Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

[mlooney 3,417]

44 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I woke up in the middle of the night and tried to get out of bed. I put weight on my right foot and felt a shooting pain come from my arch, bad enough to knock me off balance. I almost fell over. I've been having trouble walking on my right foot ever since. There's no pain when I'm just sitting down with no weight on my right foot, but my pain level goes up to 8.5 when I try to put weight on it. I hope it clears, because if it doesn't, I'm going to have to call my damned podiatrist Monday.

Is he open?

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

On 4/11/2020 at 9:18 AM, mlooney said:

Is he open?

Yeah, one day a week - Monday.

My pain has gone down to around a 6. It's more diffuse now, still centered on my arch, but it radiates to the rest of my foot when I put weight on it.

I'm taking oxycodone approximately every 4 hours and elevating my feet (right one for this problem, left one for the continued swelling problem). The oxycodone at this rate knocks me out for a couple of hours every cycle.

I need to use my cane for support around the house. Prior to this, I only needed my cane outside the house on rough surfaces. No longer.

I think I still need to make that call to my podiatrist, first thing in the morning.

[mlooney 3,417]

39 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I think I still need to make that call to my podiatrist, first thing in the morning.

I would think so.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Left voice mail for my podiatrist today at 8am, got a call back around 5:30pm from one of his medical assistants who I didn't recognize. It was pretty clear that they didn't understand what I was going through. They kept saying the problem was with my "neuropathy." Trust me, this is not neuropathy. It's starting to feel like I've got arthritis acting up from the bottom of my arch to the top of my foot through the bones that make up that part of the joint. Anyway, I managed to get an appointment for next Monday (the only day he's open) at 3:15pm. Until then, I'm advised to contact my pain management doctor if things get worse.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I feel right now like I could star in a movie called "My Right Foot." Last Saturday, I woke up with serious pain through my right arch, combined with major swelling. My pain level was an 8.5 on a 1 to 10 scale. This has persisted, although going down somewhat to a 6.5 as of yesterday when I saw my podiatrist.

He did some poking and prodding in and around the area, then started pushing at the back left side of my heel. That bit hurt like hell. "Yep! New problem," he said, declaring that I now had "Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome" (like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but for the foot). He's guessing it's due to all of the edema that I've had over the past months that's been putting pressure on the nerve, and he said an operation may be necessary if it doesn't improve.

Joy.

Anyway, he froze the area on the left side of my heel and injected a goodly amount of cortisone into it. Made a nerve in my arch burn like hell.

I'm going to have to put up with this for a long while. My next appointment isn't until late May, at which point he's probably just going to do another shot if I'm not any better. Any operation he wants to do is going to have a waiting period, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I feel like I'm on a stinking conveyor belt of problems here.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/tarsal-tunnel-syndrome

[mlooney 3,417]

7 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I'm going to have to put up with this for a long while. My next appointment isn't until late May, at which point he's probably just going to do another shot if I'm not any better. Any operation he wants to do is going to have a waiting period, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

My brother says that right now emergency surgeries are going on as normal, but ones that are "just" for painful conditions are on hold for a while.  Good luck in getting it taken care of as soon as possible.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

I really hope this is not a necessary warning, but...

President Trump just suggested injecting disinfectant as a method of treating coronavirus infection.

DON'T DO IT. DON'T DRINK IT, EITHER.

Yes, it will kill the virus, but it will also kill you.

[Don Edwards 548]

Yep, when Trump said "Then I see the disinfectant, one minute. Is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside, or almost a cleaning" he obviously meant *exactly that*, and *with household cleaners*, the same stuff you use to almost-clean your laundry or almost-wash your windows.

And when he said "So it’d be interesting to check that so that you’ll have to use medical doctors with." - okay that's a rather scrambled sentence. But still, "use medical doctors" obviously means "experiment on your own at home".

 

[The Old Hack 2,448]

4 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

Yep, when Trump said "Then I see the disinfectant, one minute. Is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside, or almost a cleaning" he obviously meant *exactly that*, and *with household cleaners*, the same stuff you use to almost-clean your laundry or almost-wash your windows.

And when he said "So it’d be interesting to check that so that you’ll have to use medical doctors with." - okay that's a rather scrambled sentence. But still, "use medical doctors" obviously means "experiment on your own at home".

It doesn't matter what sort of disinfectant. You could use the most highly prized medical grade disinfectant and it would still kill you if injected. Now please move your political apologia to the politics thread. This warning was specifically to tell people to NOT INJECT OR DRINK DISINFECTANT, because some people may be misled into thinking that is a good idea no matter how obvious YOU think the meaning is.

The same goes for everybody else. Any political commentary goes to the politics thread.

