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ProfessorTomoe

Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

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9:14 a.m. CDT 20170725. I'm getting forgetful. Had to go back and insert the time zone in the message header. I'm having trouble remembering the names of things—all I can remember is the letter they start with. Mrs. Prof (or a Doctor, if I'm at an appointment) has to come up with the word for me.

Dry mouth. Biotene spray. Enough said.

Thanks to the Lyrica, I feel like I'm shuffling around the house like an old man, especially when I don't use my cane. I'm not wearing my shoes, because they hurt too much. I think I've gathered enough data for the podiatrist to let him know that I'm still getting stone bruise/gunshot pain in my left foot. Why torture myself further?

Still dealing with the Lyrica-induced cough as well. It starts up about 10-15 minutes after I take it and really lasts for a few hours afterward. I'm just about over it as of this writing.

The sleepiness is made worse by the fact that I take lorazepam, I've learned. It's a drug interaction. I'm just gonna have to fight it.

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11 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

It even made sense and didn't ramble like the typings of a  madman.

That beats me.  Anytime I post longish things the madman gets loose.

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2:40 a.m. CDT 20170726. I'm up because I collapsed at around 10pm last night. I managed to make it through the start of a DVRed show Mrs. Prof wanted to watch, but I couldn't finish it. Gave her the remote and collapsed.

This was about an hour after being told that I'm acting stoned—"thinking" that I'm getting stuff done, when in reality I'm not. Also in reality, I'm having a hard as hell time verbally conveying ideas and actions. I'd set up a spreadsheet (so much for #1)  and was trying to ask for help on turning it into a database, but couldn't get the idea across (point #2 confirmed). This is all Lyrica-based. I still haven't got used to it yet.

I may need to go back on the magic mouthwash. I had trouble swallowing spoonfuls from a bowl of cottage cheese. Felt like I had a lump in the back of my throat that was making it hard to swallow it. No such lump now, but I'll bet it'll come back soon enough.

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I am hoping that a migraine in the afternoon two days in a row isn't the start of a trend.  I'm half way up the ladder and I'm still in freaking "knock me out, please" level pain.

 

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1 hour ago, mlooney said:

I am hoping that a migraine in the afternoon two days in a row isn't the start of a trend.  I'm half way up the ladder and I'm still in freaking "knock me out, please" level pain.

 

OK, the drugs are working enough that I don't want to be knocked out, but not enough that I can think straight about Edge.  This is less than optimal, but better than it was an hour ago. 

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And just when you think things aren't urgent, waBam! Stiff sore lump on the right testic[wait, is that word on the censor list?].

I smell another medical bill in my near future. 

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2:38 a.m. CDT 20170727. I stayed up until 5am typing something rather complex for Scribophile after last night's 2:40 a.m. report. I then went back through it and started capitalizing a word that starts with R. I hit Shift-R after Shift-R, over and over, until my finger slipped and I hit Ctrl-R. Guess what that does in Firefox? Reloads your page. I lost a whole project thanks to one little finger slip. At that point I decided to go to sleep.

I woke up at 2:00 p.m., wondering where everything was and why Loudmouth was out. I counted the time between as a "missed dose" and did not take any of my morning medicines other than my pain medicine. Guess how much work I got done?

I swear, this Lyrica is a productivity killer.

I went ahead and took the evening dose tonight, and I'll take the remainder of my doses until either my next doctor's appointment or until Mrs. Prof forces me to stop taking it.

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9:28 a.m. CDT 20170727. Woke up around 6am or so and took my pain medicine. Took the rest of my medicines—including the Lyrica—after getting a cup of applesauce into me. I'm already feeling the discombobulation and the double vision.

Just had an argument with Mrs. Prof about whether or not I should call the podiatrist and ask him to get off of the Lyrica. She said I'd "done the research" and determined that it was going to take two weeks for my body to catch up. I reminded her that she treated me like a drunken zombie when I tried to show her a spreadsheet the other night. In the end, it was decided that I'm going to stay on the Lyrica, and that she's just going to have to put up with me having problems with it.

