Tag: cauda equina syndrome

I showered and am hurting

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, CRPS, depression, mood disorders

I showered and am hurting

I decided to bite the bullet and shower as it has been almost a week since I last showered. It felt good to wash my hair but my back cramped up. I tried to hurry so that it would calm down. The worse was getting dressed as I was just hurting so much. I could barely move. I hate this. I can’t even enjoy a shower anymore. I took a Ativan as I already took some Zanaflex. Doc got back to me and increased the dose. It hasn’t made a difference. I am going to give it another few days and then let the doc know. I am supposed to take it three times a day and I have been taking it only twice a day. Most of the time it is hard to get that 3rd dose in. I hate three times a day dosing. I can remember to take it twice a day but that third time is always a killer.

I have been feeling really down. My thoughts have turn destructive. I texted my therapist what they were as I didn’t know what else to do. I told her I would listen to some country tunes (which I am doing now) and then read. I decided to blog first. It has been a while since I last read. I am reading two books and they are so different. One is the city of brass. It is a middle eastern book about fantasy. The other book is about the cold war with Ronald Reagan. The book is interesting but it is long and talks a lot about the Russian politics in play at the time.

Back keeps playing up as I am typing. I have been trying to stay hydrated but I am not that thirsty so it is hard. I just want to nap but I am not that tired. I had woken up a few times during the night. I woke up with the room hot so I had to put the AC on. Then I woke up because I was cold. I needed coffee so I got up and had a sandwich. I have been having fluffernutters, a sandwich with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. I love it. It is really good. I really want a cheeseburger from McDs but I can’t justify the cost of delivery for one burger. I might get an ice cream with it. It is still early for dinner.

My ankle was feeling weird in the shower. Sometimes the water annoys it. Now it is flared up and I am so down about this. My back and ankle hurting me is not a good combination. Maybe I will treat myself to McDs and get some nuggets, too. I just don’t want to make something to eat. I won’t be able to stand too long. I just hope the ankle pain settles down soon. I will take a BT med soon. I am so tired of taking pills all day. I never get a break from it. It depresses me so much. It really causes me to have dark thoughts. Thoughts these days have been floating around and haven’t let up much. I so want to act on the thoughts and sleep for a good 10 hours or so but I am scared that it might not go how I think it will. Pain makes it hard to think. Always hard to think. But always wrapped in emotions.

therapy and meeting with GYN surgeon

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, CRPS, depression, mood disorders

Therapy and meeting with GYN surgeon

Yesterday I had a meeting with one of the top GYN surgeons at the hospital I go to. We discussed having a hysterectomy. It was a good meeting and I said that I didn’t want it right away as I wanted to build up my endurance first. She said that I would have to have some testing done so we had some time but it should be within three months because that is when her schedule gets tricky. I am planning on having it done in Feb of next year. It will be a day surgery so I don’t have to worry about staying overnight. She described the procedure and it doesn’t look to be too complicated. I just worry about a prolapse bladder, which I forgot to ask her about. We discussed the need for keeping the ovaries but as I am on testosterone, I don’t have to worry so much about menopause, unless I stop taking it. I am glad I will have this useless organ out of me.

I had therapy yesterday and it went well. We talked about coming up with a schedule that will help me sleep better and to have some routine. We spent the session talking about it. I told her I would go for a walk and then she suggested that I write. I am not sure writing in the mid-morning early afternoon is good for me. I don’t write well at that time. We did build in naps so that I can rest. She thinks I am pushing myself too much and that is why I am tired all the time and feels so frustrated with my recovery. I guess I just have to give myself permission to relax at times when I have done too much. But what I do changes my level of tiredness. I could do the same thing every day and one day it will tire me out and the next day it won’t. Like showering. Some times it really wears me out and I need to rest a few times while in the shower to rest my back. I told her about how Friday was a bad day that I tried to make good at by getting my haircut. It just made me more tired and I had to rest the weekend.

