Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required) (Content TV-MA)

[mlooney 3,826]

I have a  migraine aura.  Taking aspirin, caffeine, and acetaminophen now, and will take imitrex if I have a soul-crushing pain phase.  Instruction on imitrex is to wait until the pain phase, which sucks.

https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/sumatriptan/how-and-when-to-take-or-use-sumatriptan/

[mlooney 3,826]

55 minutes ago, mlooney said:

I have a  migraine aura.  Taking aspirin, caffeine, and acetaminophen now, and will take imitrex if I have a soul-crushing pain phase.  Instruction on imitrex is to wait until the pain phase, which sucks.

https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/sumatriptan/how-and-when-to-take-or-use-sumatriptan/

And there is a pain phase that ACA isn't fixing.  Taking imitrex now.  Hopefully the dizzy will not last long.

[mlooney 3,826]

Finished my appointment with Sandra; no change in drugs; see her again in the 1st week of December.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

Most annoying. For the second time in the past week, I've woke up and couldn't focus on anything. My glasses didn't do me any good. It took about 20 minutes for my eyes to settle down and start focusing on letters that I normally can see without much problem. My wife checked my blood sugar, just to be sure. It came in at 139 - a tiny bit high, but not enough to cause this kind of problem. You'd expect numbrs in the 200s to cause this.

[Don Edwards 581]

Prof, it sounds like a good time to visit (and hopefully see) an ophthalmologist...

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

1 hour ago, Don Edwards said:

Prof, it sounds like a good time to visit (and hopefully see) an ophthalmologist...

I just saw one about six weeks ago, and he didn't see any major problems with my eyes. He said I had cataracts in the extremely early stages, but nothing to worry about. He definitely didn't say anything about the yellow tint I get on waking up sometimes. Anyway, my vision came back to normal about 5 minutes prior to me typing in the above complaint. If it happens again, I'm going to see my primary doctor and get a referral to a different eye doctor.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

My turn to ride the crazy Migraine train. It hit with no warning, despite me taking my preventative 60mg of Qulipta last night. I took a Nurtec ODT 75mg as soon as I realized it was a migraine. Forty minutes later, nothing had kicked in yet, so I took a Sudafed and then, a few minutes later, a capsule of medical-grade caffeine (200mg). It's now almost 1 hour and 50 minutes past onset, and the pain has subsided from a 9 to a 6.5 or a 7. Most of it is on my right side, as usual, but it has hit both sides, albeit unequally. As long as I keep the lights off and the television muted, I think I can live with the current level, but I wish I didn't have to.

I've started tracking it on Migraine Buddy to see if that helps me any. Simultaneously, I'm using a tracking chart that's part of a Word document. Same goal.

[mlooney 3,826]

So far, I've been lucky, in that Imitrex has stopped every migraine I've had since I've started taking it dead in its tracks.  Of course, it leaves me unable to function really well due to dizziness, but that is a far better option than soul crushing.

[mlooney 3,826]

Mental health appointment over, no changes; see her again 1st week of January

[mlooney 3,826]

Please, all things lawful good, may I not have to take my last dose of Loperamide before the next one shows up on Monday. I have better things to do.

[mlooney 3,826]

The sore throat I had yesterday during my D&D game has gotten much worse, plus I have a runny nose that is not responding to the drugs I normally take for that. So, I'm taking cold and flu Alka-Seltzer and going back to bed, like I have a choice in that after taking C&F drugs. See y'all in 6 hours.

[mlooney 3,826]

On 12/6/2025 at 11:33 AM, mlooney said:

Please, all things lawful good, may I not have to take my last dose of Loperamide before the next one shows up on Monday. I have better things to do.

For the reason you take loperamide, I took my last dose this morning.  The new bottle arrived 15 minutes later. Somehow  I ordered the small bottle of it, but I normally don't need it enough to worry about that.

[mlooney 3,826]

I just got the bill for my prostate biopsy. It was $6,159.60 after insurance. One painful call to their customer “Service” and I got a 3-year payment plan set up, but the net effect of this is that my “mad money” per month has been reduced to zero. Of course I'm getting a little bit of an increase in my disability payment starting next month, but not enough to cover this.

Fuck. At least my more recent medical stuff has been covered by insurance. The sleep study wasn't cheap, but it only cost me $30.
 