Right now, my head's telling me two things: one, that I'm tired, and two, that I need to work on internet stuff. Not sure which choice I'll follow. Probably one.

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10:12 p.m. CDT 20170727. Lots of sleep today, and lots of weird dreams. Still getting the Lyrica coughs. I also feel like I'm making reverse progress in my throat/voice treatment with the magic mouthwash, probably because of the Lyrica. Not as much double vision as yesterday, but I haven't pushed myself as hard. I don't like the fact that I have to sleep in order to keep things stable, but that's the truth of the matter.

Oh, and the Lyrica isn't doing its job yet. I'm still getting stone bruise pain from my 2nd and 3rd left metatarsals. Even my big toe hurts like hell, and it was making progress. I still can't wear my left shoe on a regular basis, though, due to the swelling in my foot.

My "consultation" appointment with pain management doctor #3 is scheduled for just under a week (Wednesday, August 2nd), and I don't know what he's going to do if I show up as a Lyrica zombie. I hope Mrs. Prof is ready to speak on my behalf. Seriously—I'm scared to death over this.

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55 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

My "consultation" appointment with pain management doctor #3 is scheduled for just under a week (Wednesday, August 2nd), and I don't know what he's going to do if I show up as a Lyrica zombie. I hope Mrs. Prof is ready to speak on my behalf. Seriously—I'm scared to death over this.

As my wife would say, don't borrow trouble ahead of time. It may clear up before then. Until then, worrying about it won't help, so if you can, worry about something less stressful. Like if there will ever be a NASCAR/Formula One mashup.

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7 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Like if there will ever be a NASCAR/Formula One mashup.

You get those two cars on the same track and I guarantee that they will mash into each other.

EDIT: as I typed the above, the morning news program played War's "Low Rider" as their outro to commercial.

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2:22 p.m. CDT 20170728. I just did a dumb thing. I've been walking around the house in my socks (mostly) since the last podiatrist appointment, trying to keep from stepping on my metatarsal and big toe areas of my left foot. As a result, the only pain I've had from my left foot has come from my still-healing broken big toe. This made me wonder if the Lyrica, damn it to hell, was actually working. So, I did my dumb thing.

I put my fingers on the bottom of my foot where my metatarsals are and gave a it good push.

The Lyrica is NOT QUITE WORKING YET BOB GAMMAGE BLAMMIT TO HAIL

It's got another week to get its ass in gear. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to continue to do my dumb thing from time to time to see if its ass is truly in gear yet.

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Yesterday was headache free and I suspect that the 2 days before that were weather related.

Which brings us to this afternoon, where I have a "wrong side of the head" migraine.  Thankfully, like all left-hand side migraines1, this one is mild and it is responding well to the ladder.  I can't even really say "the ladder" because the first step knocked it down to just irritating, not soul crushing.

1All left-hand side migraines for me are mild.  Your mileage may vary.

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I don't know if this belongs here or in one of the irritant threads. I have a "MyBlue Wellness Card" from Blue Cross. Basically, it's a medical "carrot and stick" program. You do certain health things, and they put some money on a MasterCard for you to use for doctor visits, prescriptions, and and other major medical stuff (not OTC purchases). I got $50 for doing an online health assessment earlier this year.

Since I'm diabetic, I thought I'd try for their diabetic goal. They had a way of submitting your report online, so I went into my patient portal online, printed out my diabetic reports to PDFs, and uploaded them. And waited. Never heard anything from them. I logged back in today and found that there had been "an error" with what I'd submitted and that I'd need to call some number. I called and found out that a portal printout isn't good enough, because it isn't signed by a doctor.

Damn.

Well, next time I'm at my doctor, I'll take him a cover sheet (from their web site for faxing) and ask him if he'll help me out. They'll do $25 for the first part of the year and $75 for the second part of the year. We'll see if Blue Cross changes the amount as the year progresses.

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5 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I put my fingers on the bottom of my foot where my metatarsals are and gave a it good push.

