Showing posts with label nortriptyline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nortriptyline. Show all posts

28 September 2008

Pins & Needles Hand

So needless to say with my shoulder & elbow having been out my hand is all pins & needles. I just feel like whining, but I'll spare you all. The elbow is back where it belongs & the shoulder is just about right, but just a hair off or I pissed off something in there & that's what's hurting, either way it still hurts.

On to other topics, I am off the Pamelor, couldn't take the side effects anymore. The biggest issue one being my heart going flutter-flutter-BOOM, that feeling wigged me out a bit. The neuro wasn't in the office when I called to say I was going to stop taking it. When her asst called me back she said the neuro didn't have my chart to consult, but if I wanted to try Topamax she'd call it in for me, unless I had kidney stones, which she thought I might. I have had at least a dozen that have passed & have at least 1 in my left kidney right now, so I passed on taking that. So I'll stay on my Neurontin for now. I have been reducing the dose a bit even though I I feel my neuropathy more. I am sick of feeling so tired & the neuropathy I have isn't going to kill me. I need a break from the drug right now & I'm not going to stop taking it, but a reduced dose for a few weeks should be ok.

I go see my GP next week & talk over who/where he'll want to refer me out to & what I want to be referred out to. This is also the appt where I decide if he is a doc I will be keeping. He did blow off a lot of issues I was having thinking they would just go away or something & I was thinking of firing him, but he had been getting a bit better & does seem eager to learn. A doc who can admit he might not know everything under the sun & is willing to not only take literature I bring in, but actually read it is a rare doc. So we'll see how this appt goes, see how much of the EDS data I brought at the last appt he read & if he & I are on the same page.

Oh & on a wonderful note the potty training is going wonderfully!

22 September 2008

The Sahara Lives in my Mouth

So the doc said I might have a bit of dry mouth with the Pamelor, but wow this is insane. It's as though I have a bunch of those suckers the dentist puts in your mouth in there it's so dry. I am moving it from a pm med to an am med since it really doesn't make me tired in the least. I'm not sure if it's making me hyper or if it's the lower amt of Neurontin that is doing it. Either way I am enjoying being awake, not groggy.

The bad news is that I don't think it's going to work well for the neuropathy cause that is coming back. I am so itchy, which I used to be before Neurontin, & the pins & needles are coming back too. The itchy is only on my lower legs & arms, plus the top of my chest, which is where it was before so I know it's not an allergic reaction. It might just be that the Pamelor just hasn't built up in my system. Oh & the eating is just ridiculous. I might gain 40lbs in the next week from how I am eating & you just can't help it. So far there is no effect on the headaches either, but it's only been 12 days & only 10mg.

So I'm stilling giving it a go, but I'm not sure how well it's working or going to work.

On a happy note Toad started using the potty! (If you don't have a child you may not get how wonderful this is, but imagine you had to handle items soaked in urine & feces 6-18x per day for 3 years & then you'll know why this is such joy.)

15 September 2008

It seemed like a good idea at the time

So I decided instead of walking down to pre-school, then back home, then back down to get Toad & finally back home that I would just take my laptop with me & stay downtown. I really forgot to factor in the fact that I have to walk 1 of the 2 speeds I can walk or walking is very painful & my odds of falling are higher, but my child doesn't like to walk either of those speeds. Add to that the weight of the laptop pulling on my neck & I guess I should be happy I didn't fall. I am in agony & sitting in the coffee shop I just to work in. I am now trying to decide if I would do better staying here & walking home carrying this thing or if I'd do better resting for a tiny bit, walking home with the laptop, then going back down to pick up Toad & walking back. On Wednesday I'll just bring a paperback with & read.

On a slighty brighter note I have a school girl crush on the cute guy at the Y. I know cause I wore mascara to take Toad to pre-school, lol. I think I'll take this second to say that I am a single mom, not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I may have. Toad's biological father is not in the picture at all other than to send a few $ most months & we only dated for a few months. I just don't have the energy to deal with a relationship right now, I'm just trying to get thru life one day at a time. But just because I don't want a relationship doesn't mean I can't feel cute & flirt with someone, so I am flirting with the cute guy at the Y, cause it's fun.

On a very cool note I got a wheelchair for free this weekend! We went to run a few errands this weekend & stopped by Roomie's Dad's house. (Ok, this may get confusing.) Over the summer Roomie's sister, dad, mom & step-father have a ton of yardsales & most things get stored at Roomie's dad'd house. The step-father works as a trucker & is known as the guy who "dumpster dives", most of the time it's just stuff set out at the curb along his route or things people will ask him if he wants before they would throw out rather than climbing in dumpsters. So anyhow we stopped by & in the garage with the leftover yardsale stuff was a wheelchair, so I announced I was taking it. It's the first chair on this page. It's not new nor is it s perfect fit, but it's darn close & it's free. The armrests come off which I have to have or I can't comfortably reach the wheels to push myself, the legrests come off too which is nice since I often leg propel myself.

