Tapering, Midnight Oil and Seeking Refuge
I'm in a bit of a funk as I complete my taper from prednisone, a drug I use as a prophylactic to minimize the disruption of my life from cluster headaches that I recently wrote about here. Prednisone is both a godsend and a curse. I'd be lost without it for those weeks and months when I'm desperate for relief from severe headache pain but it comes at a price: irritableness, aggression, mood swings, shakiness, sleeplessness, and lethargy bordering on depression. Those are just some of the more obvious side effects for me. There are other, less noticeable but more adverse reactions that come with the prolonged use of the drug. But still, I readily take it for the relief it provides.
Prednisone suppresses the body's adrenal gland and its ability to manufacture natural corticosteroids (especially cortisol). It shuts it down completely. Weaning off the drug is important to allow time for the adrenal gland to once again begin its own cortisol production, and that takes time. I hope to be back to normal in a few weeks to a month provided I don't relapse into another phase of the headaches as has been my experience all too often over the past 10 years or more.
I got a call this morning from a representative for a drug trial company called Science 37. They would like me to participate in a trial for a drug called SOM230 which works to both abort a cluster headache and to prevent them. I told her I was interested. She would like me to contact her when I'm next in a cluster headache phase and they will fly me out to Los Angeles for 1 to 2 weeks to take part in the trial. It's always been my hunch that there's not enough research being done to understand and treat cluster headaches so I'm happy to do my part to help.
On a whim, I went to see Midnight Oil at First Avenue last week. A friend of mine, Ed, in Seattle highly recommended not passing them up so I took his advice. It was a nice whim! I got there an hour before the doors opened and found my place in line next to Phil, a friend from work. We passed the time catching up with one another.
Phil and I both found spots on the rail, stage left from which to watch the show. It was an excellent time even if it meant being on my feet for 5 hours to secure my place. I won't hesitate to go and see them again should they find their way back here.
For many in the States, their world is being rocked by hurricanes (Harvey and Irma) in the southeast and forest fires out west. I find myself somewhat amused by those on the political right who rail against democratic socialism until they need help, and then they've got their hands out. I'm left to wonder where their free-market spirit and pulling-themselves-up-by-their-bootstraps mentality escapes to in times like this. Sure, these are tragic events and we should all step up and help those who are suffering, but how is this any different than a family who is stricken with cancer or some other catastrophe? There is no difference.
And for a few, perhaps, as they abandon their homes to flee the fires and storms seeking refuge, this will give them the inkling they need to better understand just a little of what desperate families fleeing Syria and other war-torn countries are feeling as they too leave their lives behind seeking safety, looking to us for help while we slam the door in their faces. This travesty continues to haunt my thoughts. I'm not expecting many conservatives to make that connection because it's not a sentiment that would ever be expressed on right-wing media—the place that has so warped their minds and is the primary source for the divide we're experiencing here.
I'm frustrated.
I see a country that is becoming more and more unrecognizable with each passing day. Just 2 days ago, Trump* proposed deporting 800,000 young people, people who were brought here illegally as children but people that have only ever known this country and its language, and yet he's prepared to send them back to where they came from—many with no connection to their past. And these are good, decent people who are in school or working or both while contributing to the fabric of our country, serving in our military and giving everything they have for the betterment of us all. What purpose does it serve to threaten them in this way? What purpose does Trump* serve?
What a fucking dope!
On a happier note, Keith McKay was in town over the Labor Day weekend and we were able to get together and ride the river bottoms with some friends; always a nice time!
Prednisone suppresses the body's adrenal gland and its ability to manufacture natural corticosteroids (especially cortisol). It shuts it down completely. Weaning off the drug is important to allow time for the adrenal gland to once again begin its own cortisol production, and that takes time. I hope to be back to normal in a few weeks to a month provided I don't relapse into another phase of the headaches as has been my experience all too often over the past 10 years or more.
I got a call this morning from a representative for a drug trial company called Science 37. They would like me to participate in a trial for a drug called SOM230 which works to both abort a cluster headache and to prevent them. I told her I was interested. She would like me to contact her when I'm next in a cluster headache phase and they will fly me out to Los Angeles for 1 to 2 weeks to take part in the trial. It's always been my hunch that there's not enough research being done to understand and treat cluster headaches so I'm happy to do my part to help.
On a whim, I went to see Midnight Oil at First Avenue last week. A friend of mine, Ed, in Seattle highly recommended not passing them up so I took his advice. It was a nice whim! I got there an hour before the doors opened and found my place in line next to Phil, a friend from work. We passed the time catching up with one another.
Phil and I both found spots on the rail, stage left from which to watch the show. It was an excellent time even if it meant being on my feet for 5 hours to secure my place. I won't hesitate to go and see them again should they find their way back here.
For many in the States, their world is being rocked by hurricanes (Harvey and Irma) in the southeast and forest fires out west. I find myself somewhat amused by those on the political right who rail against democratic socialism until they need help, and then they've got their hands out. I'm left to wonder where their free-market spirit and pulling-themselves-up-by-their-bootstraps mentality escapes to in times like this. Sure, these are tragic events and we should all step up and help those who are suffering, but how is this any different than a family who is stricken with cancer or some other catastrophe? There is no difference.
And for a few, perhaps, as they abandon their homes to flee the fires and storms seeking refuge, this will give them the inkling they need to better understand just a little of what desperate families fleeing Syria and other war-torn countries are feeling as they too leave their lives behind seeking safety, looking to us for help while we slam the door in their faces. This travesty continues to haunt my thoughts. I'm not expecting many conservatives to make that connection because it's not a sentiment that would ever be expressed on right-wing media—the place that has so warped their minds and is the primary source for the divide we're experiencing here.
I'm frustrated.
I see a country that is becoming more and more unrecognizable with each passing day. Just 2 days ago, Trump* proposed deporting 800,000 young people, people who were brought here illegally as children but people that have only ever known this country and its language, and yet he's prepared to send them back to where they came from—many with no connection to their past. And these are good, decent people who are in school or working or both while contributing to the fabric of our country, serving in our military and giving everything they have for the betterment of us all. What purpose does it serve to threaten them in this way? What purpose does Trump* serve?
What a fucking dope!
On a happier note, Keith McKay was in town over the Labor Day weekend and we were able to get together and ride the river bottoms with some friends; always a nice time!
Comments