Archive of ‘personal’ category

26
Dec
2020

Since I haven’t actually mentioned this here…

categories: personal; word count: 318 words

At the local pain management clinic, I was put on 2,700mg of Gabapentin to see if it affected my migraines. I titrated up to it over the course of a month. Doctors have people titrate when they’re going up to higher doses to try and minimize the “medicated” effects that the medication is more than happy to provide, but I got there. And as I got there, a numbness began to form in my left hand that I didn’t pay much heed to until I realized that I could only really use my index finger and thumb, that I can not bear weight at all in my left hand, and if I want to type coherently with both hands I need to watch exactly where my left hand is because I hunt and peck by memory. The numbness kind of goes up my arm on that side, and I have milder numbness on the back of my left foot. Since it is helping, the decision was made to leave me on it for as long as is safe and tolerable, and I am adjusting in the meantime. I am also back on Fioricet, and recently had my dose upgraded from one pills to two as needed. If I can get away with it I only take one pill, but I know myself well enough by now. If the side effects from Gabapentin persist or get worse, I will titrate back down.

I was also put back on Olanzapine as needed for migraine abortion, but this medication has made me gain weight. Too much weight gain adversely affects my spirometry, and if it keeps going, my ability to breathe (so then there would be weight gain on top of my already pre-existing asthma). I take it only as I need it…

I am also thinking about having my primary care doctor upgrade my nortryptline from 50mg to 100mg, too.

20
Dec
2020

I should have done this awhile ago…

categories: personal; word count: 406 words

For the most part, I’ve transferred my neurological care from the neurologist that I was seeing one town over to the local pain management clinic here in my city. My primary care doctor was, and has been, in full support of this and thinks that it was (is? how do I phrase this?) the right thing to do. We discussed Botox when I was seen for the first time, which I am amenable to attempting… we just need to get insurance approval for it, or know that insurance denied the clinic’s attempt to seek approval for it from me so that we can appeal the denial. So far, no one relevant has heard anything back about whether it was denied or approved… so I guess that’s a waiting game, and we’ll see when we see. In the interim, and to have it on hand in the event that I need it, I’ve been prescribed Fioricet again, and we are currently working on getting me the highest dose and frequency of that medication which works, but not go beyond that unless we have to so that I don’t inure to it the same way triptans do in that they no longer work on me at all. “Fioricet is love, Fioricet is life” has become one of my biggest inside jokes, because to be honest, it works decently…

For me, for someone who very often doesn’t get a lot of pain relief other than by waiting it out, this is huge.

I also found out that I am on nearly the largest dose of Gabapentin. That is 3,000mg, and I am currently on 2,700mg. I’m also not sure if I’ve mentioned it here, but I’ve begun to develop peripheral neuropathy on my left side due to it… but as long as it helps migraines, which it does, I am reluctant to give that up unless I am made to give that up. The only major downside to this is that I am left-side dominant. My left ring finger, left pinkie finger, and the area going downward from that to my elbow is numb now. I also can’t bear weight on or with my left hand. But like I’ve said, if it makes a sizable dent in the pain, I am willing to live with all that.

The back of my left foot is also numb, which means that I have to be careful walking, but… see above, heh.

1 … 241 242 243 244 245 … 313