cannot sleep too many thiongs going on

Poor you Margaret , I did to much patchwork yesterday and cut half pred and am back with shoulder neck pain this am . Geriatric cat and over keen border collie rounding up cat since 2 .30 Doesnt help . So makes yourself a cup of tea and have it with me .

Drink drink drink , water unfortunately . I have had something called interstitial cystitis and the one thing the urologist said was to never drink cranberry juice because he reckoned that it agrivated the wall of the bladder . Also to have a rest from eating dairy for a few days . The cystitis I get is not caused by an infection but he reckoned the same applied to kidney / urine infections . Worrying about it adds to the problem as well .

I know that pred gives you dry eye dry skin etc so perhaps more fluid 'which we all know means more time rushing to the loo 'may be a help to starting to feel better . I do hope you start to improve soon Carol

Oh Margaret, this is all hitting you all at once like a ton load of bricks.

i knit too but as of yet I do not suffer from pains in my hands but I do suffer terribly from a very painful right shoulder blade if I knit too much. So I pace myself and always stop knitting long before I really want to. I normally knit for about 2.5 hours in the evening and no more. My mother had arthritis in her hands so always went to bed with soft woolly gloves on, she said it warmed her hand up and helped with the pain, I don know if that could help you.

i don't know about the equal bath idea, I can't see that it would hurt. But hopefully now they know what the problem is they can sort it out. Also this is a silly thing to say but I had a dog that had a bladder infection that ascended to her kidneys following cancer treatment. They took a sample of her urine and tested it to see exactly what bacterial infection was causing her cystitis and then gave her an antibiotic aimed specifically at that bacteria. She took the drugs for a very long time and they were very low dosage. (Apparently there are 2 ways to approach antibiotic treatment, 1 is to bombarde the infection with high levels of antibiotics and the 2nd way is to use very low levels of antibiotics and take them for a long time. Perhaps you could speak with your Dr about  pinpointing which bacterial infection it is and then they can prescribe you the antibiotic that is aimed at that bacteria.

fir your swollen eyelids, I sometimes put cucumber on mine when mine are swollen. I don't think the cucumber offers any healing properties other than it is lovely and cool on the lids and it is easier to put on than an ice cube that might be a little too cool.

margaret, I think you may have lost your appetite because of everything you've been through lately. Are you the Margaret that was unable to sleep because of chest pain. If you are then your body is probably very exhausted. To try and kick start your appetite try some porridge, boiled egg and toast, scrambled egg and toast. Maybe that will help. But I do believe that when we are feeling very low and we are run down our body just at the time when it should have lots of goodness tells us it's not hungry but just try a little and often. Also I believe that when you're I'll if you fancy something sweet, have sometimg sweet, and likewise if you fancy something savoury, have something savoury.

the vitamins I take as supplements are, vit d, 10 micro grams, vit c, 500 mgs, b complex, recommend daily allowance, calcium, 500mgs, magnesium 188 mgs, iron 14mgs, and cod liver oil that has abit more vit d in that makes up the above 10 micro gramms. Let me know if you are interested in which brands etc, and I'll let you know. I don't know if any of these suppliments are doing me any good, but the calcium, magnesium and the vit d is a must for us all that are taking preds because they help greatly with the bones.

presently because of everything going on it is very difficult for you to relax. I hope this break helps a little to take your mind off this frustrating condition and the effects of the essential but rotten preds. Do take care, christina 

Hi Margaret,

Sorry to hear you are having such problems.

To avoid cystitis and bladder infections, I try to drink 2 litres of water a day and then some. If I get an infection, I go to the doctor, provide a urine sample, which they check in the office using a dip stick. If that shows bacteria, the sample goes to a lab, which lets the doctor know which bacteria is involved. The doctor then prescribes and appropriate antibiotic. 

A warm bath makes the nasty cystitis feeling better!

Hope you feel better and enjoy your trip!

Paula

I suspect the bladder not emptying properly is something that goes along with PMR. A lot of people complain of bladder symptoms. I have had the same problem for years and have had a urethral stretch done 3 times - made a fantastic difference to the cystitis symptoms. When they found the problem did they offer you any advice/solutions? There are exercises to improve the muscles as well as other measures. A programme on German TV recently also said it was important for us to make sure we had finished and not go to the loo in a rush - I wasn't paying full attention so can't remember the rest, sorry. Talk to the practice nurse and see if she can give any suggestions. As the others say - the GP shouldn't have been handing out antibiotics willy-nilly , he should have sent a sample for culture so they know which antibiotic is the right one.