I found pills and ate them
Jun. 3rd, 2013 08:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seventheThis has been a particularly busy and interesting day. I had one simple checkup this morning but it blossomed into an all-day medical ~extravaganza~ ( /rupaul voice) that I'm simultaneously hopeful about, exhausted from, and dreading the slew of medical bills.
Today I had a checkup and discussion with my pain doctor, went to get a slew of x-rays on my lumbar spine and sacroiliac joint, went to my general doctor, got a major new prescription, and am having like a dozen blood tests done tomorrow. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing. When I do something I do it thoroughly. I hope today results in some answers.
In order of occurrence:
My pain doctor doesn't (yet) seem overly worried about the situation in my cervical spine -- he said often the shots vary in scope and effectiveness, and that I should try PT and stretching like yoga before we go back to them. (Short version: the first shot improved my pain by a lot, the second was even better, but after the third I've been regressing back into pain. It's still better than it was initially; but it's not as good as it was.)
Having settled problem #1 I decided to move on to problem #2, and we talked about the pain in my lower back. He expects I have a pinched nerve somewhere, maybe the sciatic nerve, but wanted to do a full evaluation, so I hiked myself off to get a set of x-rays each on my lumbar spine and on my sacroiliac joint. During that experience something set off the actual problem in my lower back and it felt once again like a stabbing knitting needle in my spinal cord radiating all the way down through my butt into my hamstrings, so instead of going to work I came home and took a nap.
I'd asked my pain doctor about getting me a blood test for some stuff because I have a sneaking suspicion that what's "wrong with me" isn't just related to these acute symptoms, but has an underlying cause. He said it would be better to have my GP do that, so I called his office and got an appointment that afternoon. I'd been meaning to talk to him about insomnia meds and antianxiety drugs anyway, so I laid all three issues (insomnia, anxiety/depression, and chronic pain) on him.
He said there were plenty of things that we could try to deal with these things - he said that often times one medication can help with all three, because often, those three things are linked. He sent me home with a prescription for escitalopram (gen of Lexapro) to try for 3-4 weeks to see whether it helps with the anxiety and the sleep, and if it does, whether that helps with the chronic pain or not. He said he was more than willing to try a bunch of combinations; he seemed fairly sure there was something that could help me out.
He also listened to my symptoms and is fairly convinced that I have fibromyalgia. That is... not entirely great news. Then again, I'd been becoming convinced that I had some other chronic pain disease like rheumatoid arthritis or chronic fatigue/ME, so it isn't surprising either. That's what the dozen blood tests are for - to rule our RA, anemia, inflammatory diseases, things that can be tested for. However, there are certain markers for fibro that I didn't know about that I actually do have (the "tender points"? I have a bunch of those and have always blamed it on weak/inflamed tendons?), so. The general!doctor said that hearing my symptoms he thought of fibro, and the way you diagnose fibro is by making sure it isn't anything else. So, process of elimination time.
So for the next 4-8 weeks I'll be on an experimental anti-anxiety (/anti-insomnia, hopefully) drug, going to physical therapy for both the top and bottom of my spine, and awaiting a bunch of diagnoses to tell me what to do next.
Hopefully it will help.
Today I had a checkup and discussion with my pain doctor, went to get a slew of x-rays on my lumbar spine and sacroiliac joint, went to my general doctor, got a major new prescription, and am having like a dozen blood tests done tomorrow. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing. When I do something I do it thoroughly. I hope today results in some answers.
In order of occurrence:
My pain doctor doesn't (yet) seem overly worried about the situation in my cervical spine -- he said often the shots vary in scope and effectiveness, and that I should try PT and stretching like yoga before we go back to them. (Short version: the first shot improved my pain by a lot, the second was even better, but after the third I've been regressing back into pain. It's still better than it was initially; but it's not as good as it was.)
Having settled problem #1 I decided to move on to problem #2, and we talked about the pain in my lower back. He expects I have a pinched nerve somewhere, maybe the sciatic nerve, but wanted to do a full evaluation, so I hiked myself off to get a set of x-rays each on my lumbar spine and on my sacroiliac joint. During that experience something set off the actual problem in my lower back and it felt once again like a stabbing knitting needle in my spinal cord radiating all the way down through my butt into my hamstrings, so instead of going to work I came home and took a nap.
