• Announcements

    • Robin

      Welcome!   03/05/2016

      Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change.  If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away.  I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!
ProfessorTomoe

Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

Recommended Posts

13 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

No, but I do tend to get a bit Crabby when I'm using it.

You may have a pulsar.  I've heard alternating heat and and cold packs help with that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My CT myelogram draws one day closer. I wasn't so nervous about it when it was scheduled for today, but now that I know more about what's involved—and now that I have extra time to stew over it—I'm getting more and more anxious about it. That's really going to be a problem from Saturday through the procedure day on Monday, thanks to this list of medicines I'll have to quit cold turkey for 48 hours before the procedure:

  • Abilify
  • Trintellix
  • Wellbutrin
  • Buspar
  • Clorazepate
  • Hydroxyzine

These, plus one PRN drug, Promethazine (a.k.a. Phenergan, which I rarely take anyway), will go bye-bye after my Friday night dose. Why? They all have the possibility of interacting with the dye contrast medium they'll inject into my spine, resulting in seizures. That's all of my antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications, save one: Ativan (Lorazepam). It's the only crutch I can lean on to keep me from going absolutely crazy the weekend before the procedure. However, since I agreed to random drug testing in order to get hydrocodone for my back/hip/leg pain, I can't take extra Lorazepam pills to make up for the absence of the rest.

Oh, and I can't take these blacklisted medicines until 24 hours after the procedure as well. Not only will I be a nervous wreck before, I'll be one afterward.

I've also realized another frightening fact: my last hydrocodone dose will be at 11:00 p.m. Sunday night. The stuff wears off, usually about six hours into the "every eight hours" dosage period.

I am going to be in serious farking pain most of Monday.

I don't know how I'm going to get into my truck. I think I'm going to need a wheelchair to get inside the hospital.

Add all of this together and you've got one big honking basket case on your hands. I do not envy Mrs. Prof's position from Saturday through Tuesday. She's probably going to need Lorazepam by the time all of this is over.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
54 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

My CT myelogram draws one day closer. I wasn't so nervous about it when it was scheduled for today, but now that I know more about what's involved—and now that I have extra time to stew over it—I'm getting more and more anxious about it. That's really going to be a problem from Saturday through the procedure day on Monday, thanks to this list of medicines I'll have to quit cold turkey for 48 hours before the procedure:

  • Abilify
  • Trintellix
  • Wellbutrin
  • Buspar
  • Clorazepate
  • Hydroxyzine

These, plus one PRN drug, Promethazine (a.k.a. Phenergan, which I rarely take anyway), will go bye-bye after my Friday night dose. Why? They all have the possibility of interacting with the dye contrast medium they'll inject into my spine, resulting in seizures. That's all of my antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications, save one: Ativan (Lorazepam). It's the only crutch I can lean on to keep me from going absolutely crazy the weekend before the procedure. However, since I agreed to random drug testing in order to get hydrocodone for my back/hip/leg pain, I can't take extra Lorazepam pills to make up for the absence of the rest.

Oh, and I can't take these blacklisted medicines until 24 hours after the procedure as well. Not only will I be a nervous wreck before, I'll be one afterward.

I've also realized another frightening fact: my last hydrocodone dose will be at 11:00 p.m. Sunday night. The stuff wears off, usually about six hours into the "every eight hours" dosage period.

I am going to be in serious farking pain most of Monday.

I don't know how I'm going to get into my truck. I think I'm going to need a wheelchair to get inside the hospital.

Add all of this together and you've got one big honking basket case on your hands. I do not envy Mrs. Prof's position from Saturday through Tuesday. She's probably going to need Lorazepam by the time all of this is over.

Feel free to vent or dump here.  Line up music and other environmental factors to tide you over...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I do not envy Mrs. Prof's position from Saturday through Tuesday. She's probably going to need Lorazepam by the time all of this is over.

Warn her, apologize in advance, and let her know you appreciate her.