Oh & because I haven't change the topic enough times let's do it once more! I am switching meds from Neurontin to Pamelor & it's been interesting so far. I was on 600mg in the am & afternoon & 900mg in the evening for the Neurontin. I am now at 600mg 3x per day. As for the Pamelor I am at the 10mg 1x per day at night. I am finding I remember my dreams more, feel a bit less drowsy in the day, those are the good effects. The bad ones are I've become a total flamiong bitch (which I do hope will mellow back to normal bitchy) & the leg itchies have come back in force. I have scabs all over my legs from itching, ugh. It's like RLS except instead of needing to move I get itchy. So hopefully as I ramp up on the Pamelor it will go away again. I do like feeling more alert & dreaming again, but not if it means I have to be an obnoxious bitch who keeps itching her legs til they bleed. (btw: Neurontin=gabapentin & Pamelor=nortriptyline)

11 September 2008

Important Request

If anyone knows what a normal damn body is supposed to feel like could they please let me know? Thanks.


So yesterday I went the neuro to talk about the other not migraine headaches I get. I get a lot of types of headaches. For migraines I get aura-then-migraine migraines plus I also get just-the-aura-then-a-slight-pressure migraines (those don't hurt). For my not migraines I get the daily never goes away at the base of my skull headache that always hurts just the levels vary. Sometimes (3-12x times a month) I get a worse headache at the back/base of my head. It lasts for 2-3 days each time (every now & again it will last for a 5 or so days). It comes often when the weather changes or if I've slept poorly or if the universe has just decided I look cute when I'm in agony. These headaches are ones I can sort of function with. I have lived with daily pain for my whole life so I am very good as pushing on when in pain. I usually wear tinted glasses, keep my fluids up & can run an errand or stuff like that, but I am very slow while I do it & have to lay on the floor a lot. Seems my neuro thinks these are migraines as well. Her thought is if it hurts like a bitch, makes your tummy feel like hell & like is a bit like a dagger thru your brain that you have a migraine. I thought if it didn't feel like my other migraines that it wasn't a migraine, guess that's not true. So now I have a dx of 3 types of migraine, lovely.

So just for the record let's look at what I've been dx'ed with this year alone that I thought were normal medical stuff I thought the whole world had to deal with but turns out a freaky things most of the world will never deal with, shall we? Good, here's the list:
2 new types of Migraine
EDS
PFPS-Really was EDS
Arthralgia-Due to EDS
Neuropathy
Not to mention the falls I've had to be treated for

Plus before this past year I have a few things wrong as well. Let's take a look at that list now.
Poland's Syndrome
Asthma
Migraine w/Aura
OA of both hands
OA of both knees
Kidney Stones
Scolosis
Chronic Severe Constipation
MVP w/Murmur
Irregular Heartbeat

So yeah if anyone knows what a normal body feels like please do let me know so I can figure out if I have 80 other things wrong that I thought were totally normal. Ugh.

Ok, so I feel a touch better now that I got all that bitching done, lol. Anyhow since I guess it turns out I am still getting migraines at least once a week my migraines aren't under control. My neuro wants to switch me from the Neurontin to Nortriptyline. So this week I was already trying to wean down to 600mg 3x per day on the Neurontin since I wanted to see if I could reduce the side effects, but not have the symptoms return. So now that it was 3 days already at the 600 3xs I have added in the Nortriptyline last night at 10mg. I will do 10mg at night for a week then I will take 20mg at night for a week, then 30mg at night from then on. I am to try to wean down the neurontin slowly & see if I can get off it without symptoms returning, if I can't that's ok. 300mg 3x per day would be ok & 600 3x per day would be acceptable. She also wrote me an rx for Vicodin & I got the drug lecture. I told her than if I take 1/2 a Vicodin with a low dose muscle relaxer I can sleep & usually wake with a much less painful headache if not returned to my normal low level pain. So if she could write for that she could give me less of the Vicodin. She did give me the muscle relaxer & the Vicodin as well. It's just a few of each, but when I can't sleep at night from the pain it's nice to know I have something I can do other than cry. When I get sent over to PT she wants them to do some work with my neck. I do wonder if there isn't a structural issue due to the ribcage issues & the missing muscles. I wonder if I am using shoulder muscles for things they “shouldn’t” be used for & there for pissing off my neck muscles. Oh & just for fun I have a history of mild mania & am on a tricyclic antidepressant (Nortriptyline), so life could get very interesting.

I’ll be posting about Toad’s school & how it went this week later today.