Recently in pain Category
As Fleeting As Ever
[ rakaur on Sun Jul 20 at 08:30 PM // category: drugs, health, life, pain ]
My grandmother on my father’s side died on Thursday.
I am still unemployed.
Also on Thursday, I had an appointment with my usual clinic doctor. Apparently, the clinic was taken over by some other “network” or whatever the organizations are, and there was a new doctor. And he was awesome. I ran through my history, and mentioned the possibility of dural ecstasia due to Marfan’s syndrome, and he ran out and got like three textbooks and ran back in and sat down and talked to me like I was his best friend. He made an appointment for me with a cardiologist (though it’s quite far away; October 22nd) and gave me a prescription for tramadol and told me to call back in a week to see if it was working. Unfortunately it’s not, so I guess I’ll try to find some way to say that without appearing ungrateful for the medicine. Maybe this guy will actually figure things out. It sure would be nice.
I miss Kori.
-- rakaur // 2008.07.20 @ 08:30 PM
Another Trip to the ER!
[ rakaur on Wed May 14 at 06:16 PM // category: drugs, health, life, pain ]
I ran out of medicine, and I was doing alright for a week or so but then it started hitting me hard. Last night it was bad, and then all of a sudden started shooting down my left leg (which it has never done before) and it was awful. I started feeling sick and having the usual bowel issues that accompanies my symptoms. I didn’t want to go, because they never do anything for me, but I didn’t know what else I could do, so I went to the ER.
I got there and did the usual questions and they took me straight to the back. Walking was painful. As soon as I got back there a doctor came in and I gave him the symptoms and a brief history and the first thing he said is “it’s weird that your ESR and CRP are normal… but have you heard of ankylosing spondylitis?” That makes like four or five people that have suggested it. He told me to forget my regular doctors and go see a rheumatologist. He asked me what medicine I had and was appalled that all I take is naproxen. He gave me a shot of hydromorphone (Dilaudid) which totally took the pain away, and he gave me a script for a handful of Vicodin. I was almost in tears I was so relieved.
I tried to call my PCP to make an appointment with a rheumatologist but apparently there aren’t any at my hospital. That means I’d have to pay upfront for one. I really don’t know what I’m supposed to do about this. I’m now accepting PayPal donations (only partly joking I’m afraid).
I’m unsure what to do. Fingers crossed I guess.
-- rakaur // 2008.05.14 @ 06:16 PM
Knee Pain
[ rakaur on Mon Apr 28 at 11:40 AM // category: health, life, pain ]
Had some bad knee pain this morning. Could barely put any weight on it in the shower. This is a first.
-- rakaur // 2008.04.28 @ 11:40 AM
Lost
[ rakaur on Sun Apr 27 at 03:49 PM // category: health, life, pain ]
I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m out of medicine and I work in two hours. If I lose my job I lose what little is left of my life. I feel like there’s nothing left but to give up.
-- rakaur // 2008.04.27 @ 03:49 PM
Test Results
[ rakaur on Mon Apr 21 at 11:46 AM // category: health, life, pain ]
Just got my results, c-reactive protein and sed rate were normal. This explains why NSAIDs aren’t really effective. Rheumatoid factor was normal, and I’m HLA-B27 negative. This is good news.
So why do I feel so crappy? I feel as if I’m just that much further from an answer. Without inflammation, what can it even be? Now my PCP doesn’t really believe me, and won’t give me any more medicine. What should I do? I can’t work without the medicine, and I can’t afford to lose my job. I don’t know what I can do.
I feel hopeless.
-- rakaur // 2008.04.21 @ 11:46 AM
Sleeplessnessish
[ rakaur on Fri Apr 18 at 05:52 AM // category: health, life, pain ]
Didn’t really sleep tonight. Went to bed at 11, “fell to sleep” around two, and woke up off and on from the pain. Finally gave up about 5:30.
I’ll call today to see if those tests results are in. I’m almost out of drugs.
Update: The asswipes are closed until Monday. I’ll probably have to go to the ER if the pain continues as it has today.
-- rakaur // 2008.04.18 @ 05:52 AM
Blood Work
[ rakaur on Sun Apr 13 at 02:00 AM // category: health, life, pain ]
I went to get some blood work done yesterday. My PCP ordered tests for HLA-B27, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, rheumatoid factor, and c-reactive protein.
I’ll have the results by next week hopefully. I’ll update then.
-- rakaur // 2008.04.13 @ 02:00 AM
Elaboration on that Stoner Story (Updated!)
[ rakaur on Wed Apr 09 at 12:39 PM // category: drugs, health, life, pain // comments: 2 ]
When I posted this story, I didn’t really have time to elaborate and share my thoughts on it, so people asked my opinion in the comments. This is mostly a response to those.
Click here to read this entire entry.
-- rakaur // 2008.04.09 @ 12:39 PM
Confessions of an eBay Opium Addict
[ rakaur on Tue Apr 08 at 09:28 PM // category: drugs, health, life, pain // comments: 1 ]
This is pretty interesting. Maybe I don’t need to worry about doctors.
Also, see here.
-- rakaur // 2008.04.08 @ 09:28 PM
Pain Update
[ rakaur on Sun Mar 30 at 06:49 AM // category: drugs, health, life, pain ]
It’s become apparent that the new pain is now the normal pain. The pain level has increased significantly, by at least a point on the pain scale, and it’s (painfully) clear that it’s staying that way. Which is, you know, bad.
I’ve recently changed my drug regimine from:
- A whole fucking lot of Vicodin;
To more along the lines of:
- Not quite as fucking much of Vicodin, and;
- A significant quantity of naproxen and ibuprofen.
Which seems to have helped, but not significantly. On school days and/or days I’m not working the typical dosage of hydrocodone is around 15-25mg. On bad days and/or days I work 7-9 hours, the typical dosage is around 35-55mg. That’s quite a bit. I try to keep it as low as possible, but the bad days… not even that quantity helps the pain.
This is my life, it seems.
-- rakaur // 2008.03.30 @ 06:49 AM
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