Category: medical

Ramblings 27

by Midnight Demon, posted in Chronic pain, medical, mood disorders, psychache, suicide attempt, writing

I was waiting at the bus stop today and four police cruisers stopped and pulled over in from of Citizen’s back. The supervisor went inside and then one of the employees locked the door. I recently got a funny text saying that every 15 mins a bank gets robbed. Maybe that was one of the banks. I don’t know. No swat team or other special police arrived while I was waiting for the bus. All the time though I was praying a stray bullet would hit me and kill me. Bad thoughts I know but I just couldn’t help but think it.

Met with my psychiatrist today. No med changes. Just keep doing what I have been doing. It’s like the Mary Chapin song, “Simple Life”. Shrink says see you next week. That is how I feel. I know she gets what I keep telling her every two weeks but sometimes I wish there was some thing more she could do. But there really isn’t and that is the frustrating part. These docs just expect you to live with your illness and if you can’t well then there is always the hospital to help you try. I really can’t stand it sometimes. I get angry with her though there is no reason to. We have exhausted all medications. The rest is up to day to day management and making sure I keep my end of the bargain which is actually taking my meds.

I’m still trying to work on this comparison paper that I hope to post soon. Thing is I am so stuck on it that I just can’t move forward on it and then I read some new study that has a new measurement so I am conflicted as to whether or not to include it. This paper is good but I just don’t know where to go with it anymore. It’s so frustrating.

The urges for cutting have been strong today. I am trying not to think about it because it would be very easy to give in. I have been playing the radio as a distraction and so far it has been working. I would rather plan my death but all I want to do is cut. Right now I am saving up money for a hotel room so I can get away one of these nights and be away for a while. I just need to get out of my house and into something else so I can think and maybe write a bit. I don’t know where I will go but maybe the Best Western or someplace like that. Just a place I can be truly alone without being hounded by the loud TV. Maybe stepping out of my environment will let me get out more and get my coffee and work on things in my head about what I need to do. I don’t know this is just an idea. The last time I tried this I came home everyday because I forgot one thing or another.

International calls and PTSD

by Midnight Demon, posted in cauda equina syndrome, CES, Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, depression, medical, mood disorders, physical pain, psychache, suicide, suicide attempt, writing

Had an interesting day today. I wanted to talk to my friend in England so I made the phone call, except I could only talk for 5 mins!! I was like WTF because I pay extra to be able to call internationally on my phone. SO I call sprint and everything seems to be in order on their end. The guy then transfers me to the international section of Sprint. Turns out that because my phone is a Google phone and Google voice is on, that was the problem, I think. I won’t be able to call my friend until tomorrow night to see if this works. This sucks but I have a therapy appt in a half hour so don’t want to be on the phone too long.

I rewarded myself with getting my Claddaugh ring fixed and sized the right size. I picked it up yesterday. Luckily it was just under $300 USD. The most I have ever spent on myself outside of electronics such as laptops. The reason it cost so much was because I had the shank fixed as well. I LOVE it! It fits so nice and I miss wearing a ring.

I have been stressed the past few days because of financial reasons. I have to call to work out a plan with my student loans before they garnish my SSD check. I am so worried they are going to leave me with nothing. I so wanted to save up for a car this year but doesn’t look like that is going to be likely. I need to be able to pay the cable bill, my mother for the mortgage, and my cell phone bill. I also NEED to have money for my “crack” Starbucks coffee but I can do without as I can go several days without needing it. But when I want it, I want it dammit. It is the only JOY I have in my life is that one cup of coffee a day.

