![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1209 to 1233 of 1838. Go back in thread:
Posted by headachequeen on November 15, 2004, at 15:51:22
In reply to Re: Deviated septum, posted by rainy on November 15, 2004, at 15:42:06
> My husband isn't over weight but he does send me to the couch sometimes with his snoring. Last winter I too listened for him to stat breathing again. The surgery he might have had to under could have been where they clip the uvula--that bit of tissue that hangs down at the back of the throat and apparently vibrates, increasing the richness of the snore an effect its audience doesn't fully appreciate.
>
> He didn't have sleep apnea but they did suggest that he wear an O2 mask or some such to enable him to breath more easily at night--it would be hooked up to a loud machine at the side of the bed which would have been so romantic.
>
> As far as the sleep clinic goes, he enjoyed it because the tech was cute (the old goat) and he didn't mind being hooked up to electrodes. He could have watched TV but we don't except for a couple of cop shows and West Wing, so he read until he got sleepy and woke up the next morning with a pass to the hospital cafeteria. Not scary. Bad hospital food though. And they woke him up him before 7 so they could go home.
>
> Try not to get torqued up. Weight yes. Sleep clinic, no.
>
> rainy
>
>The info I was given regarding the clinic appt is that they monitor three patients at a time... arriving at fifteen minute intervals...
we are to bring a pillow from home as the hospital pillows are not comfortable... tell me something I don't know :(...
and a book...
not to take a nap during the day... at least not after two in the afternoon and I think stimulants are banned...
and then there is info regarding meds... which I have to discuss with the doctors involved of course...
an eeg is attached to head and a monitor attached to neck to monitor snoring... the husband I am about to divorce says they will not need a monitor...
electrodes attached to legs and I forget the rest of it...
there is a print-out of three pages...
I am to be there for nine-fifteen and will be awakened in time to leave at six-fifteen...I have news for them... I don't usually fall asleep until around six...
that is one of the reasons I am going to this clinic...
I drift off to sleep around midnight, then waken and stay awake until around six and sleep soundly until nine or ten... them's my best sleeping hours...
this is the reason for this exercise that and the sleep apnea the nurses noted and that the husband apparently noticed... the one I am divorcing <g>
over my alleged snoring...
At the end of all the directions they tell you to have a good night's sleep...
well, sillies, if we could sleep well, we wouldn't need to be there...they also tell people who already have some thing or other.. have to look it up on the pamphlet... for sleep apnea to bring it to wear while they sleep...
I shall be like Bridgey, looking around to see what these things are...
<g>
and never get to sleep...
shall have to take a really dull book...
if I am reading something interesting I shall never go to sleep LOLor else I keep thinking about it even when I sleep....
and that wakens me so I can start reading again...
Heaven, I can be my own worst enemy....
and I have not told the doctors about that !!!kat
Posted by bridgey1128 on November 15, 2004, at 16:31:42
In reply to Re: Deviated septum » rainy, posted by headachequeen on November 15, 2004, at 15:51:22
It sounds like you do have a deviated septum. And no that usually isn't the reason people have a nose job. It's because they have big ugly honkers! hehe Or they just have too much money to spend on ridiculous things and have already bought a pair of breasts. :P You don't remember breaking your nose and I don't remember getting whiplash! We're even! hehe Ever since my chiro has worked on my back I have slept a LOT better. My mind has slowed down a LOT since being on the Topomax so the racing thoughts aren't there to keep me awake. Gee, now I have the bronchitis to keep me awake...ugh...WHY OH WHY! Everything tastes like tomatoes right now and I don't know why. I have a tomatoey aftertaste. It's odd. Well, it could be worse. I could NOT like tomatoes. Sounds like you need to have some kind of Dr conference Kat. Get ALLLLLL your Dr's together and say.."Ok....now WHAT are we going to do here?" You can serve wine and cheese. hehe Then while they are in there doing your nose you can say.."Hey, why don't you give me a pair of D's and do a nip tuck or something." I tried to get them to do some lypo when they did my c-section. They didn't go for it. Oh well. I guess we can't have something for nothing! ;)
Posted by headachequeen on November 15, 2004, at 18:06:16
In reply to Re: Deviated septum, posted by bridgey1128 on November 15, 2004, at 16:31:42
> It sounds like you do have a deviated septum. And no that usually isn't the reason people have a nose job. It's because they have big ugly honkers! hehe Or they just have too much money to spend on ridiculous things and have already bought a pair of breasts. :P You don't remember breaking your nose and I don't remember getting whiplash! We're even! hehe Ever since my chiro has worked on my back I have slept a LOT better. My mind has slowed down a LOT since being on the Topomax so the racing thoughts aren't there to keep me awake. Gee, now I have the bronchitis to keep me awake...ugh...WHY OH WHY! Everything tastes like tomatoes right now and I don't know why. I have a tomatoey aftertaste. It's odd. Well, it could be worse. I could NOT like tomatoes. Sounds like you need to have some kind of Dr conference Kat. Get ALLLLLL your Dr's together and say.."Ok....now WHAT are we going to do here?" You can serve wine and cheese. hehe Then while they are in there doing your nose you can say.."Hey, why don't you give me a pair of D's and do a nip tuck or something." I tried to get them to do some lypo when they did my c-section. They didn't go for it. Oh well. I guess we can't have something for nothing! ;)
Oh, I know the real reason for all the nose jobs but I remember all the quotes about corrected deviated septum corrections and thinking that the minds were deviated that thought we were that dumb or else there was an epidemic <g>
when I had the second hysterectomy...yes, the second... remember I said I never got anything right... I told the surgeon that this was the last chance... if they wanted my tonsils, adenoids, gall bladder, appendix, or anything else, this was the time to do it because I was not doing this again...
