day, or the day after I finish the 'roids)

My munchies seemed to be for the box of crackers that I opened yesterday afternoon, and had a handful or two of the crackers (I wanted something crunchy)

When I had oral pred, I helped clean out the freezer and refrigerator. People in undeveloped countries that are starving would have been able to live for years on what I inhaled in food for the week or two that I was on oral pred.

I'm just surprised that it seems like the solumedrol isnt doing that to me.

Altho, I'm going to go upstairs and make myself some breakfast because I havent eaten since about 6 or 7pm last night. (well, I did have a cherry yogurt before I went to bed last night) I have to leave at 11am.

If I drive myself tomorrow (last day) I'm stopping at either BK or McD's for breakfast. I took a cab yesterday and doing the same today. (dad's picking me up tonight and I'm going to get my hair washed when we pick my mom up at the place that she's getting her hair and nails done at this afteroon)

My IV port really hurts and really itches this morning. I might ask them to move it to my hand. I think I turned over and slept on it last night or something. I'm afraid to look under the wrap to see if it did anything icky or bloody.

It's routine for me to have the IVSM mixed with D5W. :) I don't tolerate it mixed with saline. D5W is Dextrose and/or sugar water ;). It has reduced the metallic taste and cut down on the damage to what's left of my veins. :( The nursing staff says it's become quite common unless the patient is diabetic or has a family history of diabetes.

That explains a lot. I wasnt getting the steroid flavor as bad as I thought I was going to do after reading about other people's experiences.

I've only had to hit the Cinnamon Altoids a couple of times.

I was told to eat some comfort foods, and discovered monday that garlic toast worked really well for me covering up the taste of solumdrol. I'd rather have the taste (and smell) of garlic wafting around me than have the taste of solumedrol in my mouth.

I'm going to have something more substantial today for lunch during my last infusion, I just have to decide what to eat.

I woke up this morning, and before turning on the lights in my room, I was thinking that the steroids were starting to work and the double vision was going away, but then I realized after I turned on the lights and nearly fell over from the blast of vertigo the light gave me, that I still had the double vision. (light affects it...more contrast, the worse the diplopia gets)

The diplopia seems to change hourly for me. I like to keep checking. Sometimes it's not so bad, sometimes I keep that left eye closed or covered constantly. If I'm in a small room, where the walls arent far away, or when I'm eating, the double vision doesnt bother me much, or at all. The closer something is to me, I dont notice the diplopia. It's distance vision that seems to be getting abused by the diplopia.

I just hope the steroids are working for it. I can tell that it's helping all my other problems. I could find my right foot this morning. My left index finger is still tingly, but not feeling as tingly as it has for the past 8 or 9 months. I'm feeling better than I had been. Except for the vertigo from the diplopia, I'm feeling better. I think tho, that when I'm typing, I'm having more "dyslexic moments" and I dont quite understand that part. Maybe it has something to do with the tinglies not being as bad in my fingers on the left hand?

I just want to be able to see normally again! I'm tired of teenagers laughing at the stupid patch on my glasses. (I went off on two girls in Michael's last night when I was buying some yarn)

Girls were laughing at you in the store???!!! Oh heck pie no! I would have taken a steroid rage induced bite out of them.

You need an eye patch with a picture of a big ol eyeball on it. I would be that weird lady with streamers on her walker. a honk horn, and orange converse shoes.

We need to have some snappy come backs for you to hand out to punk lil twits like that.

You've just given me a good idea.

I think I'm going to go buy some googly-eyes at the craft store later, and start putting the felt patch on the outside of the glasses, with a big googly-eyeball on it.

:D:cool::wink:

Might not wear it every day, but it'll be fun to do.

I just finished the last infusion. (no nasty oral pred taper...yay!) My eye is still fubar-ed, but the rest of me feels good. Keep having to pee tho...stupid 500mL of D5W.

I can feel my toes! And my thigh that's always been a little funky feeling feels pretty good.

and my back doesnt hurt! At least not the low back that's felt like crap for the past 8 or 9yrs. My sore knees feel good too.

So I guess if it doesnt fix my eye, at least I'm getting a bit of a break from all the other crappy stuff.

I do have a headache right now, and I'm tired. Probably from driving home in the rush hour traffic with all the moron drivers trying to kill me because I was driving carefully.