Friday, November 23, 2012

Drugs and Doctors and more Drugs

It's the day after Thanksgiving, and I feel a bit drugged.

Yesterday we had our Thanksgiving Dinner at Irregardless Cafe in downtown Raleigh which is a delightful little restaurant close to the State University campus area.

Great food, we ate a bit much and if I don't fall asleep I'll go to the gym.

I took my 50mg capsule of Zonisamide with all the other pills (Metformin, Co-Q 10, B2, Fish Oil, Multivitamin, Meloxicam, OTC Prilosec, Cholestoff  which is a big black lozenge of plant sterols and stanols; Alpha Lipoic Acid and vitamin D3) that I take with breakfast.

Those are just the breakfast batch, I take other pills with dinner, along with more Zonisamide.

The Zonisamide and Meloxicam keep the headaches away for the most part (for which I am thankful).

I'm taking the Prilosec OTC at the recommendation of a neurologist to help with my evening breathing problem which may be reflux disease.  I've stopped taking any of the Tizanidine at night to avoid breathing less often while I sleep.    

I've been inundated with Appointment Reminders for December.  On the 3rd I see an ENT to take a peek at my potentially deviated septum.  On the 5th I'm over to Pulmonary (heart and lung) also referred by my neurologist probably because of my history of breathing issues.  The sleep studies showed that I didn't breathe sufficiently even with the help of a CPAP machine.

Since I'm having difficulty breathing in the evening, a different problem from the one detected in the sleep study, I might have a problem.

Pulmonary has it's own special form that has to be filled out.   They have their own medical history and I hope I don't miss any of the operations I underwent for my cancer treatment or the cessation of cancer treatment.   They want to know about my Echo Cardiogram, my CT scans, and I suppose my PET scans.  Have I been exposed to tuberculosis?

They want to know what drugs I'm on.  The drugs are listed in the UNC system, but I don't know if that's good enough for them.

The questions go on, and not only do I have to remember to fill out the form, I have to remember to take it with me.

And find the where Pulmonary is located in the Ambulatory Care Center, which is in an out of the way place. 

December 18th it's back to visit the neurologist, the 20th I talk to a registered nurse which is part of my insurance company's wellness plan and those are the doctor appointments for December. 

It's certainly enough.  And I think I have more than enough drugs.



   

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Headaches are Abating

Next to no headache for quite some time.

Naturally, the first thing I felt after typing that was a headache.  Sad.

I could take a Skelaxin, and then quietly smother when I drift off to sleep after taking the Tizanidine later tonight.  Nope, better safe than sorry.

Stick with the discomfort.  It's really more discomfort than headache.   But I still don't like it.  I could always stop drinking the coffee I've started drinking, but I really don't think that's the issue.

I'm vacationing at Wrightsville Beach, NC and there is a very nice balcony overlooking the Atlantic just outside our windows.  It's 56 degrees outside right now and I might step out for a breath of fresh air before turning in.  

My take on this is that since I've done two things: (1) taken a daily dose of Meloxicam 7.5 mg and (2) split my 100mg dose of Zonisamide up into two 50mg doses, taking one with breakfast and the other with dinner; I have had few headaches.

Yes, I have one now, but I did a few strength training things that probably exacerbated my spinal problems.  Or so I say.

What if it's the COFFEE?