Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

[mlooney 3,417]

13 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

Arthur Eichengrün?

OK, yeah, should have said him.  There, of course, is a minor problem with having him canonized. 

I was thinking more about Stewart Adams,Subhash Desai,Harmon Northrop Morse, Alfred Sallmann and Rudolf Pfister plus the group of Silvana Ciceri, Hans-Jurgen Hamann, Ingrid Hurner, Peter Kurka, and Joachim Maasz.

Lots of Germans there, and none that did their important work during the bad years.

[mlooney 3,417]

My throat tickle is back.  Going to take another dose of the Q and pass right the freaking out.  NyQuil works wonders on me, but I suspect that fact that it just renders me unconscious might be part of that.

Use search on YouTube for NyQuil and Denis Leary.  I would link to it to it, but it's rather not work safe.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

11 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

No need to be such a Bayer about it.

Take two Aspirin™ and call the Pope in the morning.

This reminds me of the tale of the man who decided to commit suicide by taking Aspirin. The trouble was, he took two and felt better.

[mlooney 3,417]

20 hours ago, mlooney said:

My throat tickle is back.  Going to take another dose of the Q and pass right the freaking out. 

Just woke up.  Drenched in sweat.  Checked the thermostat.  Set on heat and showing 85 degrees.  Moved to AC and drank about a liter of water. 

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

30 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Just woke up.  Drenched in sweat.  Checked the thermostat.  Set on heat and showing 85 degrees.  Moved to AC and drank about a liter of water. 

Holy broiled knackwurst, Batman!

[ijuin 572]

Yes, why was it set to 85? I'd be drenched in sweat at that temperature too.

[mlooney 3,417]

2 hours ago, ijuin said:

Yes, why was it set to 85? I'd be drenched in sweat at that temperature too.

It wasn't set to 85, that's what the inside temperature was.  It was set to 73

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

You'd think by now we'd have thermostats smart enough to switch between heating and cooling on their own, instead of making us flip a switch or press a button.  What's so hard about "If it's over 75, turn on the A/C; if it's under 68, turn on the heat," or whatever range the homeowners desire?

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

38 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

You'd think by now we'd have thermostats smart enough to switch between heating and cooling on their own, instead of making us flip a switch or press a button.  What's so hard about "If it's over 75, turn on the A/C; if it's under 68, turn on the heat," or whatever range the homeowners desire?

The Nest 3.0 that we have does this. You can set it to "heat and cool" mode, then set a minimum and a maximum. Our heat pump will then keep the temperature from exceeding either end of the range.

Right now, though, I've got it on just Cool mode, since that's a bit more energy efficient. It'll cool to a set temperature, then stop cooling and go into "airwave" mode where it circulates the cool air throughout the house.

Pretty neat stuff. Came free with the new heat pump, which was not cheap, but to date it seems like it's worth it. Too soon to tell.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I haven't called the physical therapy place yet. That happens sometime Monday. Got to get the appointments set up, despite how bad my back hurts. One thing I'm not (read: never) looking forward to is all of the paperwork. I haven't been to the place since they computerized, and they didn't put the old "inactive" records into the new system. Slackers.

Back pain is still present. The Topamax medicine for it seems to have plateaued, and I'm on the maximum dose. I don't have any hydrocodone left for breakthrough pain, so I'm stuck taking 3 Tramadol per day instead of my usual two. One thing I will say for the Topamax—it does help you lose weight. When I weighed in at the electrophysiologist's office, I was down 20 pounds from my heaviest weight prior to starting on it.

Coughing is still going on. I'm on day two of the Nexium regimen to see if I have some reflux that might be irritating my trachea. Coughing wasn't so bad today, but I didn't do a lot of talking or breathing through my mouth—mostly breathing through my nose, which causes fewer problems. Of course, when Mrs. Prof came home and we started talking about her cat roundup day (I think she caught 16 feral cats), I started coughing again. Might need more soup.

Finally, I have recorded a few events on the cardiac event monitor. Most recently was a rather hard PVC, just a few minutes ago. I've had dizziness upon standing, racing heartbeats after walking a bit, and a headache with fatigue (yes, that's something they want you to report). I hope they're able to make sense of everything when the 21 days are over.

[mlooney 3,417]

12 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

You'd think by now we'd have thermostats smart enough to switch between heating and cooling on their own, instead of making us flip a switch or press a button.  What's so hard about "If it's over 75, turn on the A/C; if it's under 68, turn on the heat," or whatever range the homeowners desire?

The thermostat at my mom's house had that. For reasons I never understood she insisted that functionality didn't exist and could not exist. This was in part based on her massive HVAC experience from being a secretary of a HVAC repair place for a year or so in 1970

All that aside today is looking like a NyQuil day.  See y'all in six to ten hours.

[ijuin 572]

Yes, because it's impossible to do things with today's technology that the technology of fifty years ago could not do. In that case, the Web, desktop computers, and smartphones don't exist.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Had a particularly bad day and evening of coughing. Mrs. Prof bought more Sam's Club tomato basil soup at her last trip there. Cooked some up in an attempt to avoid taking more medicine. (Had to take an extra dose of hydroxyzine earlier.)

