newness

sitting up in bed. might as well take this time to update.


*i'm craving frosted flakes. weird.



so here are the results for my sleep study.

i honestly don't understand any of it, until it gets to the conclusion: evidence of moderately severe obstructive sleep apnea. i got back to the sleep lab on friday to do the tests all over again with the face mask thing. this chronic fatigue and exhaustion is really getting to me.

my hands have been swollen for a few days now, but i can't stop what i need to do. i still have homework to finish for tomorrow and bracelets to make.

i'm finally getting the ganglion cyst taken care of. my doctor said it'll be drained, but my cousin says i need to have it surgically removed. who knows anymore.

i quit taking the herbs. i couldn't torture myself anymore. the herbalist said since i've had my condition for so long, i'll need to drink the herbs for a while. i don't have that kind of patience or strength, so screw it. it became unbearable to drink; i started throwing it down the drain once my mother cooked it for me. childish, i know. i'm an adult, i shouldn't have to do nonsense like that, on top of waste money to buy the damn things. i'd rather pay $35 a month on pills than $21 a week on herbs. i'm going back to the rheumatologist to talk about putting me on a lower dosage of savella. i actually had an appointment with her on wednesday, but i had to reschedule because i was so exhausted.

that's about it for now. i'm pretty sure something else will come up soon; it always does.

exploring new methods.

so yesterday's appointment with krishnamurthy: it was a whirlwind, to say the least. 

i told her about the heart palpitations, the lack of sleep, and the hot flashes. she explained that savella boosts the endorphins, and those side effects are a result of that. the nausea and brain fog have only gotten worse, and even though the medication has been controlling the flares, i still experience pain when my pressure points are touched. i also have been having flares since monday morning. with taking all of that into consideration, she decided to take me off of savella. she lowered my dosage to one pill a day for about a week to gradually get me off of it, since i'll go through withdrawal if i stop taking it suddenly.

krishnamurthy is stressing this aerobic activity thing. she told me to walk for five minutes as soon as i get home from work to get it out of the way. according to her, i may not feel the results the first week or two, but i will.  i'll give it a try. my friend dana swears i need to do thirty minutes of yoga on the weekends, so i'll try that to. 

once the medication is out of my system and i get into the habit of exercising, after about a month or so, we'll decide from there if i need to try another medication, like lyrica or cymbalta.

i asked about "self medicating" using marijuana: from a medical stand point, she's totally against it. she said it's only a short-term relief, and people who use that method tend to not want to do anything, "amotivational syndrome" she called it. she also said it's a harsher smoke than cigarettes on the lungs. this is definitely something i need to think about. 

i'm currently at my desk, in pain. my legs have been going numb, off and on, since yesterday morning. i'm leaving work in about three hours to meet up with darrel to go to another doctor's appointment; this time, it's for the neurologist to address this lack of sleep issue. 

i just want to be better already...

today started off on a bad note:

"you went to sleep so early last night...i don't understand how you're tired."

seriously? i always wake up tired. same shit, different day. i'm sure eight and a half hours of sleep is sufficient for the average person, but definitely not for me-- especially when i'm waking up three times a night. 

i swear, this isn't even a subject i should have to speak about!

i've been flaring this week, just in time for my rheumatology appointment with krishnamurthy this evening. what fun..

savella: day twenty eight.

this is my last day taking the pills from the starter pack; which means it's my last day of knowing how many days i've been on savella. tomorrow, i take pills from the bottle like a big girl.

my mom started me on valerian root tablets. valerian is the natural herb that's compounded with other chemicals to create valium. it's supposed to help with my insomnia. let's see how that works.

and the damn rheumatologist STILL hasn't called me back! ugh!!

i'm sitting on my couch, watching the season finale of hawthorne on dvr. i'm loving it! her kids are in this dance scene. it's too cute. i love that family.

the valerian root should be kicking in soon.

tomorrow's a big day for me. i'll post on it soon. until then, gnite <3

summer days at the doctor's office no. 2

back home. it's baking in these nyc streets.

sonograms. i mentioned i was getting one, and someone automatically said "you pregnant?"

1. learn to speak correctly.
2. you don't have to be preggers to get a sonogram. it's used to get a diagnostic image. go read a book.

the first was of my abdominal area, with an empty stomach and bladder. immediately after, i drank seven cups of water to then fill up my bladder for the sonogram of my pelvic area. why are the jellies they use so cold? pop it in the microwave or something! please!

i'm not too sure of what they're looking for, really. i don't know if that's a good thing...

i definitely went to that dunkin donuts after for a bagel and iced coffee.

i met my new rheumatologist; dr aneesa krishnamurthy. she's a young indian woman, and i love having young indian doctors. *to me, they seem to be more into western medicine than the older indian doctors. so we talked for a while, she did the pressure point test, as they all do, and we talked some more. she sent me home with a print out about fibromyalgia and exercising (right), as well as some notes she wrote for me regarding medications (left).

she acknowledged the nortriptylin that was prescribed by my other young indian doctor, then she mentioned lyrica and cymbalta, which i've heard of in the media, and savella. lyrica can cause serious weight gain, and seeing that i've gained a noticable fifty pounds in the past four years, she said we'd save that as a last resort. she prescribed a savella starter pack (12.5 mg). i'm not too sure what that entails, but i'm going to pick it up from the pharmacy as soon as i'm done with this post. after two weeks of taking it, my dosage would be up to 50mg, twice a day. she also prescribed tramadol for me to take as needed when these sudden bursts of unbarable pain come about. the side effects are sleepiness and nausea, which i'm all too familiar with.

for my exercise, she wants me to start at walking for five minutes a day, and slowly increase. that shouldn't be too hard.

she also gave me some tips for my sleep:

1. set a regular bed time, even on the weekends-- give or take an hour
2. no naps during the day (this is a killer for me)
3. the bed should only be used for sleep and sex (her words)
4. if you can't fall asleep, don't lay in bed and torture yourself. get up and watch a little tv or read a book until you start to feel sleepy.

this whole day, i've felt weak and dizzy. my vision seemed cloudy, to the point where i was constantly blinking really hard (i'm not too sure what that's called). 

in the words of ace hood: same old shit, just a different day.

pharmacy bound..

*please note: this is just my opinion, i'm only speaking from experience.

summer days at the doctor's office no. 1

i saw my primary doctor two weeks ago to discuss a few issues i've been having. i tend to keep a log of new pains and random medical questions for upcoming visits. the last list contained lyrica, marinol, sharp stomach pains, calmax (this expensive powder my mom bough for me to try to help me sleep), the nortriptylin affecting my sleep, and chron's disease.

he said:
lyrica and marinol: i need to see the new rheumatologist and see what she has to say about switching me to new medication, but he's heard of patients using marinol with great success.
sharp stomach pains: it can either be my ovaries or my appendix, so i have two sonograms scheduled.
calmax: he read the instructions, and said "all this'll do is constipate you."
nortriptylin: he prescribed the rozerem (see the post from monday, july 12th)
chron's: stool test. i think they came back negative..?

so tomorrow's the big day. i'll be back at the doctor's office. both sonograms tomorrow morning. i can't eat for eight hours before the first one, then immediately after, i have to drink four cups of water to do the other one. a few hours later is my appointment with the rheumatologist. thank grilled cheezis there's a dunkin donuts at the corner! (glee reference. yes, i'm a gleek)

time for meds. time for bed.