I will NEVER...

Take a Medrol Dose Pack (steroids) again to break the Migraine cycle. (I say that now..) It worked to stop a M I had for days upon days.... but it lowered my immune system and got me sick

I have a sinus infection, bronchitis, and my first ear infection of my life. It says to stay away from sick people while on it, and I did, but you know in this nasty weather you can pick up germs anywhere.

I feel like death warmed over!

So sorry, you are so ill BabySeal. It is a great shame, especially since your M is better at last.

It is quite true that steroids can make you succeptible to infection, but it seems that you have been unlucky.
I had to use short courses of steroids (prendisolone) for another condition few times, but so far, I had never caught any infections as a result of steroids.

It might be possible, that since it is the time of the year when many people have colds you would have caught one anyway, if you were exposed to some germs.

It is also true that when you take steroids you should take special care to avoid possibility of infection, but at times a short course of steroids might be the only thing that would break some the bad long M cycle, so it should not be completely disregarded in such cases.

Steroids should never be used without careful consideration due to many serious s/effect if taken over longer period of time, but they have their uses. Sometimes they are real lifesafers.

You make wonderful points Mini, I do admit I am being a bit dramatic, I have always taken steroids when I was ill to help me get well and they worked so well... so I should have figured when I took them without having an infection one would be on it's way (I work in healthcare)

This sure is a downer though to have a SINUS headache now, although nothing compared to the migraines. Hurts clear down to my teeth!!

I understant only too well that feeling, BabySeal; I mean being a little dramatic.
When we feel very unwell and in pain, the whole world seems like a scary, dangerous place, and that our suffering is never going to end, that we are never going to be well again - so yes, sometimes we make highly emotionaly charged statemnts. We are only human!

But then when we get better, I find that we get rewarded by enjoying life much, much more then "ordinary" people.
I hope your sinus pain gets better soon, and that you will experince that "high" that comes with being well again.
What are you taking for it?

Sorry that the steroids messed with your immune system so dramatically, Babyseal. They can lower your immunity for sure.

I just wanted to chime in that I recently had to take a steroid pack for a 3 week, unrelenting migraine, and it really helped. Although I was very nervous about taking it, as I had never taken steroids before, it wasn't too bad and it broke the cycle, thankfully.

So many of the medications we have to take for migraine are harsh on our systems. I actually went off of Topamax after nearly two years on it because it affected my immune system so much. I was getting sick all the time and then the last straw was coming down with Shingles. I still have nerve pain, so clearly my nerves were damaged by the SHingles, which is so much more likely to happen if you are immunocompromised.

So, hang in there! Know you aren't alone....

I have tried the cold/sinus meds I had on hand in my cabinet... the advil and tylenol cold and sinus pills? Unfortunately they haven't even attempted to unclog anything. At first I was estatic that the migraine cycle was broken! But this is starting to feel just as bad.

Enter in 103 fever. What I was thinking was, I have vomiting with whatever this "mix of sickness" is so since I haven't held much down and am dehydrated, that also includes my topamax. I guess here is to hoping it has had time to absorb into my system before coming back up because you cannot stop it abruptly, or bad things happen. I don't really care what they are at this point.. (thats how grim I am )

I felt so bad last night for being frustrated. My 9 month old wouldn't sleep for ANYTHING and between me running to the toilet to vomit, and attempting to keep him from making a mess/getting hurt/eating non-food things/ crawling the steps/ etc... I was just DONE. I cried a lot.

Gah.. vent done. Time to put my big girl panties on and deal with it!

Mini wrote:But then when we get better, I find that we get rewarded by enjoying life much, much more then "ordinary" people.

I like that

Thanks for your words of encouragement the other day, I am still sick but slowly getting better.

Oddly the venting was comforting.

Wow, I didn't know you have to watch being around sick people. I have taken steroids alot to break the cycle. I had no clue. But I also take alot of Vit. C and E. so maybe that's why I never got sick from it.

Thanks for sharing that information.