I still have my fucking menses that are just driving me beserk. I was supposed to call the repro-endo doc today but never got the chance as I was lazy when I woke up this morning. It is still cold out, not as cold as it was yesterday but still cold and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go out. I had some mail to mail so I said the hell with it and went out. Sometime I just need to push myself. But while I was walking it felt like I was walking in mud. I hate that feeling more than anything. Some days I feel like I am light as air and other days I am walking with cement shoes on my feet. I don’t get it. I also had another damn problem with my fucking pain medication. Doc wrote for extra so in case I need them, I have them. Well the way he wrote it is only for a month supply only and the pharmacy won’t give me this extra! ARGH!!!! I am so fucking pissed off because last month he said he was going to change the prescription to 1-2 tabs a day and this month he didn’t. I am so pissed off right now. I just hope I don’t have any pain flair ups that necessitate me needing more than what I have. I am like so terrified of getting flare ups. It really activates my PTSD. I start having flashbacks of what it was like having CES all over again and then the surgery and all that I went through to get to where I am today. Not that I am 100% better, I am not. But at least I am not walking with a walker or cane all the time. It kills me when I see an old person with a walker when I am on the bus. It just reminds me how lucky I am that my doctors knew what I had. Some people that have CES or Cauda Equina Syndrome weren’t so lucky and have to use a cane or walker to get around. Some are worse off and can’t walk at all and need a wheelchair because their legs are so weak.

Whenever I get a pain flare up I tend to go into flashback mode. It is not a pleasant experience. I remember things that have happened in the past as if it were happening today. I get anxious and nervous. I start worrying. It is the worst feeling in the world. And then I want to get rid of the pain. If the pain meds don’t work, I usually want to cut. Cut off the affected limb so I am no longer in pain. Or just stab myself to relief the pain. I know that doesn’t make sense but it is what runs through my head during these times. It is awful. And I can’t usually move during these flare ups. I am incapacitated. I can just barely move enough to down some pills and hope it take away my misery. I hate being bedridden with this type of pain. I always keep my cell phone handy just in case I need to call someone and have them help me. Because my mother is deaf and with my closed bedroom door she is not going to hear me nor does she have the mobility to go up the stairs and help me, but at least she is someone I can call in case of emergency.

Ramblings 25

by Midnight Demon, posted in cauda equina syndrome, CES, Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, depression, medical, mental disorders, mental illness, mood disorders, physical pain, psychache, psychosis, suicide, suicide attempt, transgender, writing

Not been feeling good today. Back has been bothering me and so has my stomach. Seems like no matter what I eat lately, I get indigestion. I just took some Mylanta, the Walgreens equivalent as the real Mylanta hasn’t been on the market for quite sometime.

I got my haircut at my cousin’s house tonight. I had to get my haircut because it was getting too long. It’s been at least two months since my last cut. I like to keep my hair short and buzzed close at the sides and back. I wanted to take a shower afterwards but I just couldn’t bring myself to. I just washed my hair and that was it.

I was supposed to go out tonight but the Bruins are playing and I didn’t feel like going to a bar. I just don’t like loud places anyways.

Person from my long term disability company called me yesterday to check in. I don’t know what to say to her. I still have pain but it has been minimal because I no longer leave the house anymore. I might go out three days tops, and that is only if I really feel like going out for a coffee. Today I went out and now my ankle is thanking me with pain. I just can’t win. And what if she asks me about my mental health. I will just say yea I think about killing myself nearly everyday and wish every night before going to sleep that I don’t wake up. I just can’t face another day of nothingness. I haven’t been taking care of myself, more now so than before I got the disability. I shower maybe twice a week if that. I don’t do housework, though my mother now needs help with it. I’m not sure how I can help her as I can’t really be on my feet for too long.
It sucks having Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). I’m lucky it likes the cold as the temperature has dropped to the twenties. I cannot tolerate the heat anymore. I like to be warm but not too warm. Sometimes I can’t even have the sheet on my feet/leg it bothers me so bad. But at least the swelling has gone down some though I still have a lump in my leg where it shouldn’t be. I so want to excise it. But I have been told that I might cause more damage if I excise than leaving it alone. I’m just glad that the voices haven’t been around telling me to excise it. I would have to go back to the hospital. I am taking my antipsychotic med. I have to take it every other day or else I become delusional and psychotic. It has been helping with the paranoia that I had when I was on a crowded bus or train. Now I can be around people without freaking out that they are going to kill me. How fun it is having Schizoaffective disorder or as my therapist calls it just bipolar disorder with psychosis. Apparently I don’t have the “positive” features of the Schizoaffective part.