Also had trouble with the spinal nerve affecting my right side. It's making my left hip hurt again, and the pain is moving down the back of my thigh, just like it did after I originally hurt it. I've had to take the label max of my Tramadol (one to two pills every 4 to 6 hours - I've been taking just two pills a day for chronic pain management). Tomato basil soup doesn't work on it, unfortunately.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

1 hour ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Had a particularly bad day and evening of coughing. Mrs. Prof bought more Sam's Club tomato basil soup at her last trip there. Cooked some up in an attempt to avoid taking more medicine. (Had to take an extra dose of hydroxyzine earlier.)

Also had trouble with the spinal nerve affecting my right side. It's making my left hip hurt again, and the pain is moving down the back of my thigh, just like it did after I originally hurt it. I've had to take the label max of my Tramadol (one to two pills every 4 to 6 hours - I've been taking just two pills a day for chronic pain management). Tomato basil soup doesn't work on it, unfortunately.

Oof. Hang in there, Prof. I hope something works out for you eventually.

[mlooney 3,417]

I am in migraine postdrome right now.  I am starting to worry about the fact that I am more and more liking this feeling.  It's not just the I don't hurt, it the other side effects of postdrome I am almost looking forward to.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Woke up to a coughing fit after five hours sleep. Went straight for my Nexium and my Respimat inhaler. Followed that with a cup of jasmine oolong. I'm on cup #2 now. Learned we'd received some rain overnight,  which was a bit of a surprise—at midnight, it looked like the storms were going to split up and pass around us.

33 minutes ago, mlooney said:

I am in migraine postdrome right now.  I am starting to worry about the fact that I am more and more liking this feeling.  It's not just the I don't hurt, it the other side effects of postdrome I am almost looking forward to.

Anything that feels good can be addictive, to one degree or another. Remind yourself of that when you're in the pain phase, then try remembering how you got to the postdrome phase and the hell that you had to endure. Counter-thought. I'm no doctor, but logic (not Susan's) says it might help.

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

Have you tried heat or cold on your back?  I know the last Pain Management class I took, they emphasized how useful simple things like massage and hot or cold compresses could be.  I wish I were closer so I could smuggle you in to work to try the therapy laser on you.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Coughing wasn't so bad earlier, but it's bad now. I've already gone the tomato basil soup route, and I can't take my Respimat for another 30 minutes, so I don't know what else to do. Trying to concentrate on breathing through my nose to avoid irritating my trachea. Not 100% successful.

To make matters worse, my right side nerve isn't happy today. It's giving me grief down through my hip and into my left leg again. Trying to avoid the extra Tramadol today.

Last note: physical therapy is all set. I start Thursday afternoon. I'll be doing a Tuesday/Thursday schedule, for 12 appointments at $30 a whack. Geez—it costs good money to have someone inflict pain on you nowadays.

[Don Edwards 548]

1 hour ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Coughing wasn't so bad earlier, but it's bad now. I've already gone the tomato basil soup route, and I can't take my Respimat for another 30 minutes, so I don't know what else to do.

Does steam help?

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

5 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

Does steam help?

Not really, since it's not lung congestion. It's a tracheal cough, which has several dozen possible causes. Right now, I'm working on the possibility that it might be reflux. I'm taking a course of OTC Nexium along with the Respimat inhaler. That, plus hot, soothing things like soups and jasmine oolong tea.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Lastday. Physical therapy begins today. My right side is in great pain just sitting here—the Topamax isn't doing a damned thing for it anymore. Plus, I'm still coughing, and I've still got this unwieldy cardiac event monitor attached to me.

You wanna know the part I hate the worst? The paperwork. The volumes of gotta-fill-it-out-everywhere-you-go, same-crap-everywhere, they-never-give-you-a-farking-desk-to-write-on paperwork. I've got a bit of a head start on it, thanks to the therapy place e-mailing the forms to me, plus the spreadsheets of medications I take, operations I've had, and allergies/adverse reactions I have.

You want to reform the medical system in the United States? Get rid of all of the farking paperwork and centralize everything on chipcards with PINs.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Change of plans. More to the point, change of pains. My right side has reached the point where it hurts so much that I can't drive myself to the physical therapy place. Appointment canceled.

I've called the doctor and reported the problem to his nurse. The doctor doesn't get in for another couple of hours, so I don't know where this is going to go. Anything will have to wait until tomorrow at the earliest, because Mrs. Prof is working out of her office today and can't drive me.

Suckage level = 100%.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Just when you think it can't get any worse ... it gets worse.

The nurse talked to the spine doctor. He wants to do cortisone injections into the right side of my spine. Soon. I'm waiting for the scheduling department to call with a date for the operation. Made bloody sure to tell them it's got to be in the hospital and not their outpatient center (damned non-insurance-plan anesthesiologists).

[Vorlonagent 442]

3 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Just when you think it can't get any worse ... it gets worse.

The nurse talked to the spine doctor. He wants to do cortisone injections into the right side of my spine. Soon. I'm waiting for the scheduling department to call with a date for the operation. Made bloody sure to tell them it's got to be in the hospital and not their outpatient center (damned non-insurance-plan anesthesiologists).

Words fail. 

Just 

 

[The Old Hack 2,448]

1 hour ago, Vorlonagent said:

Words fail. 

Just 

 

Me too.