The Shot I'd Never Get

For the past three & half years, I pretty much swore (except like MckMama, I don't) that I would never ever get a steroid shot. I have gone to the Urgent Care on a number of occasions and they've written me out oral prescription for steroids along with suggesting a shot of steroids. I have always denied. I try to tell them why, but they look at me like I have five eyes. There is widespread thought by Lyme patients that steroids can cause a severe increase of symptoms. I for one am intrigued by the thought because I myself had oral dose of steroids and it was shortly after that when the straw broke the camel's back. Coincidence? I'm not sure. One thing I was sure of was, "That's the shot I'd never get."

Well Saturday morning, I woke with a tiny bit of itching in my left ear lobe. I thought it was odd, but then again I am prone to itching. I'm also prone to mosquito bites. So I thought maybe a mosquito had entered the house and bit me in my sleep. Well as the day progressed, the ear became more and more inflamed and itchy. Slowly, both ears became itchy. Last night I slept a total of 60 minutes due to the itchy nature of my ear lobes. Also in the middle of the night my arm started itching. So I went to work because well I love my job and this is a huge week for us and at some point I felt like just chopping off my ears they were driving me absolutely bonkers.

So once I left work for the day, I drove straight to Urgent Care. I was hoping that the words steroids would not be mentioned, but honestly I expected it. Went over my symptoms, my medicines, my surgeries, my allergies and waited. Then the doctor came in. After we had a few minute discussion, he determined that I *must* be having an allergic reaction to something (duh). He immediately started talking about the oral pred pack and then he said the words .. "The nurse will be right in to give you a shot. It will clear that rash and itchiness right up." I gulped and decided that I couldn't tolerate one more day of this itchiness and gave in to the shot. OUCH. For about 10 seconds, I forgot about the itchiness because my butt hurt so bad that I couldn't focus on my ears.

I'm praying that this doesn't screw up my Lyme progress. I just couldn't take the itchy swollen ear lobes anymore.

PS. My ear is less swollen and less itchy. I took 12.5 mg of Benedryl to try to get the itching to ease off even more. The problem is that the shot can cause "restlessness." The special place where they inserted said shot hurts as well. OUCH. So between the ouchy and the restlessness and the slight itchiness ... i'm behind in sleep again tonight. However, I did get a couple of hours this afternoon right after the shot was given. Even though the area was painful, I was so exhausted that I just passed out as soon as my face hit the pillow. Just in case there was some allergen in my sheets, I put on new sheets before hitting said pillow. ;)