Welcome To The Wild World of Steroids

Yesterday I began treatment for my anemia in the form of getting pumped full of steroids intravenously. Since then it has been fun times, kids. A lot of people I know are on the same medication I'm now on, but for different conditions. They all said the side effects weren't noticeable for them but they're all on much smaller dosages than me. I hope I can be on a smaller dosage at some point cuz I'm only two days into this and I already don't like myself very much. Immediately following my IV's (I have one more tomorrow and then I'll be taking my meds in pill form), I get very erratic and talk and talk rather loudly. It's a weird little...not really 'high'. After that first hour passes, it's anyone's guess which version of me rears its ugly head. In the past two days I have had: bouts of depression, times when I'm really happy for no reason, and times when I snap at people for no good reason. Last night I didn't fall asleep until around 4:15 AM, even though I was exhausted. I wanted to close my eyes but it was like something was keeping me from doing that. Tired but wired. I asked a nurse about all this and she said moodiness and sleeplessness can be side effects of such a high dose of medication. Fantastic. So I asked her how I was supposed to get more rest (doctor's orders) if the meds were keeping me up. She handed me prescriptions for anti-anxiety meds and something for sleeplessness, then told me to pick up some vitamins to help with my fatigue. It was a lot to take in. I have to take vitamins to help with my energy level, but downers so I can sleep at night. All while dealing with pregnant chick-esque mood swings. I'm hoping all of this is temporary. I know I have to be on this drug regimen for at least three weeks. If it's working, we start tapering off the dosages and thus, the side effects should be less. In the meantime, I apologize in advance if I snap at you or ramble incoherently about something sad or ramble erratically about something happy. We all know I'm moody anyway so I'm making an effort to keep it in check and not make this as bad on all of you as it is on me. Here's hoping the storms are not terrible and they pass quickly.