and while they were at it a tummy tuck would be nice...
well I still have all the above and no tummy tuck ...
seems the surgeon thought exercise would be as effective... what a killjoy he was!
so I fixed him... I did the redhead thing and it took eleven months for the surgery to heal ...
I was his first post-op infection in over five years and the first ever of that dimension...
he should have given me the tummy tuck and I would have been easier to get along with....I wonder what the tomato taste is from???
I have been smelling vinegar for a day or two..no matter where I am or what I am doing, there it is, vinegar...
simple partial seizures apparently can involve 'olfactory hallucinations' such as unpleasant odours... mine usually involve pleasant odours, such as the pipe tobacco my grandfather smoked... and they last for a very short time, not a couple of days....
but vinegar... phew....and today my face and hands and part of my forearms are doing the electric tingles...
We should all get together and catalogue all this stuff , then sell it to a medical school for some sort of study... we could become a syndrome and be famous...
This afternoon I sat down with a cup of coffee to start the Christmas card thing...
a Third Watch rerun was on and I was sort of watching it as I checked the list and addresses...
next thing I knew the paramedics were dealing with a kid in a severe tonic clonic state... heading for status epilepticus...
it was the most amazing sensation to sit there and watch and listen and think....
now I know why I prefer to listen to music and so seldom watch television...kat
Posted by rainy on November 15, 2004, at 18:14:30
In reply to Re: Deviated septum » bridgey1128, posted by headachequeen on November 15, 2004, at 18:06:16
yeah, third watch! that and special victims and west wing are what we east coast intellectuals watch while we eat supper. Lord, you guys are the first people I've ever admitted that to.
this is probably going t get us kicked off onto social and I'm wondering what Aussie, who spoke up yesterday about titrating up on Topamax very slowly, might be thinking.
I'm sorry, Aussie, your contribution wasn't acknowledged, but I appreciated reading it and I hope you'll stick with the board and keep posting.
rainy
Posted by headachequeen on November 15, 2004, at 18:25:22
In reply to Re: Deviated septum » headachequeen, posted by rainy on November 15, 2004, at 18:14:30
> yeah, third watch! that and special victims and west wing are what we east coast intellectuals watch while we eat supper. Lord, you guys are the first people I've ever admitted that to.
>
> this is probably going t get us kicked off onto social and I'm wondering what Aussie, who spoke up yesterday about titrating up on Topamax very slowly, might be thinking.
>
> I'm sorry, Aussie, your contribution wasn't acknowledged, but I appreciated reading it and I hope you'll stick with the board and keep posting.
>
> rainyI didn't even get that post....
anyone who speaks up about titrating slowly up is going to get my serious round of cheers...
it is so important...and that reminds me...
I found the sheets of info on the tegretol and clobazam that came with my latest prescriptions and shall post the warnings that come with them...
fascinating stuff....
including the information that people using tegretol should wear a bracelet or carry a wallet card stating this info....now does that carry on for topomax too I wonder???
going to ask pharmacist....and why do doctors recommend fast titrating on topomax...
I asked my pharmacist and she says it is often because they have not read all the literature and she always tells patients to go slowly....as for third watch...
that episode tonight really, as my new client's teenaged daughter would say, freaked me out...
I felt I was watching myself being treated...
and when they started arguing as to using ativan or valium I was shaking and in tears....
I know from talking to my doctor and his nurse and with the husband I have yet to divorce <g> that I was given valium to ease the seizures... they said it was more effective than ativan...
when husband came in I was on the sofa as rigid as a board, staring at the television, arms folded around myself, rocking back and forth...back to music from now on... although I do like West Wing...
as long as they don't enter into any epileptic stuff....kat
Posted by bridgey1128 on November 15, 2004, at 20:28:00
In reply to Re: Deviated septum » rainy, posted by headachequeen on November 15, 2004, at 18:25:22
Clobazam...that sounds like something that Flash Gordan would say...