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

I am finally coming down off of a 3-day migraine episode, wherein I hit pain level 10 many, many times during day 2. I felt like my head was going to explode with the force of Tsar Bomba and take out several counties. During day 2, I had no choice but to listen to my wife and let her drive me to my neurologist's office for a walk-in neural block appointment. He administered 3 sets of neural blocks to my head: one group of injections to the back of my skull, on both sides, another group of injections to the temple on either side of my head, and another set via foul-tasting nasal drops administered to each nostril (without injections, thankfully). Before all of the above, I also received a gluteal booster of Zofran anti-nausea medicine, since the ODT dose (Oral Disintegrating Tablet) wasn't getting the job done.

After around 10 minutes of simmering, my pain was more or less manageable. It was down to a more reasonable 4 or 5 on the zero-to-10 scale I referenced earlier when I said I'd hit a 10 several times. My nausea was also more controllable, but it was not completely gone: the motion from the car ride home made things rough for me.

Since then, during day 3 at home today, I've briefly hit pain level 9 a couple of times, but never level 10. The nausea has mostly been kept at bay, too. All told, I'd say this was the worst bout I've had, even if you count the time last year when I had to have a "migraine cocktail" at the ER. Now, let's see how big of a headache the insurance coverage is going to cause.

[Don Edwards 581]

59 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Now, let's see how big of a headache the insurance coverage is going to cause.

Maybe, just to give your head a bit of a rest, the insurance will instead be a pain in the ass.

[mlooney 3,826]

While I get migraines more often than you do, I think, mine are much milder.  I can typically  deal with  them via ACA (aspirin, caffeine, and acetaminophen,) and imitrex has never failed me,   I've only had to go to the hospital once for a migraine.

[mlooney 3,826]

I have returned from Dr. Frogge, re Flomax not working.  Change in my medication, and see him in 6 weeks.

[mlooney 3,826]

My meeting with Sandra is over. She added buspirone for my anxiety attacks. I see her again in 2 weeks due to a change in drugs.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

My tilt-lift reclining chair was in the process of giving up the ghost on me. Once you got it to lift you above a certain height, it began to wobble left and right something fierce. So, Mrs. Prof, thoughtful being that she is, got onto Facebook Market and found a replacement for $250. It seems okay so far. Instead of a faux leather covering, this one has a fabric covering. It's also very, very plush - so much so that we had to stick a couple of pillows behind me so that I could reach my laptop's keyboard.

I'm not quite used to the new layout yet. Just a couple of moments ago, I knocked my iPhone off of the tiny stand I've got it on and caused it to hit the floor. No damage, fortunately, thanks to the OtterBox case it's in. I'm also still getting used to the typing layout. The kayboard is at kind of an angle to me for proximity purposes. Any closer to straight out in front of me, and I would't be able to reach it, even with the pillows. Speaking of which, Mrs. Prof has ordered some kind of lumbar support pillow system that is supposed to take the place of the pillows. No idea when it'll get here.

Could be worse. Could have been raining on the way home from the place we bought the recliner. That would have really sucked.

[mlooney 3,826]

The joys of Plan D insurance.  I have a yearly $300 deductable before they start paying for drugs.  The 90-day supply of the one that keeps me from hearing voices is $202.06. I've got to suck it up this time, and my other drugs are gonna be full price until I have spent $300.00.  At least the drugstore called before they filled it to see what I wanted to do.  I've just spent the last hour on the phone with my insurance company to get all of this explained to me.  Thankfully I have enough pills that I can wait until the 3rd, when I have money again, to get it filled.  This sucks, and not the good way.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,354]

Damned migraine forced me to miss band rehearsal tonight. Urgh. I still haven't got rid of the pain completely.

[mlooney 3,826]

I just had a migraine where I had a migraine hangover after taking imitrex.  Which was the 1st time for that.  I'm glad that my migraines are manageable with relatively low levels of drugs; I'm not sure what I would do otherwise.  I feel for you.

[mlooney 3,826]

I just returned from having a fiber optic cable shoved up my, ah, bits, so the doctor could look at my bladder. Good news, no scarring. Bad news, my prostate is swollen, but we knew that. Worse news, peeing hurts, and I've been told that may last a day or two. I see him again in November, unless something comes up.

[Don Edwards 581]

My urologist told me that cystoscopy patients mostly fall into one of two groups: those who remember Lamaze training, and those who scream.

[mlooney 3,826]

2 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

My urologist told me that cystoscopy patients mostly fall into one of two groups: those who remember Lamaze training, and those who scream.

I didn't scream, but I did pound my fists on the chair a bit.