[Don Edwards 548]

I'm on with warning people that the media deluge about "Trump said to drink or inject disinfectant" is bad advice... I'm just not on with blaming Trump for the media making up the story that Trump said that.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

3 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

I'm on with warning people that the media deluge about "Trump said to drink or inject disinfectant" is bad advice... I'm just not on with blaming Trump for the media making up the story that Trump said that.

The Moderator: I specifically requested that any followup of a political nature be posted in the political thread. Kindly take any further discussion of the topic there.

~tOH.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Migraine. Big. Persistent.

I've taken 3 doses of rizatriptan over the last 24 hours. That's the maximum. It's still not gone.  Light hurts. The sound of my laptop's fans hurts.

I'm supposed to do a podcast at 6:15pm. That ain't happening.

[mlooney 3,417]

30 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Migraine. Big. Persistent.

I've taken 3 doses of rizatriptan over the last 24 hours. That's the maximum. It's still not gone.  Light hurts. The sound of my laptop's fans hurts.

I'm supposed to do a podcast at 6:15pm. That ain't happening.

I wish you a postdrome to happen soon.

[mlooney 3,417]

6 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Migraine. Big. Persistent.

I've been lucky this year, I've had less than a half dozen migraines that didn't respond well to my mid level stuff.  Which is a good thing, given that I don't really have anything past them now.  Need to fix that.  Which means going to a clinic and getting a prescription, which isn't happening until the shelter in place order is over, which may or may not be happening in the next couple of weeks.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I have been on a sine wave of migraines for more than 24 hours now. Have taken a total of 5 doses of rizatriptan. If they don't back off for good tomorrow morning, I'm calling my doctor - he's open for routine visits again.

[mlooney 3,417]

8 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I have been on a sine wave of migraines for more than 24 hours now. Have taken a total of 5 doses of rizatriptan. If they don't back off for good tomorrow morning, I'm calling my doctor - he's open for routine visits again.

Yeah, do that.  I've had migraine series that lasted multiple days.  On day 3 I go to the ER.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

44 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Yeah, do that.  I've had migraine series that lasted multiple days.  On day 3 I go to the ER.

Is there anything stronger than rizatriptan?

[mlooney 3,417]

Just now, ProfessorTomoe said:

Is there anything stronger than rizatriptan?

Don't know, never used it, so I don't have any thing to compare it with.  I do know that the ER in Tulsa would hit you with IV Dilaudid which did break the pain.  I would normally get a script for  Amidrine from my regular doctor or from my shrink right after I had a bad event, but that's hard to do nowadays because Amidrine isn't really being made any more.  You need a compounding pharmacy to get it and it cost close to 5 bucks a pill.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

4 hours ago, mlooney said:

Don't know, never used it, so I don't have any thing to compare it with.  I do know that the ER in Tulsa would hit you with IV Dilaudid which did break the pain.  I would normally get a script for  Amidrine from my regular doctor or from my shrink right after I had a bad event, but that's hard to do nowadays because Amidrine isn't really being made any more.  You need a compounding pharmacy to get it and it cost close to 5 bucks a pill.

Well, fortunately the migraines seem to be leaving me alone today. (fingers crossed) I've had a bad nausea event, for which I had to take Zofran, but no occasion to take rizatriptan.

I've also had two cups of coffee as a back-up measure. Here's hoping I don't need a third.

[mlooney 3,417]

1 hour ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Well, fortunately the migraines seem to be leaving me alone today. (fingers crossed)

I wish nothing but good luck with not having any more migraines.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

1 hour ago, mlooney said:

I wish nothing but good luck with not having any more migraines.

Thanks, but I didn't cross my fingers hard enough. The migraine kicked back in at about 1:30 p.m. - pain behind one eye, then everywhere. The area behind my left eye still hurts like hell, and it's not my sinuses. I'm on my second rizatriptan now. The first one just knocked me out for a couple of hours. Sound & light hurt. I imagine not as bad as yours, but bad enough to shut me down for periods of time.

[mlooney 3,417]

2 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I imagine not as bad as yours, but bad enough to shut me down for periods of time.

I've been real lucky that I haven't had a bad migraine in about 6 months.  I've had less than a dozen mild ones in that time frame. Not any where near as bad as they used to be.  I still wish you luck,

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I've made it to almost 2pm without the migraine kicking in today. No nausea, no precursor problems, no pain behind the left eye. I'm hoping I've lucked out.

[mlooney 3,417]

31 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I've made it to almost 2pm without the migraine kicking in today. No nausea, no precursor problems, no pain behind the left eye. I'm hoping I've lucked out.

I hope you keep lucking out on the migraine.

[mlooney 3,417]

Today was over the phone shrink day.  We are keeping my medication the same, but are looking at increasing the lamictal dose to 200mg if needed.  I'm to call her if I have any more depressive episodes, or if they last longer than a few minutes.