Posted by headachequeen on November 15, 2004, at 23:22:42
In reply to SHAZAM!, posted by bridgey1128 on November 15, 2004, at 20:28:00
> Clobazam...that sounds like something that Flash Gordan would say...
Doesn't it sound ridiculous... it is very hard to take it seriously, believe me...
I keep expecting Robin to pop out and yell,
Holy Clobazam, Batman!The warning with it says to tell your doctor your medical history (well if he doesn't know my history why is he prescribing it????)
especially kidney disease, liver disease, respiratory disease,depression, severe muscle weakness, certain types of glaucoma, history of chemical dependence, any allergies.
SInce this medication may cause drowsiness use caution operating machinery or engaging in activities requiring alertness such as driving...
(As it is an anti-seizure medication and it is illegal to have a driver's licence while suffering from seizures that is an interesting note...)
not recommended for pregnant or nursing mothers..under drug reactions it says to tell your doctor of all prescription and non-precription meds you may use, especially for depression, narcotic pain relievers, sleeping pills, tranquilisers, antihistamines, other seizure medications.
again, if my doctor prescribes this, he had better be aware of the other stuff especially anti-seizure stuff he has prescribed...
then again my previous neuro prescribed aspirin with tegretol....
Side Effects: drowsiness, dizziness, tiredness, fatigue, loss of co-ordination, or nausea may occur. Constipation, loss of appetite, muscle weakness, dry mouth, tremor, weight gain, or restlessness rarely occur.
Notify your doctor if you develop a rapid, pounding,or irregular heartbeat, changes in vision, slurred speech, confusion, depression, irritability, behavioural changes.
If you have an allergic reaction seek immediate medical attention.It adds that the elderly may be more sensitive to the drug
and that it can be habit-forming so use cautiously....So far I have noticed only that it is an appetite suppressant for me...
I am not at all hungry... since I have started taking it I do not care at all if I eat, more so than with the topomax and it does make me drowsy.When I fall asleep it is a sound sleep and I don't waken ... the house can fall and I sleep...
a new phenomenon...
still takes me a while to get to sleep but once I get there it is solid...so two of the side effects have arrived with it...
no hair loss mentioned thoughand my dear husband says that my lack of coordination can not be blamed on clobazam ...
as for the nausea that comes and goes..
is that tegretol or clbazam???
and the dizziness... clobazam or tegretol or aura???
and the confusion and blurred vision... clobazam or epileptic happenimg???
Holy Batman, Robin...
all this stuff really clouds the issue.
Some times I think it would be easier to go without the meds and see what happens... easier to identify causes anyway...
well I know what I mean, speaking of confusion...
Flash Gordon, where are you when I need you to sort out my thoughts...
kat
Posted by rainy on November 16, 2004, at 6:27:58
In reply to Stresser: GP vs Pdoc, posted by rainy on November 15, 2004, at 13:25:01
Posted by stresser on November 16, 2004, at 8:55:27
In reply to Re: Topamax and depression » stresser, posted by headachequeen on November 15, 2004, at 13:48:58
I am really impressed with your parenting skills. Your are the parent I have always wanted to be, but didn't know how. I feel ecredibly guilty, so much so that it's creating a new depression. I know that I don't hug my children enough, and because of it they aren't affectionate people. I was never showed much affection as a child, and should have known better, but I guess I didn't. Some things are hard to change, and some people are hard to change. What I would give to do it all over again.....I think of Bridgey with her little one's and envy her because she hasn't had much of a chance to screw up yet. You will have to excuse my pity party today. It's raining outside....and that seems to put me in a ratty mood. The bottome of the pit seems really deep today, and I don't have a clue as to why. Tomorrow could be a total turn around, who knows. Wierd huh? We will keep plugging away on the medication as always. Keep going everyone! -L
Posted by rainy on November 16, 2004, at 9:39:18
In reply to Re: Topamax and depression » headachequeen, posted by stresser on November 16, 2004, at 8:55:27
You're posting to Kat so I'm butting in here. L, I don't believe we parents are the major part of our kids' depression, eating disorders, schizophrenia and the host of maladies we humans are subject to. It's nobodies' "fault". We can only be supportive and steer them as best we can toward the best help, as we understand it it, that we can. You're doing that.
You also can't help feeling guilty--I've shed hot tears over our kids. I believe our son shares the bipolar II gene--he walked, no ran out of the psychologist's office when he was 16, and is now at 35 having a very hard time. Talk about creative people--he is surely one. He can't hold a job. Now, when he e-mails and I see the "love" before his sign off I am so grateful...Our daughter, 37, is still on prozac which she began in college. Her MFA was in creative writing and Ph.D in English Lit--she's a poet working as a paralegal in a medical malpractice firm. She saw a psychiatrist for over a year. (Meds and therapy.)
