I always thought that the most important effect of corticosteroid use
in pain relief was the of supression of T-cell activation and the
inhibition of cytokine and effector molecule production.  So steroids
stimulate the production of lipocortin that inhibits Phosphlipase A2?

Yes.

Yes :-)

In AD, it is thought that excessive microglial activation leads to
inflammation and that negative regulation of microglia by nicotine may
prevent this from occurring.  There seems to be an inverse correlation
between smoking and the onset of AD and Parkinson's disease.  

Yes, it's always good to hear of little successes (and learn something
in the process :-)

Darryl.

i've been doing nasal steroids for sinus allergy problems for
about 6 months, and i've noticed that i sleep much less and seem
to have more energy, though i'm not exercising as much as i did
before i started my current job.  darryl could probably answer
this one:  is budesonide a corticosteroid?

Gee, I wish my doc would put me on some.  I would love to have the energy
to get my house cleaned up!
Gwen

Barb, as you may remember, Ida's "drove us crazy" question was "Where's
Pelli?"

Pelli was her little dog, which was 17 years old, toothless, incontinent,
and she herself admitted a couple of years prior, that it was way past time
to be put gently to sleep.

When she went to the vet with that intent, she slipped on the ice and fell,
cutting herself in the process.

After she was stitched up she believed that "God had intervened" and she
continued to keep the dog even though it had pretty much wrecked her house
by the time she came here to live.   The house absolutely reeked, and all
the carpets all over the house were soaked through to the floor and turned
much of the wood black.   Of course we found that out later when we went to
clean up the house to sell it.   Before that, we knew it smelled but not how
bad it was.

We tried at first to handle both her and the dog, but then we saw she was
force feeding it with a spoon on her lap at the table which was unbelievably
cruel to watch.   (The dog could eat OK by itself, this was just her thing).
Then it started defecating and peeing all over my house too, of course.   My
own animals were confused by this and it was becoming a problem.

My husband said that we would care for her, but not the dog and her both.
So after trying for about a week, one especially miserable morning after a
couple of late night/early AM cleanups, he took the dog to the vet himself
and had it put down.  (Believe me, it was way over time for this).  Ida knew
and was OK with the decison at the time.

We had the dog cremated and then we had a little doggie funeral, burying it
in the yard, and planted flowers over it so she would be able to understand
it.   It was OK with Ida throughout, and she agreed that it had to be done
and participated, but of course afterward SHE DIDN'T REMEMBER A THING!

No matter how many times we explained to her, no matter what we said, she
kept looking for that dog and asking a million times a day.  For years on
end, all day and all night, she did that!   It was hard to understand
because she knew that Peter was taking the dog, and she went along with it
at the time, it just didn't stick in her memory.

She woke up in the night calling the dog.  She looked under the bed and in
the closet and around the house calling and calling.   She would ask and ask
and ask over and over till we were tearing our hair out.   She would sit on
the sofa and call it all day long and ask us yet again.

We even typed up a paper with the full explanation about the dog and asked
her to read it and sign it, that she understood.   She did that just fine,
and then forgot that too, and it was just another exercise in futility.

But on SOME level, she DID understand, because for instance she NEVER asked
for the dog at the Daycare center or at anyone elses house!!!!!!!!!   It was
only at home where she last had the dog.

Another instance showed there was some small recognition, in that she would
memorize the answer, but not the situation itself.   We would say "Pelli was
old and sick and had to be put to sleep and was buried in the yard, right
there by those flowers."

She would ask, and then just a second later would answer herself, saying
"Pelli was put to sleep?"  ....So what do you do?   You explain again for
the hundred millionth time.   To them, they are asking it for the very first
time, every time.

Finally she did stop asking for the dog but only when her cognition began to
fail even more.

(Had she gone right to a nursing home, the dog would have had to be put down
anyway and it was really hard to have to deal with the dog's problems and
her too).

We got a new puppy and a new kitten in hopes of distracting her.   Neither
tactic worked.   The only way to get through it is to answer yet again.   No
matter how many times they ask.

My belief is that at that point in time, her own judgement and thought
processes were still quite clear, because she could answer questions
clearly, would tell you what she wanted etc., but she couldn't remember
current happenings anymore.  She complied and agreed and understood the
event at the time, and even participated in the doggie funeral when we
buried its ashes, yet she still could not remember.

So apparently the rational judgment part of her brain was still functioning
even though the memory of current happenings was not.