I haven’t been hospitalized for almost six months. That’s good but I have been feeling like I should be in. I just can’t take living my life anymore but then I know I won’t really get the help I need. Most hospitals don’t have time for individual work and so lump you in with a group of treaters to talk for 15 minutes of the day. Then it’s back to the ward doing nothing but arts and crafts all fucking day, least until dinner time. The groups they have are useless. On a good day you might get psychotherapy group. I like that group, I can get something out of it. I should make an effort to go to an outpatient group therapy but of course I have no motivation or inclination to do so. I think it might break up the monotony of the day but that would mean leaving the house at least once a week. I was thinking of going to a LGBT group to be more comfortable. And maybe help with the transitioning of things but I don’t think you can do that in a group. I don’t know, maybe next week I will call. Or have my therapist call to find out more information about it. It will be local so I wouldn’t have to travel too far. I just am afraid I might not be able to walk to the center because it is too far from the T stop. There isn’t a bus that goes by and the closest train stop is more than a few blocks away. Difficult for someone with mobility issues. Course I could take a cab but that is just wasting money to me but maybe it is something to think about. But that is if I get “accepted” into the group to begin with.

a bad day

by Midnight Demon, posted in Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, depression, medical, mood disorders, psychache, suicide, suicide attempt

Been in a funk the past two days. I have ben really down because of the condition I have called CES, or Cauda Equina Syndrome. I have had to bladder accidents that have cut my mood to shreds. Then in my dreariness, I told one of my sisters that I wanted to be Mike. She was supportive but didn’t understand that the reason why I have been so miserable is because of being in the wrong body. I cried myself to sleep last night only to wake up at two o’clock in the morning. I didn’t fall back asleep until six thirty. I hate the disrupted sleep.
Now that she knows, I feel relieved but I have the urge to cut really bad. I hate myself and want relief. The only way I have been able to do that in the past is by cutting. But I am afraid that once I start, I won’t be able to stop. I took some meds to help calm me down but they have not kicked in yet. I have been up since nine thirty and really just don’t want to do anything. I just want to sleep but I am not. I played some online poker and lost a big amount of chips. Not a big deal as it’s not real money. I can always get it back or buy more chips.
I have been playing on the computer most of the morning trying to get rid of the awfulness that I feel. But nothing is working. I’m looking at razors and bandages. I am imagining how it will feel and if I will need stitches. That will suck as I will most likely be hospitalized. I should pack a bag just in case so my family knows what I need. I know I have a lot of writing to do but right now I just can’t do it. I don’t have the energy. I really want to go off on a person in the CESSG group for being a whinebag. She is complaining about everything that is wrong with her life. I hate people like that. Most of it has NOTHING to do with CES and that bothers me.
I still want to end my life. Nothing has changed my plans for my date with death. I have to have this just so that I can live. Surprisingly it is a national day of something. I forget what it was but it was pretty funny. I really have to decide what I want to do today to harm myself. I feel like I deserve it. The pain that I feel is intense and I can’t bear it too much longer, though I am trying. Though any time I talk about suicide or cutting pain is usually involved. It’s not a physical type of pain. Just a kind of heartache that won’t go away.
I am happy that I am transitioning but it’s hard as hell. One of my aunts suggested I say a Hail Mary ten times a day. I have been out of the Catholic church for years and the only way for me to remember the word is to look them up. I am not going to do that because I do not believe in prayer. I am not a religious person in the least. I wish people would just listen to me and not have too much to say other than they understand. Is that too much to ask. Most people when they open up to issues like I am describing just need an ear to vent out their frustration and maybe a shoulder to cry on. They don’t need their problem fixed or delegated to someone else. They just need support to get through that moment of time they are in distress.