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ProfessorTomoe

Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

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Right now, between my medications and the _weird_ AC unit in this place, I have the odd feeling of below my waist (mainly the feet) being cold and I sweating like a pig from my pits.  So my bottom half looks like it's winter and my top half looks like overheated in the summer.

 

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38 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Right now, between my medications and the _weird_ AC unit in this place, I have the odd feeling of below my waist (mainly the feet) being cold and I sweating like a pig from my pits.  So my bottom half looks like it's winter and my top half looks like overheated in the summer.

Worst medicine I ever got put on (that didn't threaten to kill me) was Actigall, after my gallbladder came out and I kept having liver/bile duct problems. The stuff made me sweat profusely at the drop of a hat. Example: one of my trips to E3 left me looking like I'd been doused by the ice bucket challenge halfway through the exhibits. I had to go back to the hotel room and take a second shower just to look decent, and I still wound up looking like I'd been through a workout by the end of the day.

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10:57 p.m. CDT 20170714. Fish goes down much easier than beans on a burrito. Mrs. Prof brought home Long John Silver's Buttermilk Battered Cod tonight. It's not as good as their beer battered cod was, but it's still better than their regular polygonal whitefish, whatever the hell that might be.

Then again, I might have been cheating just a bit. Earlier in the day, I felt a twinge of nausea on an empty stomach. I took a Phenergan tablet for it. No nausea since. Lots of drowsiness since, though.

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12 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I did. I went through two bottles of water, just for a 30-minute each-way trip in an air-conditioned truck. Still felt like crap.

 

Yeah, sorry about all of that yesterday. Thanks for giving me leave to vent.

If you don't stop apologising, I am going to tell the bailiff to strike you and your apologies with a lint roller. :demonicduck:

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6:33 a.m. CDT 20170715. WTF is going on here? I'm getting a sore throat again, even after the ENT doctor's "magic mouthwash" chased it away. I've just started on Augmentin for an alleged infection in my broken left big toe, so here's hoping it'll knock out the sore throat as well. I'm drinking hot coffee to soothe it. It's doing a little bit of good. However, this is a Sudafed day (one of the three days I have to take a break from my Afrin), and it's not getting the job done as well as the Afrin does. Damned coffee gas isn't helping matters either. I've sent down a generic Phazyme 250 to show it who's boss around here.

I've given up on sleep this morning, between Loudmouth's demands for attention and Baker's fly stalking. I'm not waking up Mrs. Prof since she was up so late at the vet last night. Qualifying for the British Grand Prix starts in a little while, so I'm going to go grab another cup of coffee and see if I can override my pills and stay awake to watch it.

My stomach is now arguing with the generic Phazyme. I'm not sure who's winning, but I think I'd better let them settle that battle before I actually start drinking that second cup of coffee.

At least the stress level around here has gone down. Loudmouth isn't banging on his door anymore, and Baker has reverted to road block mode.

I say the stress level has gone down, but it's not gone. I'm still getting the occasional twinge from the 2nd and 3rd metatarsals in my left foot, despite the cushioning glued on top of them. Nowhere near as bad as on Tuesday, but just enough to remind me that I'm not done with this foot yet.

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18 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

HYDRATE!!!!

18 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I did. I went through two bottles of water, just for a 30-minute each-way trip in an air-conditioned truck. Still felt like crap.

The problem with just hydrating is that it can throw the balance of some other chemicals off and make you feel lousy.

But you still need the fluid.

I've heard it said that "if Gatorade or Pedialyte actually tastes drinkable, then you really really need it." Maybe supplement your water with an occasional bottle of one of those.

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3 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

I've heard it said that "if Gatorade or Pedialyte actually tastes drinkable, then you really really need it." Maybe supplement your water with an occasional bottle of one of those.

In my current state of health, going out is such a production number that we reserve it for trips to doctors and to get my hair cut. We always make sure to bring plenty of water, although earlier in the year before I started seeing my ENT doctor, I would bring a bottle of Gatorade since I'd get dry mouth so easily. I also mixed Gatorade and my regular Crystal Light lemon tea for procedures when I had to superhydrate in order to flush out radioactive markers from my bloodstream afterward (orange goes good with lemon tea).

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2:48 p.m. CDT 20170715. I haven't felt a crash and burn like this in a long time. The sore throat from this morning has left me with swollen glands. My sinuses hurt, despite the Sudafed, and I'm light-headed and weak. I've gone back on the magic mouthwash, and I just polished off a can of chicken noodle soup in an attempt to help get things back under control.

(Out of superstition, I asked Mrs. Prof to make the soup for me, since the last time I had anything to do with soup I wound up with a broken toe and a badly injured foot. I'd have asked her to take the empty bowl back, too, but she buggered off back to the bedroom and went to sleep. Fortunately, I managed to return the bowl without incident, despite a cat who wanted to play road block (what is with that, anyway?).)

I really don't understand why I'm getting a sore throat plus all these other symptoms. Augmentin should be killing the crap that's causing everything, unless I've got some Augmentin-resistant bacteria working on me. I'm going to give the chicken soup a chance, take off my ortho shoe, and try to get some sleep of my own. See you later.

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6:14 p.m. CDT 20170715. Soup and sleep seem to have helped somewhat. I've still got slightly swollen glands and painful sinuses, but I don't feel like I'm going to fall over at any moment. Going to take a Sudafed in a minute.

Only other problem now is that I REALLY overslept my pain medicine. I was supposed to take it at 4pm. Oops. No wonder I got a bullet shot after I got back from getting tea. (adds pain pill to Sudafed)

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Today was a climb the migraine medications ladder twice sort of day.  The only reason I'm up right now is that I need to eat, and cooking in the dark isn't a good idea.