I'd asked my pain doctor about getting me a blood test for some stuff because I have a sneaking suspicion that what's "wrong with me" isn't just related to these acute symptoms, but has an underlying cause. He said it would be better to have my GP do that, so I called his office and got an appointment that afternoon. I'd been meaning to talk to him about insomnia meds and antianxiety drugs anyway, so I laid all three issues (insomnia, anxiety/depression, and chronic pain) on him.
He said there were plenty of things that we could try to deal with these things - he said that often times one medication can help with all three, because often, those three things are linked. He sent me home with a prescription for escitalopram (gen of Lexapro) to try for 3-4 weeks to see whether it helps with the anxiety and the sleep, and if it does, whether that helps with the chronic pain or not. He said he was more than willing to try a bunch of combinations; he seemed fairly sure there was something that could help me out.
He also listened to my symptoms and is fairly convinced that I have fibromyalgia. That is... not entirely great news. Then again, I'd been becoming convinced that I had some other chronic pain disease like rheumatoid arthritis or chronic fatigue/ME, so it isn't surprising either. That's what the dozen blood tests are for - to rule our RA, anemia, inflammatory diseases, things that can be tested for. However, there are certain markers for fibro that I didn't know about that I actually do have (the "tender points"? I have a bunch of those and have always blamed it on weak/inflamed tendons?), so. The general!doctor said that hearing my symptoms he thought of fibro, and the way you diagnose fibro is by making sure it isn't anything else. So, process of elimination time.
So for the next 4-8 weeks I'll be on an experimental anti-anxiety (/anti-insomnia, hopefully) drug, going to physical therapy for both the top and bottom of my spine, and awaiting a bunch of diagnoses to tell me what to do next.
Hopefully it will help.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-04 01:31 am (UTC)hate that.
I'm really sorry you're going through all this.
Tender points such as
-- 2-3 inches above/behind/outside of the elbow
-- points on either side of the base of the spine near the tailbone
-- outside of the thigh, slightly under, about 2-3 inches from the underside of the knee
-- top of the shoulder right where it's borderline neck, kinda like where the inner bump of the collarbones would be if you had them on the back, causing muscles on the shoulderblades and mid back to knot up.
JUST A WILD GUESS.
Really, really sorry you'e going through this.
P.S. TENS UNIT. Have you tried one? It's a bit like Final Fantasy's Shell spell; it won't cure anything, but at least it dampens the power of what's beating on you.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-04 02:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-04 04:41 am (UTC)(but seriously, good luck with everything *crosses fingers*)
no subject
Date: 2013-06-04 10:00 am (UTC)If nothing else, all of these tests will help by ruling out things it is not. It sounds like your doctors are sympathetic and willing to help, at least.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-04 11:45 am (UTC)I've seen Lyrica mentioned in a couple places, and it's on my list to try depending on how the Lexapro works on me. I'm really lucky to have a doctor who will listen to suggestions (but then doesn't just do whatever I want without discussion, cause, he's the doctor :p )
no subject
Date: 2013-06-04 11:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-04 03:09 pm (UTC)Pity that White Mages only exist in video games. This is one of those cases where you should be able to just call up a buxom redhead in fabulous robes and be like "This is what's wrong with me SPELLS PLS" and be done. I hope they figure out once and for all the cause of this nonsense and get it fixed, because damn, your body really seems to hate you.
Good luck on your journey into Medication Land, I hope it goes well.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-04 06:58 pm (UTC)Ugh at all the medicrap, but hopefully there will be some relief at the end of it! Good luck!
no subject
Date: 2013-06-05 12:02 am (UTC)I'm glad that you're making progress toward treating the symptoms, at the least! Let me know what you think of Lexapro - I've had variations of citalopram suggested to me (by other users of same, not by medical professionals, although I've been meaning to ask such a professional about such a thing) and after this past week I am thinking harder about it. (I am sure you are grateful, given how hard I've been leaning on you this past week.)
no subject
Date: 2013-06-06 01:27 am (UTC)Commenting on two posts at once because I can do that
Date: 2013-06-09 05:10 pm (UTC)