Saturday, June 15, 2013

Drugs of My Desire

Muscle relaxants for the relaxed:  I have some new drugs for my head/neck pain one of which is Chlorzoxasone which is less of a sedative than the Tizanidine that is already prescribed.  I can take it during the day and it won't make me fall asleep at my computer.

Also I have a half dose (2mg) of Tizanidine which is helpful because it's better to be less sedated.  I'm sure I breathe better (more) when I sleep if I'm not so horribly drugged.

Both of these drugs are muscle relaxants, but the Tizanidine is much more potent.  Knocks me out at the right dose.

The 50 mg of Zonisamide that I take each day keeps most of the head/neck pain away, but I still need something to deal with what's left over.

I still have chronic pain.  It's the leftover from lymphoma and it's aftermath.  I will probably never get over it.

But I do have drugs, and they help a whole lot.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

T Scores for the Disambiguated

No wonder I'm such a crotchety old man.   These are my test scores:

TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone)     1.353 (normal: .350 - 4.500)     mIU/mL
T4 (This is what TSH should be stimulating I think)  11.3  (normal: 5.0 - 12.5)  ug/dL
T3 (Your, whoops my body produces this from T4)   85.7 (normal: 80.0 204.0)  ug/dL

Well, this is normal.  My thyroid pills are T4 which my body converts to T3.  I take in 125ug per day.

I am not hyper-thyroid which is inconsistent with my eye problem as revealed by the ultrasound.

Isn't life crazy?


Monday, June 3, 2013

What's the Prognosis Doctor?

Well, what's wrong with my eyes, and how is it so much unlike what's wrong with anybody else's eyes?

The ultrasound was over in about a quarter hour.  I was invited to have a seat and tilt my head back on the "special" chair while drops were splotched into each eye to let them go numb.   Considering all that I've been through, and am going to go through, not the worst thing.

The entertaining part came when a somewhat viscus something was put into each eye so that the special wand could be applied to my eye; or my eyelid.  I don't know which.

It was about as big around as a thick ball point pen, and about as long.  But the end that went against my eye was flat.  Fortunately.

Look up that way; keep both eyes open. Yuck!

A smelly solvent was used to clean out my eyes and I was given instructions not to rub them for about twenty minutes.

This was Tuesday afternoon, and then that night the ophthalmologist called and explained that my condition was consistent with hyperthyroidism.  Which I do not have.

If you don't know - some of the muscles are bigger than others and pull the eyeball in that direction.

I'll be seeing that doctor in about six weeks to see if things have changed - and then I hope to enjoy the surgery.

That's a joke. Stick that scalpel in my eye and sew it up after. Like I'll really enjoy that experience.  I'll be out, but they have to wake me up to check that they did it right. 

I called my regular doctor's office to find out when my last thyroid checkup was and it was back in October, and they wanted me to come in and have a thyroid panel immediately.   So I did.

For you medical types (or mere aficionados) my TSH, T4 and T3 were normal.