In fact, even when everything is going great, let her know you appreciate her.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
29 minutes ago, Vorlonagent said:

Feel free to vent or dump here.  Line up music and other environmental factors to tide you over...

I'll try to avoid the venting. I've done enough of that already.

Music doesn't help, believe it or not. I have too many counter-ideas about what I could/should be writing instead. My head has its own jukebox, 24/7. Good idea, nevertheless.

25 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

Warn her, apologize in advance, and let her know you appreciate her.

In fact, even when everything is going great, let her know you appreciate her.

I try my best, on both counts. I know I'm putting her through hell. All I have to do is remember what I put her through when I almost died back in 2009. I base my appreciations on that.

Thanks for the reminder, though. 'Tis much appreciated.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

My CT myelogram draws one day closer. I wasn't so nervous about it when it was scheduled for today, but now that I know more about what's involved—and now that I have extra time to stew over it—I'm getting more and more anxious about it. That's really going to be a problem from Saturday through the procedure day on Monday, thanks to this list of medicines I'll have to quit cold turkey for 48 hours before the procedure:

  • Abilify
  • Trintellix
  • Wellbutrin
  • Buspar
  • Clorazepate
  • Hydroxyzine

These, plus one PRN drug, Promethazine (a.k.a. Phenergan, which I rarely take anyway), will go bye-bye after my Friday night dose. Why? They all have the possibility of interacting with the dye contrast medium they'll inject into my spine, resulting in seizures. That's all of my antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications, save one: Ativan (Lorazepam). It's the only crutch I can lean on to keep me from going absolutely crazy the weekend before the procedure. However, since I agreed to random drug testing in order to get hydrocodone for my back/hip/leg pain, I can't take extra Lorazepam pills to make up for the absence of the rest.

Oh, and I can't take these blacklisted medicines until 24 hours after the procedure as well. Not only will I be a nervous wreck before, I'll be one afterward.

I've also realized another frightening fact: my last hydrocodone dose will be at 11:00 p.m. Sunday night. The stuff wears off, usually about six hours into the "every eight hours" dosage period.

I am going to be in serious farking pain most of Monday.

I don't know how I'm going to get into my truck. I think I'm going to need a wheelchair to get inside the hospital.

Add all of this together and you've got one big honking basket case on your hands. I do not envy Mrs. Prof's position from Saturday through Tuesday. She's probably going to need Lorazepam by the time all of this is over.

Holy crap.  I don't know what to say.  I thought some of those drugs were ones you can't safely just stop taking.  Does your shrink know about this? 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Holy crap.  I don't know what to say.  I thought some of those drugs were ones you can't safely just stop taking.  Does your shrink know about this? 

The nurse from the hospital said she'd call and talk to him. I haven't heard anything since she called me yesterday.

I assume that I can't be the first person to have gone through this with those medications. How many CT myelograms have been done in medical history? There's bound to have been someone in the same situation as me. I'll bet they didn't enjoy it, but I'll also bet that they survived it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I try my best, on both counts. I know I'm putting her through hell. All I have to do is remember what I put her through when I almost died back in 2009. I base my appreciations on that.

Thanks for the reminder, though. 'Tis much appreciated.

Mrs. Prof has been thanked in general and on behalf of the forum. She got an extra round for doing my end-of-day nebulizer cleaning.

In other news, I only have to wear the cardiac event monitor for one more day before mailing it back! It gets in the way sometimes, but it's been catching some of the problems I've been complaining about. I hope the electrophysiologist will be able to come up with a treatment plan based on the data it's been recording.

One other thing: I asked Mrs. Prof if our son knew how sick I am. She said, "Not that I know of." I asked her to let him know, just in case I start getting worse.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mrs. Prof says thank you. She also told me not to take this the wrong way, but that this really is testing the "in sickness and in health" part of our wedding vows.

I corrected her: "in sicknesses and in health."