Both of them have been on long hard journeys which aren't half over. We were affectionate from the beginning. We got help for them as soon as we sensed things were going wrong. We should have had family therapy but we were too proud/blind for that, even though we both had taken courses in it--we didn't need it, oh no!
Jeeze. We made a lot of mistakes.
My mother told me how guilty she felt about stuff she'd done. Looking back I thought no, you and Dad did your best. Even though I didn't like her and was mad at some of the things she said and did--it was mostly her attitude bothered me and which I'm afraid is much like mine.We are who we are and we do what we have to do. This isn't to say we can't learn a thing or two which is where I wish we had gone into family therapy--my husband and I might have learned some helpful things as well as felt better about ourselves as parents.
It doesn't seem fair that parenting is so hard and that our kids go in ways that we don't want them to despite all our love and and care. But a child's depression isn't her/his fault nor the parents'. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, of course, like abuse, major stress that could have been prevented, that kind of thing.
My warmest thoughts to you on this 15th day of Novemebr
rainy
Posted by headachequeen on November 16, 2004, at 10:49:40
In reply to Re: Topamax and depression » headachequeen, posted by stresser on November 16, 2004, at 8:55:27
> I am really impressed with your parenting skills. Your are the parent I have always wanted to be, but didn't know how. I feel ecredibly guilty, so much so that it's creating a new depression. I know that I don't hug my children enough, and because of it they aren't affectionate people. I was never showed much affection as a child, and should have known better, but I guess I didn't. Some things are hard to change, and some people are hard to change. What I would give to do it all over again.....I think of Bridgey with her little one's and envy her because she hasn't had much of a chance to screw up yet. You will have to excuse my pity party today. It's raining outside....and that seems to put me in a ratty mood. The bottome of the pit seems really deep today, and I don't have a clue as to why. Tomorrow could be a total turn around, who knows. Wierd huh? We will keep plugging away on the medication as always. Keep going everyone! -L
My parenting skills so-called were learned from mistakes and from the lack of parenting I received... my mother was Aberdeen granite and did not believe in displays of emotion... I never received a hug or any demonstration of affection in my entire childhood or teens ...
but I had this grandfather... oh what a treasure...
he was not a hugging person but he was a loving person and I spent a lot of time with my grandparents...and a hug is not always a 'hug' ...
a touch that is gentle and loving.. brushing the hair back from the eyes... a pat on the arm...
a quick arm around the shoulders...
any contact that is gentle, loving, and physical...
and meant to convey the message that you care...parenting is a learn as you go process and we tried to fix our mistakes as we went... we learned to say I'm sorry, I was wrong, can we start again
a lot..one time we had a girl who hated getting out of bed... when she slept she escaped...
so one Sunday rather than make her get up and go to church with the rest of us, she always went with me in the evening anyway and I don't think the hour of the day really matters, we tied her door with toilet paper ribbons and bows and made her a gift of the morning..
She was so happy when she got up...
well once she got past the irritation of the gift-wrapped bedroom door... she didn't see it the way the rest of us did at first.. and it lasted all day..
a first for her..
she had a lot to get past...
her mom used to trade her for rent money from the time she was eleven...
she tried to kill herself a couple of times by overdosing on her mother's valium. The third time they brought her here right from the psych ward at her local hospital...
I was terrified that she would try again; we had never had a child under our roof who had tried to kill herself so immediately...
I was afraid to go to sleep or to turn my back on her for even a second... eventually I relaxed and she relaxed..
she used to mark the bottles in the liquor cabinet.. all three or four of them, and the first thing she would do when she came home from school was check the marks she had put on them...
she was not quite thirteen and had lived through so much I had never imagined...
The agency decided to send her home when she was fifteen...
I couldn't believe it...
how could they do that to her after all that had happened to her...
three months later, her sixteenth birthday, when they can no longer exert control if she chooses to leave, there was a knock on the door and there she was, wondering if she could stay for a few days...
how long? oh, till I finish college...
She is now legally ours... and an incredibly gifted and understanding social worker dealing with add and adhd children as well as a new program she has developed for teens in trouble with the law...
her agency lends her all over the country to teach others how to implement her programme for add and adhd...
and everytime she calls to tell me where she is winging off to next I am in absolute awe that this wondrous creature was able to survive the incredible abuse and torture she endured...my dear L, your parenting skills are not at all in question... you are working from love and care and concern....
you feel that they are not up to par because your daughter is going through one of the teen crises that is so agonising and you feel as all parents do that it must be your fault..
after all, mothers are supposed to be able to fix it all with a kiss...
well, it ain't so.. that is another of the television script-writers' myths...
mothers are not super-creatures...
they are human and doing the best they can to work with the available resources to make life easier for the children they love...
that is what parenting skills really are...
love and using the available resources...
a little resilience is helpful too....the people like my darling Susie's mother, for lack of a better term, are the ones without parenting skills... she didn't even want any...
