Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

4 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Smaller kidney stones?  Been there, done that, put the tee shirt away.  

What's the status on those, anyway? Any progress?

[mlooney 3,417]

5 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

What's the status on those, anyway? Any progress?

Passed.  The only _good_ thing about micro stones is a lifespan of about 3-5 days, from "Hello!  Be having of the fun!" to "Damn pissing should not hurt"

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Glad to hear they're gone, at least. Here's hoping for a long break between this and the next smallest possible outbreak.

[mlooney 3,417]

17 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Glad to hear they're gone, at least. Here's hoping for a long break between this and the next smallest possible outbreak.

Thanks.  I've been told the thing you can do to avoid this type of stone is change your birth parents.  This is trickier than it sounds.

 

[mlooney 3,417]

From WebMD:
 

Quote

The rate of people who develop kidney stones is increasing in the U.S. The reasons for the trend are unknown. The prevalence of kidney stones was 3.8% in the late 1970s. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the number rose to 5.2%. Caucasian ethnicity and male gender are associated with higher rates of kidney stones. Men tend to develop kidney stones in their 40s through 70s; rates increase with age.

See that "Aging white male bit in my .sig?  Seem that while cis-het white males might run the world, we get more kidney stones.

Not being one of the ruling CHWM I'm not so sure this is a good trade off.

[mlooney 3,417]

Another note.  Avoid grapefruit.   Given the number of drugs it causes interaction with, as well as thing like being a major contributor to some types of kidney stones, I'm amazed it's legal still.  It's possibly more dangerous than weed and damn sure interacts with more things.

It's a good thing I think it's nasty as hell because most of the drugs I take are on the "don't eat or drink grapefruit"   Really more food and drinks should include "contains grapefruit" and fewer should say anything about gluten.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

4 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Another note.  Avoid grapefruit.   Given the number of drugs it causes interaction with, as well as thing like being a major contributor to some types of kidney stones, I'm amazed it's legal still.  It's possibly more dangerous than weed and damn sure interacts with more things.

It's a good thing I think it's nasty as hell because most of the drugs I take are on the "don't eat or drink grapefruit"   Really more food and drinks should include "contains grapefruit" and fewer should say anything about gluten.

I got told to avoid grapefruit shortly after being put on Buspar back in the 90s. I was not a happy camper. Grapefruit juice (and grapefruit itself) is one of my favorite things. No can have anymore.

[mlooney 3,417]

53 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I got told to avoid grapefruit shortly after being put on Buspar back in the 90s. I was not a happy camper. Grapefruit juice (and grapefruit itself) is one of my favorite things. No can have anymore.

Can't stand the stuff.  To each his own.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

You don't need to eat the grapefruit.

But for the good of my neighbors in the citrus fruit business, could you at least buy a dozen or so once in a while?

Give them to the kids who go door to door yodeling for breakfast every night.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

31 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Give them to the kids who go door to door yodeling for breakfast every night.

Oooooooooooooookay.

Now, excuse me while I slip out of these wet clothes and into a dry martini.

[mlooney 3,417]

1 hour ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

You don't need to eat the grapefruit.

But for the good of my neighbors in the citrus fruit business, could you at least buy a dozen or so once in a while?

Give them to the kids who go door to door yodeling for breakfast every night.

Ah, no.  They should cut down those trees and plant Any Other Citrus.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

4:15 a.m. CDT 20170703. Here we go again. Two hours, wake up, two hours, wake up. However, this time I'm joined by my cat, who's decided that everyone else in the house should be up. Crazy diurnal creature. Doesn't help that there's a fly in the house, and that he's hell-bound to catch it.

I think the problem I have isn't how long I can sleep, but how long I can stay awake. My conscious periods during the day are shorter than my unconscious periods, and when I have to stretch my periods of consciousness, I risk the possibility of a crash-and-burn, like I had a few days ago at the CVS.

Speaking of things related to that CVS trip, remember the Bio-Oil? It's doing a real number on the dead skin around my toe. Seriously. Mrs. Prof had to come in with a dustbroom and a dustpan to sweep up all of the stuff that came off. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Mrs. Prof is keeping it off of the actual healing surgical scar for now, just as a precaution. I think I'm going to get on Amazon and find some pure Vitamin E oil (surprising that I couldn't find it at CVS) or an Aloe/E blend to put on the scar proper.

BTW, you should see the scar. It's surprisingly straight. Now that Frankenstein's Toenail has been trimmed and ground back with a medical Dremel, I may post another picture of it. Believe me when I say it's much less scary looking. I probably won't even need to use the spoiler filter! ( @The Old Hack, let me know in advance if I should or not, if you don't mind.)

[The Old Hack 2,448]

1 hour ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

BTW, you should see the scar. It's surprisingly straight. Now that Frankenstein's Toenail has been trimmed and ground back with a medical Dremel, I may post another picture of it. Believe me when I say it's much less scary looking. I probably won't even need to use the spoiler filter! ( @The Old Hack, let me know in advance if I should or not, if you don't mind.)

The Moderator: As a matter of principle, all medical pictures should be posted under spoiler filter. This is because I am aware of people to whom even the milder kind of such pictures are at least somewhat upsetting. I would rather err on the side of caution in this case. Thank you.

[mlooney 3,417]

34 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

The Moderator: As a matter of principle, all medical pictures should be posted under spoiler filter. This is because I am aware of people to whom even the milder kind of such pictures are at least somewhat upsetting. I would rather err on the side of caution in this case. Thank you.

