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ProfessorTomoe

Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

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10 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

I suspect my doc would consider that a *big* plus!  He once offered to put me on an anti-seizure medication, with no history of seizures, just to see if I'd get the weight-loss side effect.  Which was actually quite gratifying because at least he actually sees hyperadiposism (I just made that term up but I'm sure I'm not the first) as a medical condition and not a moral failing!

Agreed! I just wish the medicines I'm on would stop giving me strange, vivid dreams. I mean, the Cymbalta gave me weird dreams, but they've gotten worse since switching from it a year and a few months back. I have a feeling they're responsible for my inability to sleep through the night, but there's no way I could ever prove that. I doubt that it'd show up on a sleep study.

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One other thing I think the medicines are doing to me—giving me "morning shivers." I wake up cold in the morning, no matter what the ambient temperature, just as if I'd been hibernating. It takes me a good 30 minutes to an hour to stop shivering (and, sometimes, to get my teeth to stop chattering).

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Ouch.

I was in the middle of revising a piece of music tonight when I was blindsided by a bout of pain coming from my left ankle. Specifically, from the left side of it, where the plate and most of the screws were before they were removed. I tried to fight through it—took Tylenol, since I can't take NSAIDs due to bleeding risks—but I eventually had to give up working on the music, lie down, and elevate my ankle. That didn't even make a dent in the pain, so I took an extra Tramadol, which my doctor says I can do in case of emergency. IMHO, this was an emergency.

The pain has dulled off a bit, but it's still there. At least I can put weight on it again. The only problem is that I feel drugged out now, something that rarely happens with Tramadol. Could be an interaction with the Brintellix and the Ambien CR. No headache, so I don't think it's serotonin syndrome. Just bad luck.

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The ankle pain returned to something close to its normal, Tramadol-reduced level by the next day. I've been limping a bit more when I walk, but I've had no reason to pull out the cane to walk indoors around the furniture yet. I only need it for external excursions, which are few and far between.

My appetite has increased a bit over the past few days. Not sure if the Brintellix is plateauing or if I had merely been sick and have recovered.

Sleep-wise, it's been a week from hell since Tuesday. I hit the two-month limit on my melatonin dose (I take 10mg nightly), and I've been waking up every couple of hours every night. I've also been crashing out multiple times during the day. Maybe that's got something to do with my appetite increase. I don't know. I've got so many damned medicine interactions going on that I can't tell one from another. Going by the warning pages you get with each medication, I should either be living in my doctor's office or be dead from serotonin syndrome and/or internal bleeding.

Sigh. I need a break from myself.

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Gut cramps this morning that persisted to the afternoon led to a precautionary hospital visit.

Appendicitis. Fun. Caught it before it burst, thankfully. Surgery in the morning.

Any advice for what to do afterwards? I'm 26, if that helps.

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40 minutes ago, Zorua said:

Any advice for what to do afterwards? I'm 26, if that helps.

Watch your bowel movements post-op. I know it sounds gross, but it's vital. If you start getting black, tarry stools, go to the ER IMMEDIATELY. That means you may be bleeding internally, which is how I got to my current state of disability.

On the other hand, if things go well, be ready for a bit of constipation. Possibly a rather substantial bit. I had my appendix out back in 1983 (in the pre-endoscope era), and I didn't have a movement for two weeks afterward.

Other than that, follow your doctor's orders to the letter. No shortcuts. You don't want to risk peritonitis.

Good luck with your surgery. May you heal quickly.

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3:49 a.m. CDT.  I'm up again. I went to bed around midnight, but now I'm up and awake.

I had extremely vivid dreams, to the point where I feel like I slept for at least six hours. I'm awake, but somewhat off balance, thanks to the Brintellix and lack of melatonin.

This is the last night of the one-week break I have to take between two months of nightly melatonin doses. I go back on 10mg nightly when bedtime comes tonight (Tuesday). God, please let the melatonin help, even if only for a short while.

I'm going to take a Benadryl again, but I fear it'll only work for a few hours (if the cat will ever shut up and let me go back to sleep). The house repair workers are bound to get here early and wake me up with the ripping of old siding and the banging of putting up more Hardie board.