her child was a useful commodity...
that is lack of parenting skills... lack of caring, lack of love, total self-absorption...you don't even come close to having poor parenting skills...
oh, ma chere amie, you aren't even on the richter scale....
sorry if I burst your balloon because you are a darned caring and dedicated mom... it is in every post you write about your daughter...
every single word....kat who has met some of the worst
Posted by rainy on November 16, 2004, at 14:43:16
In reply to Re: Topamax and depression, posted by headachequeen on November 16, 2004, at 14:03:16
Which is what Kat just said..the health part. I just got back from my therapist visit where I squirmed until she asked if I were uncomfortable and I told her about the pain in my upper left back, shoulder and arm that has been increasing to the point of waking me every time I turn over.
hurts when I drive, get dressed--you get the picture. I shout "ow" in the grocery store and had an excuse to leave church early becuse I couldn't deal with the pew.Turns out from the package insert that one of the main side effects of provigil is "back pain." They aren't specific about location. Now what I've got is a huge muscle spasm, starting at my left shoulder and running down to the middle of my back, close to my spine. I can feel the knots in the durn thing. I also think that may be where the sudden tingling, especially in my left hand is coming from. I've been blaming Topamax.
At my appointment, the therapist showed me some acupuncture points, we did some "tapping" on them and the pain lessened enough to get me home--a 25 minute trip on a busy highway, without damage. She also gave me, at my request, the # of her acupuncturist.
I have an appointment with an orthopdist Thursday. I'm finding that the provigil does clear the oatmeal out of my head and when taken in divided doses doesn't semm as anxiety provoking as when snarfed down all at once. So--do I complain to Pdoc today about it and risk getting jerked off of it or wait until the muscle guy has had a look?
What kinds of experience have you guys had with acupuncture? A close friend as well as our daughter have found it very helpful. Gererally I prefer alternative routes. another thing about provigil is that it seems to be an appetite supressant and even at 100 mgs and on Topamax, I've wanted to eat and eat the last couple of days. !!??
Wouldn't it be nice to just be?
rainy
Posted by Dr. Bob on November 17, 2004, at 5:09:16
In reply to Re: Topamax and depression, posted by headachequeen on November 16, 2004, at 10:49:40
> My parenting skills so-called were learned from mistakes and from the lack of parenting I received...
Sorry to interrupt, but I'd like to redirect follow-ups regarding parenting skills to Psycho-Babble Social. Here's a link:
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20041114/msgs/416940.html
Thanks,
Bob
Posted by rainy on November 18, 2004, at 20:17:37
In reply to Redirect: parenting skills, posted by Dr. Bob on November 17, 2004, at 5:09:16
According to the pacakage insert, on of the main reasons people quit taking provigil is because of muscle stiffness. I've been on 200 mgs of the stuff for about a month in the hope that it would help to alleviate some of the lethargy and muzziness that are apparently a function of bothe the depression and the treatment of bipolar II.
Well. My back has been killing me for about ten days--a super spasm-- but it wasn't until I read the consumer info that came with my refill and saw "muscle stiffness" as one of the things to report promptly to the doc that I connected the two. I went to the orthopedist today in the hope of a referral to P.T for some massage or heat and exercise or something and maybe some significant pain pills like tylenol # 3. I suspected a roator cuff injury, too. I also planned to call my Pdoc immediately after seeing ortho to ask her opinion about dicontinuing provigil (instead of just doing it on my own.)The ortho guy offered me steriods, which I know from experience are a real mood destabilizer. Hypomania or the pits or both within minutes--it's just awful. The he suggested Rx NSAIDs which are major downers for me--even aspirin can shove me over the edge into the doldrums if Topamax isn't paying attention or I'm not. When I toldn him these facts of life and mentioned that I have bipolar II he got sort of annoyed and said I was tying his hands. I also told him I thought it was a srug side effect, he said no it was definately rotator cuff. He said he wasn't familiar with provigil and didn't know about its adverse effects. I asked him about other meds, he said there weree about 30 of them but they would probably all interact with my other "problems." I suggested that he could look them up. Pause. Now none of this was argumentative or angry or harsh on my part.
He gave me some exercises which will be helpful but right now it's painful to attempt them. I asked for some "pain pills." "Pain pills??" "You mean like codeine???" Affirmative nod. "They're addictive!! I would never give codeine to You!" So then I asked him if he would be offenede if I tried acupuncture--I've had some success with tapping on the acupunture points that my therapist showed me Tuesday--it got me through until today at least--and he said that while he had no experience with it I could try it and to let him know if it helped.
When I got home, I called pdoc and she agreed that indeed muscle spasm is a common adverse effect of provigil and suggested that I taper off from 200 mgs to 100 the next three mornings and then off. I'm going slower, 100 every other day. The tablets are scored. I only took 100 today because I hurt so bad.