That being said, this whole thread should have a spoiler tag.  It is the official "my body and/or brain is broken" thread, and, as such, gets weird at times.   Your warning is noted however if I ever need to post pictures of broken body parts.

 

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

1 hour ago, The Old Hack said:

The Moderator: As a matter of principle, all medical pictures should be posted under spoiler filter. This is because I am aware of people to whom even the milder kind of such pictures are at least somewhat upsetting. I would rather err on the side of caution in this case. Thank you.

This is why I ask. Thank you for your guidance, good sir.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

1 hour ago, mlooney said:

That being said, this whole thread should have a spoiler tag.  It is the official "my body and/or brain is broken" thread, and, as such, gets weird at times.   Your warning is noted however if I ever need to post pictures of broken body parts.

It kind of does, with the "level of trust required" addendum to the thread title and the "confidential" and "personal" tags.

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

19 hours ago, mlooney said:

Can't stand the stuff.  To each his own.

The world would be boring if we all liked the same things!

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

12:55 a.m. CDT 20170704. This has been "sleep past your pain meds" day. I dozed off during news and didn't wake up until 11:30 p.m. or so. By that time, Mrs. Prof had already buggered off and gone to bed. I'm supposed to be on a 4am/10am/4pm/10pm pain medicine schedule, and today didn't fit that at all.

One thing that's causing some issues is the orthopedic "plank" shoe that I'm wearing on my left foot now that I'm done with the moon boot. In addition to breaking my big toe, I sprained my foot in a weird way that's somehow linked across several items. There's a sprained spot on top of my foot that's connected to my #2 toe. That's connected to something else, but I haven't been able to pin that down yet. Anyway, they hurt like hell when I hit just the right angle. The Velcro across the top of the orthopedic shoe goes over the top of the sprained area—that's what's causing it. I have yet to find a fix for it.

Found a roll-on "Nature's Gate" 32,000 IU Vitamin E bottle on Amazon PrimeNow today. Long story behind the ordering process, but suffice it to say I got the bottle. Was quite disappointed when I realized Mrs. Prof was already asleep, since she's the one who puts the stuff on my toe. I'm gonna have to wait until later this morning for her to wake up and put it on for me.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

6:45 p.m. CDT 20170704. As my late grandfather would say, I can't win for losing.

I've sprained a muscle deep in the left side of my groin today. I don't know how, I don't know when, I don't know what I was doing when it happened. I do know that it hurts like hell to get up off the sofa. Put the pain level close to a 7. Doesn't hurt just sitting here, but movement gives me a twinge. This damned orthopedic plank shoe isn't helping, since I'm not wearing a shoe on my right foot, leaving me with an uneven stance and gait.

God, what else is going to go wrong with me?

[The Old Hack 2,448]

11 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

God, what else is going to go wrong with me?

As my wife has told me, don't borrow trouble ahead of time. Don't worry about what only might happen. It is wasted effort. Focus on what is happening instead and deal with it.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

1 hour ago, The Old Hack said:

As my wife has told me, don't borrow trouble ahead of time. Don't worry about what only might happen. It is wasted effort. Focus on what is happening instead and deal with it.

Good advice.

Along those lines, I've managed to figure out a way to get up more easily—keep my left hand on my left knee and use it for counter-leverage when I push off against the sofa. Seems to work for now.

Toe-wise, some news: my toe skin turned a bit red from the Bio-Oil. I thought that was just dead skin sloughing off. Several days and a couple of applications of Vitamin E oil to my surgical scab later, it's still red. I'm wondering one of two things:

• Is my skin still irritated from the Bio-Oil?
• Is my toe getting infected again?

If it's still this way tomorrow, I may have to consider another trip to the podiatrist for a check-up and yet another round of Augmentin.

[mlooney 3,417]

Today is shrink day.  Not expecting any changes, but do have a few things to tell him.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

1 minute ago, mlooney said:

Today is shrink day.  Not expecting any changes, but do have a few things to tell him.

Good luck. Hope the appointment helps.

[mlooney 3,417]

1 hour ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Good luck. Hope the appointment helps.

Actually, I'm doing good.  It's the "Don't run out of easy to make food and/or sugar" thing that has been my biggest issue this month.

 

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

8:41 a.m. CDT 20170706. Okay, now I'm not sure what the hell I've done to my groin. It's starting to feel less like a muscle strain and more like damage to an internal hip joint. The attacks have been getting fewer and farther between, so perhaps it's healing. Fingers crossed.

As for the left big toe, I think it was a temporary irritation from the Bio-Oil. Mrs. Prof took a good look at it yesterday and pronounced it not swollen. Still lots of skin flaking off, but none from the scab yet. That may be due to the Vitamin E oil treatments we're applying to it.

Overall feeling yesterday was sucky, for lack of a better phrase. Physically down for most of the day. Could have been due to the groin/hip issue or any number of other things. Still feeling that way right now, but a dose of @The Old Hack's good Parmesan sausage that I've just polished off should help pep me up a bit. That, and a cup of coffee.

Still haven't heard from pain management doctor #3. I have his number now, so I'm free to call and set up an appointment on my own, according to my own PCP. BTW, I'm getting a "bridging prescription" for my pain medicine from him tomorrow, no appointment necessary—just call, wait for a call back, then go get it and have it filled on the appropriate day (I'll have to remember to ask about when that day will be). Fingers crossed that CVS won't try and screw me over on it.

Mrs. Prof is working from her office today. Here's hoping nothing goes wrong, either health-wise or cat-wise (another thread).