She said she'll be glad when she doesn't get awakened by me coughing out my larynx in the middle of the night. I reminded her of 2009-2010 and told her that this is better than being woke up by me needing help to take a piss in my hand-held urinal. She concurred.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
6 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I'll try to avoid the venting. I've done enough of that already.

Unlike your pain meds, there's no limit on venting.  Indulge as often as might help, and feel free to air on the side of extra venting.

6 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Music doesn't help, believe it or not. I have too many counter-ideas about what I could/should be writing instead. My head has its own jukebox, 24/7. Good idea, nevertheless.

Perhaps a good audiobook?  I really enjoyed both Gail Carriger's Soulless (the reader is a hoot!) and Big Finish's recent audio series The Diary of River Song.  If they can play music, you'd think they could play anything else audio, too.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Perhaps a good audiobook?  I really enjoyed both Gail Carriger's Soulless (the reader is a hoot!) and Big Finish's recent audio series The Diary of River Song.  If they can play music, you'd think they could play anything else audio, too.

You know something? (I just realized this, too.) I'm not going to be able to comfortably read a book of any kind from Monday until noon Tuesday. I won't even be able to get on the internet. Reason? I've got to lay on my side and keep my spine and neck as close to horizontally aligned practically all that time, even on the ride home (I'll have to recline my Ridgeline's passenger seat all the way back and put my head on a pillow). Very few exceptions: getting up to go to the bathroom is one, since they want me to drink a lot of fluids and flush out the dye contrast material as quickly as possible afterward. I don't know about eating—I might have to eat while on my side. (Mrs. Prof is going to love prepping my food for that.)

Tl;dr version: I won't be able to let anyone know how it went until the following Tuesday afternoon.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

You know something? (I just realized this, too.) I'm not going to be able to comfortably read a book of any kind from Monday until noon Tuesday. I won't even be able to get on the internet. Reason? I've got to lay on my side and keep my spine and neck as close to horizontally aligned practically all that time, even on the ride home (I'll have to recline my Ridgeline's passenger seat all the way back and put my head on a pillow). Very few exceptions: getting up to go to the bathroom is one, since they want me to drink a lot of fluids and flush out the dye contrast material as quickly as possible afterward. I don't know about eating—I might have to eat while on my side. (Mrs. Prof is going to love prepping my food for that.)

Tl;dr version: I won't be able to let anyone know how it went until the following Tuesday afternoon.

a) Sounds like a job for audiobooks!

B)  Can you nicely ask Mrs Prof from us to please at least post a quick update?  Let us know you're done and recovering?

c) or are we going to need to take up a collection to get you a nice, small, light tablet you can hold comfortably and peck out messages on one-handed?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

a) Sounds like a job for audiobooks!

Last audiobook I listened to was The Restaurant at the End of the Galaxy. Yes, it's been that long. On my Walkman, no less. ;)

4 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

B) Can you nicely ask Mrs Prof from us to please at least post a quick update?  Let us know you're done and recovering?

She's going to hate it, but I'll try to cajole her into doing it. Somehow. Maybe I'll talk her into getting a one-use-only account here, but it won't be tonight. She's going to be out trapping feral cats.

4 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

c) or are we going to need to take up a collection to get you a nice, small, light tablet you can hold comfortably and peck out messages on one-handed?

I think It's a bit too close to the procedure date, and I wouldn't ask for such a thing in the first place, but I appreciate the gesture. I really do.

In other news, I spoke to my psychiatrist a few minutes ago about dropping the Trintellix, Wellbutrin, and Buspar cold turkey prior to the CT myelogram. He said those would be fine, but warned me that my depression and anxiety will kick back in while I'm off them. Surprisingly enough, the one thing he prescribes that I don't have to drop (Lorazepam) would have caused problems—seizures, no less—if I'd stopped it suddenly. Go figure.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hoo boy.

I haven't heard from my primary care doctor—the one who prescribed the Abilify, Clorazepate, and Hydroxyzine. I got impatient and looked them up. Guess what I found on a web site about Abilify?