As for the office visit, I think I know where I went wrong. I went in expecting a peer relationship for starters. I also had a diagnosis in mind that didn't fit in with this doctor's field of experience.
I challeneged his MO--I suggested he could look something up--there wasn't a book in sight in the little room and he had one foor out the door the whole time he was in there anyway.
Posted by stresser on November 18, 2004, at 20:40:55
In reply to a cautionary tale, posted by rainy on November 18, 2004, at 20:17:37
Are you sure your back problems are due to the medication, and not a problem with a muscle? I had a problem with my rotator cuff several years ago, and took some skelaxen (sp) for it. That seemed to help a little, but not as much as doing yoga. Yes, yoga, Power yoga to be exact. That strengthend my core, and my back problems that I was having went away along with my shoulder pain. Who would have guessed (not me) that yoga would correct those problems that I would have always have taken medication for. I thought yoga was too slow and boring at first, but when the pain and suffering started to ease up, I started thinking "hey, there might me something to this". I have been practicing several forms of yoga for around eight years or so, in fact; I liked it enough to teach it. It's calming, (I need that)I didn't realize how tight I really was until I had practiced it enought to loosen up my body. You may have some muscle imbalances that can be altered with some form of stretching. If only yoga could cure the other problems in life, huh? ...... There's always good ole' medication. -L
Posted by rainy on November 19, 2004, at 8:06:56
In reply to Re: a cautionary tale, posted by stresser on November 18, 2004, at 20:40:55
You have an excellent point, L. The only reason I connect the two is that the pain seems coincident with starting the provigil and the literature suggests that this med may be contraindicated in people with muscle weakness. I've had the latter ever since I had Guillain-barre in my early 20s and an autoimmune polyneurpathy a decade later. Ortho says rotator, Pdoc says provigil. Also there was no trauma attached to the spasm, physical that is.
I'm covering all bases: going off the provigil, calling the acupuncturist and when the pain lessens, doing the exercises. Also unrolling the yoga mat and getting out the tape someone loaned me. I've been wanting to restart yoga ever since we moved but it's been beyond budget.
My point in my prior post was that the physician refused to provide me with a short course of a commonly used analgesic for acute pain because he thought I would become addicted, apparently because I made the mistake of having a bipolar II diagnosis and telling him about it.
Also of challenging his diagnosis, or saying there might be more to it and of refusing his offerings, because in my experience the consequences of steriods aren't pretty and of NSAIDs, depressing.
So be careful what and how you share with a physician. Pdoc was very supportive of my annoyed unhappiness with the ortho visit. I forgot to ask her for some tylenol # 3, but I'm not sure psychiatrists Rx other meds anyway.
And thanks for the kick in the butt, L--yoga is wonderful for body, mind and spirit. I just have to get over this acute hump.
rainy
Posted by merry on November 19, 2004, at 14:13:41
In reply to Re: a cautionary tale » stresser, posted by rainy on November 19, 2004, at 8:06:56
I think I would like to try yoga. I have a shoulder and hip problem. tightness, pain. chiropractic treatments help a great deal but I cannot afford it much longer. Thanks.
merry
Posted by rainy on November 19, 2004, at 16:12:10
In reply to Re: a cautionary tale, posted by merry on November 19, 2004, at 14:13:41
I was thinking I couldn't afford yoga either until a friend loaned me a mat and a beginner's tape.
It can be relaxing, but there are some kinds that are strenuous--I don't know what they are and we might get kicked off again for discussing them. Yoga doesn't have horrible adverse effects like our friend Topamax and provigil and the SSRIs. At least you don't gain weight with it!
rainy.
Posted by stresser on November 19, 2004, at 20:25:55
In reply to no adverse effects » merry, posted by rainy on November 19, 2004, at 16:12:10
Here you are!! This is like "Hide and Seek"!!!!! <g>You are right about yoga, the only side-effects can be some muscle soreness. In it is cheap, all you need is a mat, or a towel. Do any of you take welbutrin? Have I asked that already? If so, what dosage do you take. My daughter is back on it, and we are waiting for it to kick-in. I'm quite concerned, because after reading some of Larry's post's, I understand that sometimes when you take a drug and stop, the second time around it may not work. Do any of you still binge with the topamax? She says it's working, but I do know what she is binging sometimes. We are also really considering changing Pdoc, because he's not helping her at all. We just left the office today, and I don't think anything has changed with her way of thinking about the binging in two years. He's a great guy, but I'm afraid he's not the one. I do know she came home and at half a bag of cookies.....so that didn't help today, huh? Anxiety really brings in on, I did learn that one. FINALLY. I think sometimes I'm brain dead. What's your take on all of this? -L
Posted by rainy on November 20, 2004, at 6:21:59
In reply to Re: no adverse effects, posted by stresser on November 19, 2004, at 20:25:55
I've been on wellbutrin for about five years, with one stop and restart this past september. Honestly, I don't know whether it helps or not. I think it raises my anxiety level a little. I'm on 100 mg SR q.i.d--I take one pill 4 times a day to maintain a steady state of the stuff in my blood or liver or wherever it's metabolized. Pdoc wanted me to take a 300 mg dose in the AM but the effect didn't stick with me--I could feel the clouds descending after about five hours. Sort of like aspirin for depression.
