A fair statement, yes, and I’ll be among the first to champion science over practically anything. Just because something is natural doesn't mean that it is good for you. But, if the best that the latest medical thinking can offer me is a temporary reprieve from pain but possible long-term consequences that are just as bad, if not worse, than the original issue, is that really the best treatment plan?

I don't blame the doctors. I am so grateful for even getting a diagnosis so quickly. And I am unbelievably lucky to have good health insurance—or health insurance at all, for that matter. Even with it, I have spent a couple thousand dollars on care for this condition.

The fact is, like many others, I had lost touch with my own body. Or maybe I was never in touch in the first place.

Until now, I'd completely relied on doctors to tell me how all the different systems of my body work together, even the basics that I should know myself. Did you know that bad dental habits can lead to heart disease? Or that you're taller in the morning than you are in the evening? Yeah, there's the danger of over-Googling. But technology has given us an advantage when it comes to owning our health. On top of countless social media groups, there are over 40,000 health-related mobile apps, with chronic disease management apps like Crohn’s Diary, Glucose Buddy, and Cancer.net allowing patients to take the reins when it comes to how they deal with their own disease, a Brookings Institution report recently found. Tools like these and others can function as great support resources.

When I came to grips with the idea that the short term relief I was getting from the medications might cause long-term damage, especially to my liver, I became desperate to get off of them. I'd tried in the past, but each time I dropped the dosage on my medications, my symptoms would worsen.

By learning from the mistakes of other angioedema sufferers online and understanding how prednisone affects the adrenal glands, I was able to wean myself off of the steroid completely. Prednisone takes the place of cortisol, a naturally occurring hormone in the adrenal glands. When a person uses this type of steroid, the adrenal glands create less of their own, and so the body eventually requires the steroid to continue working, which is why reducing dosage, even incrementally, can have side effects. I'd read that others were able to wean by dropping the dosage by 1 milligram each week, and that they'd increased the amount of other meds, like Doxepin, to help them. With the agreement of my doctor, this is what I did.

I also tried "oil pulling", an Ayurvedic cleansing ritual, received weekly acupuncture treatments to help with my anxiety attacks, and took probiotics daily. I'm not sure if it was the alternative treatments, the medication, or a combination—or if the condition simply eased up on its own—but after ten weeks, I was able to get off the Prednisone. A few weeks later, I weaned myself off of Doxepin too. I'm not cured, but I'm better. Now I only take steroids in emergencies, on top of one daily Allegra and one Zantac—yes, Zantac. Who knew that there were histamine receptors in your stomach, too?