Craving the White Stuff

I'm on antibiotics for what my doctor tells me is a case of walking pneumonia, and I've been directed to taking more inhaled steroids and, if those don't work, oral cortisone, which I am loathe to ingest, because the side effects of having an appetite 24/7 and gaining 30 pounds or more tends to send me into a deep depression.
Ugh.
The winter lunger is a tradition with me, as I've had winter virus/flu/respiratory infections for as long as I've had asthma, which is about 42 years.
It's getting harder to get over these things as I get older, though, and doctors are not as good about helping out my tattered immune system with antibiotics as they used to be, mainly because of MRSA and other drug-resistant bacteria that are lurking around out there, killing off old folks, children and other immune-compromised people, like myself (I am taking azithioprine, a drug that depresses the immune system).
Oh, and before I forget, I'd like to set the record straight about something that could be misunderstood from previous posts. I do NOT hate Janice Zander,co-owner of Work It Out Womens fitness, easily one of the best gyms I've ever had the good fortune to attend.
Janice is a very tough and intense instructor, and, as such, somewhat frightening to those overstuffed with avoirdupois, like me. I'm not limber, nimble or agile, and I have a hard time with some of the moves she devises for her classes. I realise its all in the name of fitness, muscle building and health, and that there's no malice involved, but, being raised as the good midwestern child that I was, I am loathe to disappoint my teachers, and I hate feeling like a big fat plodding idiot, which is what often happens to me when I attempt moves that are beyond my physical limitations.
Yet I still take Janices classes and modify the moves I can't accomplish. Since Billie is still out with kidney infections, Janice is teaching her classes, and yesterdays balla and weights class was surprisingly easy...I assume because the lovely Marilee has bronchitis and I mentioned that I have pneumonia, and I can only assume Janice didn't want to have to call 911 for either one of us. So she mercifully kept it low impact, though we did a lot of reps during the weights portion of the class. Still, it was a manageable class that I enjoyed and was amazed to complete, crap-filled lungs and all. And Janice rocks!
I find that I tire more easily when my lungs are infected, and that it hurts to take a deep breath. I also find that inhaled steroids and antibiotics make me crave the white stuff--sugar, in copious amounts. I have this insatiable need for sweets, and, knowing it will end up on my belly, I have the opposite desire to not consume too much of it, lest I gain back all the weight I've worked so hard to lose. Of course my husband, who lost 15 pounds in three weeks just by giving up coke and exercising, hasn't gained an ounce back, even though he is back to eating fake cheeze products on crackers, beer nuts, chocolate milk and beer, with the occaisional peanut butter cup or chocolate brownie thrown in for good measure. And he doesn't gain it back! ARG!
How unfair is that? And his doctor told him today that she thinks he may just be able to go swimming a couple of times a week, stay away from cola and sweets, and not have to go on any type of diabetes medication for his insulin resistance. Again, how unfair! I think she should have told him he needs to exercise at least three times a week, and lay off the beer and crappy snacks completely. But no. He gets a get out of jail free card, while I'm working out 5 times a week and not losing a pound.
But today is Jims 47th birthday, so I suppose the man is entitled to a bit of good news. I just wish my body worked as well as his does at shedding weight and fighting off colds and infections. Men and their superior ability to gain muscle and lose weight really chaps my hide this time of year. I know that hubby will be able to overeat on Thanksgiving and Christmas with impunity, dagnabit.
Oh, well, there are some compensations to being female, I suppose. Being cleaner, softer and being able to produce wonderful people like my son Nick are but a few I could name.