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1 minute ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Cooking in the dark?

Lights hurt right now.  All of the apartment lights are off other than the one over the stove.  I'm not making a lot of sense am I?

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10:46 p.m. CDT 20170716. A couple of problems have reared their usual ugly heads today. First off, my sore throat seems to be coming back. I really don't understand this. I shouldn't have even a hint of a sore throat with all of the medicines I'm on. I don't know which way to go with this—to my podiatrist, who prescribed the Augmentin, to the ENT, who specializes in throat problems, or to my PCP, who coordinates all of the above. Fish or cut bait? Which do I do?

Second, my intestines are rearing their really ugly heads today. Note: I have what's called a tortuous colon. My gastroenterologist was unable to do a complete colonoscopy on me due to the length of and twisting of my large intestines. (He recommended an MRI colonoscopy for my next one.) It's been acting worse than the stars of Plan 9 from Outer Space this evening. Cramping, pain, gas, but nothing coming out. As a result, I'm trying a rather risky strategy: I've taken a gas pill and two Imodium to stop the pain a while back. Just now, I've taken two stool softeners to try and get things moving in a less painful manner tomorrow.

The second issue was made worse because things felt like they were going to come out while I had my shoe off. I had to try and hobble (with the help of my cane) on my left heel to the bathroom before an accident happened (it never did). The trip aggravated my padded 2nd and 3rd metatarsals. I took a pain pill when I got back, since the timing was only 15 minutes early.

I have enough problems with the accidents and back pains. I don't need my guts rebelling on me. Before you say, "Use an Opioid-Induced-Constipation medication," please note that I normally suffer from IBS-D, which might make things worse than they already are. I also have no gall bladder. Then there's that tortuous colon I mentioned earlier. Too many potential problems.

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22 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Lights hurt right now.  All of the apartment lights are off other than the one over the stove.  I'm not making a lot of sense am I?

Oh, you're in that stage. Sorry, didn't realize. Take care of yourself.

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So my eyes kinda hurt to look around. 

Then there's a lump under my skin on the back of my neck at the hairline, and another one in that little divot behind my ear, both on the right side. 

I did have a headache yesterday. The lumps and eye soreness weren't there at three this morning, but they were when I woke up at about eleven.

Anyone know if this combination is hospital-worthy? Should I get it looked at anyway, just in case? 

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34 minutes ago, Zorua said:

So my eyes kinda hurt to look around. 

Then there's a lump under my skin on the back of my neck at the hairline, and another one in that little divot behind my ear, both on the right side. 

I did have a headache yesterday. The lumps and eye soreness weren't there at three this morning, but they were when I woke up at about eleven.

Anyone know if this combination is hospital-worthy? Should I get it looked at anyway, just in case? 

An uncomfortable and unexpected change, with no known cause? Since it's sufficiently non-severe that you're taking time to ask, it is probably not ER-worthy. But doctor-worthy, sure, particularly if it persists for a few days or continues to grow.

On the other hand, if you describe it to someone who actually knows something about medicine and they say "go to the ER", then do so.

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12:57 CDT 20170717. Still having the freaking trouble with the 2nd and 3rd metatarsals. Bullet shot morning. I worry that the podiatrist is going to either want to get proactive and try to fix the metatarsal issue, or tell me it's something I'm going to have to live with and leave it up to the pain management system. I think I'd almost prefer the former, if it'd get rid of the long-term pain. I don't know if I could take the inability to walk for God knows how long, or the post-op pain (and whether it'd be worse than the bullet shots). It's a decision I may have to make, to fix a hidden birth defect 53 years on.

Re: last night's gut problem: no movement. (Get the list out.) I took two stool softeners this morning in hopes that they'd help. Nothing yet. I'm not looking forward to the conclusion of this issue. I know it'll be painful.

I went back on the magic mouthwash again for the throat. It's helped some. I shouldn't need that stuff at all, but I keep having to fall back on it.

Finally, Mrs. Prof forgot a couple of times to make a CVS run for me over the weekend. That has resulted in me being out of my Ambien CR. A run is an absolute necessity today.

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11:43 p.m. CDT 20170717. Didn't have a chance to research metatarsals tonight like I'd planned. Still painful. Still no gut movement yet, either. Had a major crash & burn late in the evening, when we were dealing with Loudmouth and Baker. I came into the living room and almost passed out on the sofa. Had trouble swallowing when I took a drink of tea. Not fun. Mrs. Prof asked if I used the magic mouthwash today, to which I answered yes. (She made the CVS run for me, BTW.)

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6:34 a.m. CDT 20170718. Got my report from my latest podiatrist visit. Two new items were added: congenital metatarsus adductus and metatarsalgia, left foot. I haven't had a lot of time to research either of these, but my initial impression is that, for serious cases, surgery is called for.

Just what I needed. Mrs. Prof's gonna love this.

Her response to the whole situation has been, "Get other things taken care of first." "Like what?" I've asked. "Like getting yourself to where you can drive!"

Right. Like I'm going to be able to drive if they install a drug pump onto me or do something else that involves major opioid medications. God help me.

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5 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

6:34 a.m. CDT 20170718. Got my report from my latest podiatrist visit. Two new items were added: congenital metatarsus adductus and metatarsalgia, left foot. I haven't had a lot of time to research either of these, but my initial impression is that, for serious cases, surgery is called for.

Just what I needed. Mrs. Prof's gonna love this.

Her response to the whole situation has been, "Get other things taken care of first." "Like what?" I've asked. "Like getting yourself to where you can drive!"

Right. Like I'm going to be able to drive if they install a drug pump onto me or do something else that involves major opioid medications. God help me.

I apologize for the obvious question:  Are there friends you can lean on for rides?  Can you put out a call and see who responds?

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