I went off because she thought it wasn't helping. As soon as I went off, I got really depressed so it must have been doing something.
It has had no effect on my appetite or weight as far as I can tell. I do get the jitters within a half an hour after taking each pill.It didn't help with the eating disorder. The literature says don't take it if you have a history of anorexia or bulimea, but it doesn't mention binge eating. The other two theoretically make a wellbutrin user more vulnerable to siezures. My former psychiatrist said that was a far out precaution.
It usually takes about a month to kick in, but people respond differently, especially adolescents.
I do know that we went to a rather silly play last night and I really laughed for the first time in weeks and weeks so something's working.
Speaking from my own experience, binge eating usually occured after a sharp rise/drop in blood sugar, like 20 minutes after a meal. At least as an adult. As a teen--I guess all bets were off. Whenever my parents left the house.
rainy
Posted by headachequeen on November 20, 2004, at 9:43:14
In reply to Re: no adverse effects, posted by stresser on November 19, 2004, at 20:25:55
> Here you are!! This is like "Hide and Seek"!!!!! <g>You are right about yoga, the only side-effects can be some muscle soreness. In it is cheap, all you need is a mat, or a towel. Do any of you take welbutrin? Have I asked that already? If so, what dosage do you take. My daughter is back on it, and we are waiting for it to kick-in. I'm quite concerned, because after reading some of Larry's post's, I understand that sometimes when you take a drug and stop, the second time around it may not work. Do any of you still binge with the topamax? She says it's working, but I do know what she is binging sometimes. We are also really considering changing Pdoc, because he's not helping her at all. We just left the office today, and I don't think anything has changed with her way of thinking about the binging in two years. He's a great guy, but I'm afraid he's not the one. I do know she came home and at half a bag of cookies.....so that didn't help today, huh? Anxiety really brings in on, I did learn that one. FINALLY. I think sometimes I'm brain dead. What's your take on all of this? -L
at the risk of raining on the parade, I don't think anything works ALL the time...
I still have times of eating as if I were one of those starving children on the tv PSAs that sends most of the money to admin costs, the money that doesn't go to pay celebrities' expenses that is...
other days I am simply not able to find a hungry place in my body and Stephen is pushing me to eat... the restaurant we go to, the one with the owner who pushes me to eat... we go in for coffee and talk politics and sports and whatever else comes up and I even tried shooting pool... and that is something I knew I would not be good at but I tried it anyway after constant urging by Stephen (my shrink was amazed and so happy when I told him... been doing it for a year and getting quite good it at it actually, will have to call and tell him lol)
but we will be sitting there with coffee and arguing about hockey lockouts or the Grey Cup or whatever and the owner will come over and ask if I would like a snack and suggest something he thinks I should have...
then it turns out he has prepared it for me
it is often the only meal I eat that day.
He and Stephen are friends and he knows the problem and has decided to wage war on my non-eating...
so he cooks high-protein stuff, lots of chicken and salads and the like and I cannot hurt his feelings...other days, forget it. I don't eat a thing....
then there are the days when I hide in the closet or a darkened room and eat every thing in sight including the walls and floor...
they are not as often as they once were thank heaven but they still happen...
but chocolate does not happen now... whereas once I could eat a whole box of chocolates quite happily and look for more...
so it is working
but there are moments when life is bigger and stronger and harder than we are and than topomax is...
and remember M has been on it a short time -- I have been on it since Jan 2003 and still have moments when food sings a siren song I never realised it sang...
as for welbutrin... there are benefits I guess, but ever since I discovered it can cause seizures in people who do not have them and exacerbate the problem in those who already have them it has not been on my list of respected meds...
kat
Posted by headachequeen on November 20, 2004, at 10:09:01
In reply to Re: no adverse effects, posted by stresser on November 19, 2004, at 20:25:55
Okay...help neded..
I have a couple of private posts to send...
and cannot find or remember the name of the place where one finds the private mail thing...
was annoyed because the other mailer would not let me access the mailer that lets me use my new mail address so deleted it...
of course it had the info I needed...
I mentioned on the social thing that I cannot find right now either that I am in the midst of an aura...
brain not functioning well and the mailer is not mailing either...
HELP...
cannot call tech help because I know I will neither be able to understand nor follow their directions...
so thoutht I could send these posts to their recipients from this board this way...does that make sense?
assuming I can find the private sending place...
kat
Posted by Dr. Bob on November 20, 2004, at 17:49:57
In reply to mail stuff, posted by headachequeen on November 20, 2004, at 10:09:01
> I have a couple of private posts to send...