Quote

Although this medication is not classified as addictive, your body may become used to having this drug in its system. As such, you should not stop taking this prescribed medication abruptly; see your doctor before reducing or discontinuing Abilify. You can reduce unpleasant withdrawal symptoms by slowly tapering off of the drug. People who suddenly stop taking it may experience any or all of the following effects:

  • Insomnia
  • Psychotic symptoms such as delusions or hallucinations
  • Bipolar symptoms

Now, isn't that special? (grrrr) Looks like I'll be cutting an Abilify pill in half and taking 2.5mg tonight and tomorrow instead of my normal 5mg nightly dose. Just for safety's sake, I'll be halving my doses of Clorazepate and Hydroxyzine as well, for extreme safety's sake.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
31 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:
5 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Can you nicely ask Mrs Prof from us to please at least post a quick update?  Let us know you're done and recovering?

She's going to hate it, but I'll try to cajole her into doing it. Somehow. Maybe I'll talk her into getting a one-use-only account here, but it won't be tonight. She's going to be out trapping feral cats.

How long does it take to verify a new account before she can post? Does she have to create it tonight or tomorrow?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Follow-up: I've stopped the nebulizer until we get it sterilized. It comes with instructions for doing so. White vinegar and distilled water are involved. We have neither.

Started cutting my "stop list" meds in half last night. I can feel the difference already. Can't say it's a pleasant sensation. Not sure how to describe it. Irritated, annoyed, tired, shaky, hard to concentrate, just overall bleh, meh, and argh.

At least I get to take off my cardiac event monitor in just over half an hour. Can't wait to get rid of it. Its wires hang on things, scare the cat, make sleeping difficult, and are just generally a pain in the ass.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Called the company that owns the cardiac event monitor a few minutes after my previous post. They said I could go ahead and remove it, which I did gladly. It sits in a prepaid UPS Mail Innovations mailer bag, waiting for a mail carrier to knock on the door and pick it up Saturday. No more electrodes! No more wires! Yay! :)

It's now approximately 9:05 p.m. CDT. I've just taken the last weaning dose of my medicines from my "stop list." Got a call from the nurse at the hospital—my primary care doctor was on vacation (we both knew that), but none of the other doctors wanted to commit to a yes or no on the safety of stopping any of the drugs he'd prescribed. (There was really just one problem, and that was with the Abilify—I cut it in half over two nights and will go off it Saturday). The nurse then called the doctor who'll be performing the procedure on Monday. He was kind of wishy-washy on whether we should go through with it. I told Mrs. Prof what the nurse was telling me. She gave me the "all systems go" response, which I passed along to the nurse on the phone. So, barring any problems with my coughing or potential nasal/throat infection from the nebulizer, the procedure will proceed on Monday.

Mrs. Prof wondered why they didn't just put me in the hospital Saturday and monitor me during the withdrawal phase. She's right—that'd probably be best, but it'd also be expensive, and of course for that reason insurance would never cover it. Now, if I go into seizures during the weekend, they'll have to take me in through the ER and monitor me, resulting in much higher costs on their end. In essence, they're playing craps with my health.

With that in mind, why don't the health insurance companies just admit the truth that they're gambling with our lives and relocate all of their headquarters to Las Vegas?

Mrs. Prof has just returned from the store. 9:17 p.m. CDT. She brings distilled water and white vinegar for the nebulizer, fruit juices and (maybe) flavored waters for me so that I can hydrate over the weekend (can't drink my tea), and pizza for our dinner. I will talk to you later, likely after said pizza is consumed.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Approximately 3:26 a.m. CDT. Pizza consumed, along with other snacks (Mrs. Prof brought home much appreciated Red Velvet cake). I sit here awake, watching Aussie Rules Football and drinking a concoction of leftover lemon tea, orange juice, lemon juice, water, and Equal sweetener. Passable, without using too much of the expensive orange juice Mrs. Prof brought home. (She also brought home Watermelon juice—I'm looking forward to seeing if it's drinkable straight or if I'm going to have to make an aguas frescas out of it.)

