Indeed, my steroid use is merely a survival tool until I can have shoulder surgery in both shoulders to repair torn rotator cuffs.  Why would a 39 year old have torn rotator cuffs you ask???  Well, evidently I have faulty genetics which affect my ability to produce collagen… collagen is evidently very important to muscles, ligaments, tendons, and overall joint health.  My grandmother had similar joint issues… I suppose I share her genetic deficiencies.  Anyway, my diagnosis is calcific tendonitis and tendonosis with bursitis, significant calcification due to osteoarthritis in my joints, and tears in my supraspinatus tendons and likely tears in the other rotator muscles as well.  YIPPEE!!!  With a 6 month old… not to mention a 4, 9, 11, and 40 year old, having my arms strapped down to my side for 3 to 6 months is just NOT an option.  So, I asked my orthopedic surgeon to treat me like a professional football player who has to play in the Super Bowl every day for the next 3 to 5 years!!!  He was, indeed, mildly amused, but still insists that surgery is inevitable.  However, with the comment that steroid injections were “not his treatment of choice and only temporary”, he shot me up!!! 

FYI:  I have not started growing hair in unusual places and my voice has NOT deepened, but my shoulders are already feeling MUCH better after just one day.  I LOVE steroids!!!!!  The pain had gotten so severe that I could not sleep (even if our infant son did) due to the pain, I was not pain-free in a chair, I was not pain-free in the air, I was not pain-free on the stairs, I was not pain-free any where.  You get the idea… it was bad!!! 

So, now I’m feeling MUCH better, am rather giddy (can you tell?), and should only continue to feel less pain… oh… for about the next year hopefully.  This is my brain; this is my brain on STEROIDS!!!!  Any questions?

Blessings,