Catch-up and Progress Report

Mary had lunch with some friends today and one of them, Sue, said that I hadn't posted since October 11th.  

I feel like I've been letting people down, so I thought I'd give you a new report.

I have a history of peculiar side effects from a number of drugs that I've tried for various reasons. 

Nexium, for example gives me heartburn, as well as reminding me of the ancient roman practice of 'nexum' which was a debt bond contract where the debtor pledged his body as collateral, and pieces of it could literally be carried off by his creditors. 

Naturally, when my throat was sore treatment began for acid-reflux which at the time must have been the illness of the month. Eventually, due to Mary's urging, I had my esophagus scoped and no damage from that mythical disease was apparent.   I ended up wearing a 24-hour monitor with a little tube that went up my left nostril and down into my esophagus to check levels on a meter.  I needed to write down the times that I ate. 

Eating produced the most interesting sensations because the peristalsis would pull on the tube and I would feel as though I couldn't quite swallow properly. 

Oh the vicissitudes of medical tests!

But I was talking about side effects.  Levitra.

Levitra is supposed to do one thing, provide a certain thrust and parry quality to a certain male body part.  I've tried this drug several times, and when I found that the normal dosage was just too much for me: headache, upset stomach, causes my ears to flush and shrinks whatever libido I have left down to the size of a pea.

Like so many other drugs I've taken, I wasn't sure if I was going to have a coronary.

But, I lived through it and then tried a lesser amount.  Not much better.  It simply was debilitating. 

If I take a tiny amount, I feel a pleasant vibratory sensation in my feet; but I don't think it comes in dosages that small.

Like so many drugs, I shall have to relegate Levitra to the trash bin; or save it until I feel suicidal. 

But I was going to talk about headaches, just to lift the mood a little. 

I have been trying to cut back on Skelaxin but whenever I do that I end up with a worse headache than when I take it regularly.  

It is beginning to dawn on me that I am going to be dependent on a regular prescription for a very long while.   Just to feel normal.

Talk about doctor dependency.

I don't think it's the stenosis in my neck that is so much of a problem, it's that empty spot that used to hold a bit of a vertebra and a bit of a tumor.  It is on the right side of my neck and just under my skull. 

And if I don't feed it muscle relaxants it becomes obnoxious.  Thank goodness I don't have the problems with Skelaxin that I have with Levitra.