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Only managed to get five hours of sleep last night after logging off from the chat. At least that much was consecutive. I tried staying up, but wound up crashing again shortly before my wife went to work at 8:30 this morning. Another couple of hours of horizontality and I feel a bit better.

In an unrelated medical note, I'm nursing a second-degree burn on my right index finger. Mrs. Prof asked me to try and solder something for her last night. I grasped the soldering iron a bit too close to the metal portion and blistered a line on my finger. Thank goodness for cool water soaks and Tramadol.

BTW, today is Brintellix refill day. Another $140+ to be spent at CVS. Not fun, but at least it seems to be working better than the Cymbalta and Fetzima did.

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None of my medicines are working properly at the moment.

I'm not sure if that's an accurate statement. Let's just say that external circumstances are causing them to be taxed to their maximum. I would normally put off my "midday" doses until around 2pm, but I'm going ahead and taking them now. I need them to kick in as quickly as possible.

God, I hate this. (hits mute button for TV—I'll be damned if I'm listening to political news coverage considering how I feel right now)  I can't even talk about what's set me off. This is painful.

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Just now, CritterKeeper said:

*hugs* I'm very sorry you're having such a tough time right now.  I hope knowing you have friends and support here helps, and I just wish there were more I could do!

Once again, seconded. And I am totally with you as far as politics in TV go. Politics in Denmark are so bollocking embarrassing right now that the only way I know to cope is to pretend that they aren't happening. I swear that someone inserted the line "Government for morons, by morons and of morons" into our Constitution when no-one was looking.

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I think things have calmed down enough to the point where my medications are working again, or to where they're sufficient to help me endure most of the problems I've encountered. I've developed an involuntary twitch on the right side of my upper lip (due to the stress, I assume), so I can't say things are 100% under control yet. I have had to up my dosages of a couple of meds at bedtime so I could get to sleep without my thoughts racing.

I would be happy with this if I didn't have a cold or some other sort of body blargage going on today. Been either stretched out, in the bathroom, or blowing my brains through my nose all day long. Urrgh.

We'll see what happens when I go in for a med check next Friday.

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I sympathize as well.  I felt something similar last week.

I was blindsided by a change at work that left me feeling particularly powerless (I am vulnerable to feeling this way anyway).  I had a simmering emotional meltdown going that lasted all weekend but recovered during this week.  I'm back to normal now.   (normal as I get anyway...)

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The pollen, it burns!

Okay, it doesn't burn, but it makes my body misfire, and I am misfiring like Hades today.

I've got four levels of antihistamine drugs to go through when things get bad: Zyxal, Atarax, Benadryl, and Promethazine. I'm at level two on a normal day. This is not a normal day. I've had to go to level three, and am seriously considering level four.

At least the tic in my facial muscles has gone away. It's been replaced by throbbing sinus pain.

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After months and months of fighting insurance companies and doctors offices, I have finally gotten medical clearance. Pre-surgical consult is on Wednesday in Titusville and surgery is scheduled for May 18 in Altamonte Springs.

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34 minutes ago, PSadlon said:

After months and months of fighting insurance companies and doctors offices, I have finally gotten medical clearance. Pre-surgical consult is on Wednesday in Titusville and surgery is scheduled for May 18 in Altamonte Springs.

GOOD.

Please take care of yourself and let us know how things go.

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Had my three-month med check with my psychiatrist yesterday. The first thing I mentioned was how expensive the farking Brintellix is (purchasing an antidepressant is not supposed to be a depressing experience). He was actually a bit surprised to learn that it costs more that $150 for a 30-day supply.

His advice? "Try Canada." Seriously.

I asked if it was legal, and he said it is—at least, it is for antidepressants.

Mrs. Prof checked the web for Canadian Brintellix suppliers today. They want $170 USD for 28 pills. So much for Canada.

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Have you tried GoodRx.com?  I've had several clients find much cheaper prices through them, and one of my own prescriptions is less than half what my insurance would charge me if I use their "coupon".

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