> and cannot find or remember the name of the place where one finds the private mail thing...See:
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faq.html#babblemail
Bob
Posted by headachequeen on November 21, 2004, at 19:19:54
In reply to Re: no adverse effects » stresser, posted by headachequeen on November 20, 2004, at 9:43:14
> > Here you are!! This is like "Hide and Seek"!!!!! <g>You are right about yoga, the only side-effects can be some muscle soreness. In it is cheap, all you need is a mat, or a towel. Do any of you take welbutrin? Have I asked that already?
and did I answer that already???
if not remind me that it has been on my mind....as for Topomax working regarding weight, remember first that I have been taking it for almost two years and the weight thing is simply a side effect...
it is primarily meant to deal with seizures and it has helped as I find it moderates the effects of the tegretol (hanging garlic around my neck and reaching for silver bullets as I write) and it also moderates the number of seizures I have (as a rule, that is)
the second reason I was put on topomax was to curtail migraines and it has done that marvellously... still not a migraine since the time I began taking it...
marvellous stuff indeed...
drinking lots of water and being careful and there are no ugly side effects...
but the weight side effect seems to have worked...Friday evening we went out for dinner.. broiled chicken and a caesar salad without the dressing for me, just a bit of lemon juice because I no longer like the dressing (I know, so why order a caesar salad then? because I like ordinary salads and their dressings even less --- have become very picky about food of late... now THAT is a change)
as we were sitting there after dinner having coffee and liqueurs, well everyone else was, I was having coffee and more water... they run a hose to the table for me...
a gentleman approached the table, a friend of one of the people at our table. He was duly introduced to us and, with my scrambled memory cells, I could not remember his name and would not recognise him if I fell over him in a bowl of soup, but he sat down with us and ordered coffee and a glass of wine...
during the conversation he informed my husband that he was a very lucky man as I had to be one of the most beautiful and sexy women he had ever met... of course I gave him a quarter as soon as I heard... it seemed only fair to pay him for such a statement
now I am wondering where to send the topomax developers a letter of thanks...
no migraines, better control of seizures and now this...
what more can I ask for????I do not dance... I am the clumsiest person on two feet... used to be just lacking in co-ordination but of late it has gone right to clumsy and my grandparents' religion frowned on dancing so it was never really part of my life and what you don't have you don't miss..
this chap asked me to dance at one point...
I thanked him and explained that I don't dance...
and Stephen explained that I had been ill and that dancing was really beyond me right now...
his reply was that I just had never had the right partner....
so while I do not do things I cannot do well, I decided it was time to brave the unknown.. he had been warned; up we got and away we went and I think it must have been the topomax or the clobazam or the accupuncture because under his tutelage and in spite of the orphan annie boots I love to wear (Stephen hates them <G>) I was dancing like a person who knew what she was doing...
he really knew what he was doing... from a generation that danced when dancing was dancing not today's stuff... they look like they are all in stages of tonic clonic seizures actually :) and I thought I would never make even a small joke about that !!!...
It was incredible...
So, topomax does work....
now if only it would enable me to play the piano...
my life's dreams would be fulfilled...
powerful stuff... it can do almost anything....
but they tell me it doesn't do windows...so, L, ma chere amie, give it time with M...
she is going to get there... she is going to have falling back times and she is going to go ahead and she is going to have plateaux and she is going to accept herself one day....
if I can be described at MY age as beautiful and can find myself on the dance floor not making a total fool of myself, she can do it...
and you will survive her getting there...
just hang in a little longerkat who would never have said this anywhere... certainly not to that excuse for a human who called himself a psychiatrist at the hospital <G>
Posted by rainy on November 27, 2004, at 18:32:27
In reply to Does Topomax help with weight??? » headachequeen, posted by headachequeen on November 21, 2004, at 19:19:54
This sounds like whining and complaing right after Thanksgiving probably because it is. I'm on 300 mgs of Topamax, 100 t.i.d without missing a beat. Also 100 mgs trazodone at bedtime and theoretically 400 wellbutrin SR but I keep messing up on that last dose. I'm hesitant to take it just before bed because I get jittery as hell about a half hour after taking the little dear. Here's the complaint.
For the last three or four days I've been ravenously hungry upon waking and throughout the day. When I eat, food has no taste and I'm not over eating, but I'm seriously hungry between meals. Also more thirsty than usual, although today my thirst seems back to normal. I usually drink at least 8 10 oz glasses of water a day.
I'm also shakey around 3 or 4 PM and feel as though I'm "flying to pieces." Any thoughts? Nothing much has changed in my life except for going off provigil 10 days ago. And beginning acupuncture on Wednesday. One session so far, second tomorrow. Is this Topamax poop out?
rainy
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