The Lyrica is NOT QUITE WORKING YET BOB GAMMAGE BLAMMIT TO HAIL

Working doesn't necessarily mean making you impervious to all pain, even self-inflicted.  Maybe next time try starting with a very gentle push, and work your way up until you can tell, then stop.

3 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I don't know if this belongs here or in one of the irritant threads. I have a "MyBlue Wellness Card" from Blue Cross. Basically, it's a medical "carrot and stick" program. You do certain health things, and they put some money on a MasterCard for you to use for doctor visits, prescriptions, and and other major medical stuff (not OTC purchases). I got $50 for doing an online health assessment earlier this year.

Dang, my BCBS wellness thing only gives me points, not cold hard cash for medical stuff.  I got points for a few things online, and I get points every time I go to the gyms in their network.  Including when I go for a walk at lunchtime, and then use my card to get into the gym across the street to get a drink of water on my way back.  Seems fair to me, an hour's walk is a reasonable workout.  I earned enough points to get myself a nice GPSr a year ago, but still....

3 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Well, next time I'm at my doctor, I'll take him a cover sheet (from their web site for faxing) and ask him if he'll help me out. They'll do $25 for the first part of the year and $75 for the second part of the year. We'll see if Blue Cross changes the amount as the year progresses.

Hmm, I should take a closer look at the site, see if there's stuff my doc could be helping me get credit for, too.

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15 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Dang, my BCBS wellness thing only gives me points, not cold hard cash for medical stuff.

The only wellness prizes I get from my doctor are longer life and better health. I have decided not to complain about this.

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20 hours ago, mlooney said:

Yesterday was headache free and I suspect that the 2 days before that were weather related.

If you haven't investigated the possibility of pollen allergies, you probably should.

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1 hour ago, Don Edwards said:

If you haven't investigated the possibility of pollen allergies, you probably should.

Have and that's not it.  What it is atmospheric pressure changes.  There is a reason why "weather.com" is in my "Real life" bookmarks.  The problems start when I forget to check the weather because it's not real obvious that we are having a change.  "Hot and dry" and "hot and storm coming" are pretty much the same from inside.

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9:59 p.m. CDT 20170730. This has been a grueling day, thanks to Lyrica. My brain only works on paper or on computers, but its conversational centers have been shot to hell. I've warned Mrs. Prof that she may have to advocate for me on Wednesday at pain management doctor #3's appointment. I've also urged her to get a medical power of attorney and fill it out. She's done it before, sad to say, for her mother when she was in decline..

I've had to take sleep breaks of varying lengths in order to keep myself going, so to speak. I've got a rather important straw poll going over in my Team thread in the Ubergroup forum. I've had to call on the number counting skills of my Moderator to back me up.

Anyway, all of this is a result of the Lyrica. It's not doing its job on the metatarsal pain. All it's doing is making me a zombie (and probably making me gain weight). It's got until Friday to get its act together. If it isn't working by then, I go off of it and we do an MRI of my left foot.

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20 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

9:59 p.m. CDT 20170730. This has been a grueling day, thanks to Lyrica. My brain only works on paper or on computers, but its conversational centers have been shot to hell. I've warned Mrs. Prof that she may have to advocate for me on Wednesday at pain management doctor #3's appointment. I've also urged her to get a medical power of attorney and fill it out. She's done it before, sad to say, for her mother when she was in decline..

I've had to take sleep breaks of varying lengths in order to keep myself going, so to speak. I've got a rather important straw poll going over in my Team thread in the Ubergroup forum. I've had to call on the number counting skills of my Moderator to back me up.

Anyway, all of this is a result of the Lyrica. It's not doing its job on the metatarsal pain. All it's doing is making me a zombie (and probably making me gain weight). It's got until Friday to get its act together. If it isn't working by then, I go off of it and we do an MRI of my left foot.

I am sorry to hear. This sounds really ugly. I hope that you get this issue resolved soon. :(

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9:36 a.m. CDT 20170731. I seem to have regained my speech capabilities, at the cost of my vision. I've got nasty double vision today. Makes it hard to type. I don't know if I'm going to get anything done one this chronicle of my situation today. Make that not much at all.

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