Alas, she brought home no flavored waters. I'll have to rely on either straight juices or on diluted aguas frescas to make what she bought last the weekend.

Not feeling too shaky at the moment. Awake because I spent so much of yesterday asleep. I think. No hallucinations, which is a good thing according to the big green thing sitting behind my right shoulder.

Tried to show Mrs. Prof how to access the forum using my account last night. As saintly as she can be most times, she can be a real demon when it comes to things that she hadn't planned on doing which involve multiple steps. "I'm gonna have to write this down," I hear all too often as her attempt to get out of things (yes, I know she may be reading this later, but she'll have to wait for at least 24 hours to pummel me over it). I will not give up.

Mrs. Prof sterilized the nebulizer capsule last night. I'll go back to using the nebulizer this morning. Hopefully I can resume my normal 5am-1pm-9pm schedule for both it and my pain medicine.

At least my sore throat seems to have let up and turned into a simple post-nasal drip.

3:49 a.m. CDT. Starting to feel sleepy again. Quick trip to use the facilities, then back to sleep.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

7:39 a.m. CDT. Didn't wake up until about 6:30 or so. So much for getting back on schedule. Oh,well—work with what you've got. Nebulizer nebulized, pain pill taken, "stop list" medicines not taken. No weird feelings yet.

Watching Formula 1 qualifying from the Russian Grand Prix. America's team, Haas F1, is having problems this time around. Brake issues.

Been researching aguas frescas on the internet. I swear, authentic Mexican aguas frescas are made up on the fly and do not take bottled juices into account. I'm going to have to improvise as well. First attempt is with the watermelon juice—about half diluted with tap water, with a couple of packets of Equal for good measure.

Nebulizer seems to have irritated my throat/post-nasal drip again. Not constantly coughing. Got a bit of a headache.

Going to watch the rest of qualifying, then try and get some breakfast followed by sleep.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

3:07 p.m. CDT. My hydrocodone wore off at around 10:00 a.m., putting me in an "AAUUGGHH" state for that part of the morning when I wasn't asleep. Fortunately, I did manage to sleep through a good part of the pain. Woke up shortly after 1:00 p.m. and pounced on the hydrocodone like a lion pounces on fresh meat.

Did my nebulizer again shortly afterward. Wound up having coughing fits a couple of times in the middle of it. Don't know how to interpret that, other than to wait until my appointment with the pulmonologist before refilling the nebulizer prescription.

Mrs. Prof has been away for most of the day, dealing with cat-related stuff. I was at her mercy when it came to going to the bathroom at one point. You see, I'm waiting for the postal carrier to knock and pick up the cardiac event monitor for return from whence it came. Kinda can't do my part of that equation when I'm otherwise occupied. Was very glad when she came home (with some flavored waters, no less) so that I could take care of business. However, she was gone as soon as I was done, headed back up to the Pet Adoption Center with her tools to help someone work on a cat climbing tree.

Only brief bouts of unexplained emotional brainfarts so far. I've tried to remain unconscious to avoid having to deal with them. I'm glad I can take my Ativan/Lorazepam to help induce said sleep.

One humorous moment, concerning the flavored waters: they'd been sitting on our counter for about an hour before I decided to open one up. They're carbonated, so I was as careful as I usually am when opening any carbonated fluid. I didn't even pick up this particular bottle—I slid it over and slowly opened it, so as not to induce a spray.

You can guess where this is going. All over my kitchen, in a 360° arc is where it's going, and with no warning. First time I've ever had that particular set of circumstances happen to me. Mrs. Prof is going to be pissed, because I'm still in enough pain to prevent me from doing a thorough cleaning of the affected area.

I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that the hydrocodone will work a bit longer this time. Wish me luck.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

3:40 p.m. CDT. I can already feel the hydrocodone starting to wear off, at least in my hip. This is not going to be an easy day on any count. I was hoping that at least I wouldn't have to deal with constant pain. Looks like that flew the hell out the window.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now