Today I made coffee but didn’t finish it. Post nasal drip was so bad that I kept on gagging, making drinking not a pleasant experience. I took a walk afterwards and met with my neighbor who had her dog out. It was good seeing the boxer again. I missed seeing her. She was rowdy, running around in circles. I still need to get dog treats so I can pet her. Otherwise she ignores me. LOL. I came home and did fairly well. I had to stop at the corner where there was a bench to rest my back. It was the only rest that I needed to complete the walk around the block. It was really beautiful out today. Weather was perfect.

I need to take a shower. I got sweaty and I smell. I have decided not to shave my beard for the month of November. I am just biding my time because I know I am going to be exhausted after the shower. I haven’t been eating so lost some weight. I let my psychiatrist know as the new med causes weight gain but I am going the opposite way. I asked him about my lipids and he said that he will check them when I am on a stabile dose of the Latuda. I asked the pharmacist yesterday if it causes any bladder issues and it doesn’t. Guess it just is nerves for me. I have urodynamic testing next month. I am kind of nervous about it. It is such an invasive test. I will find out then if there has been a change in my circumstances and maybe I can get off some of the medication I take for my bladder.

3 am and I can’t sleep

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, Chronic pain, CRPS, depression, mood disorders

3 am and I can’t sleep.

I woke up about an hour ago. I had to pee and can’t seem to go back to sleep. I had been sleeping most of the day. I just have been so tired. I haven’t eaten much either. If I am still up in the morning I will order breakfast burritos from McD’s. I haven’t had them in a long while.

Yesterday was a momentous day. We finally have a decent president and vice president in the office. The loser is out, though I still don’t know if he conceded or not yet. He probably won’t which will be no surprise but will be sad. I was happy I found out when I woke up in the morning. We have a female vice president. I can’t believe it. I am so happy.

I haven’t been reading my books like I have. I sort of lost interest. It is also hard to concentrate. I have been depressed the past week or so. I just don’t feel like doing anything. It is so hard to when your back is cramping all the time like it is now. I already took some Zanaflex but now I will take some Ativan. I should just take the Ativan as it works better.

I am not sure what I want to do today. I need to empty my trash and recycles to the bin. I think that will be my only goal for today. I also need a shower and to pick up my meds so we’ll see how that goes. My psychiatrist increased the Latuda and I need to pick up the changed dose. He wanted me to be on a 60 mg dose. I haven’t had side effects other than with my bowels. It has been causing some loose stool happening.

Yesterday I was down all day. I had a bowel accident and I just felt really terrible about it. I just slept all day. My back was bothering me so it was a good day to just lay low. I stayed off social media but was happy to find hear that Cora is now the manager of the Sox again. That made my day. I can’t wait till February when Spring Training starts. I hope they have a normal start and this Covid shit is gone. I don’t think it will be gone till late 2021. I hope we can have a vaccine by then but there is no guarantee about that. The virus just doesn’t stay in your system long enough for antibodies to hold on. Least that is what I keep reading.

Monday I have an appointment with a surgeon for a hysterectomy consult. I am nervous about it but it should be straight forward. I just hope she can take it out of me and then I don’t have to worry about the useless organ again.

Anxiously Awaiting the Results of the Election

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, CRPS, depression, mood disorders

Anxiously awaiting the results of the election

It has been two days since the election and we are not closer to finding out who won. We think we might have a chance but it can go either way. I am so fricken nervous about this. I have purposely been on the minimum of reading Twitter. Facebook is a little lighter in content but I have a few friends that are posting about it and it gets me rattled. All we can do now is wait until all the votes are counted, which is an arduous task.

I didn’t have supper so I ordered some cheeseburgers from McD’s. I couldn’t finish the second one. I did have the chicken nuggets that I ordered. I always order chicken nuggets. I am a nugget freak.

Later today I hope to do some errands and empty my recycling as it has piled up. I have two big bags of stuff. I also need to take out my trash. I got to empty my bucket by the bed first as it is close to being full. Yesterday I had no energy to do anything as my back was in bad shape. I still haven’t heard from the docs about increasing the dose of Zanaflex. I hope to hear from my neuro today about it. She is very slow in communications.

I haven’t had a bowel movement in two days. I just took some magnesium for two reasons, 1 to help the spasms in my back and 2 for bowel management. I haven’t been taking them because they have been causing loose stool so I stopped it on my pcp’s advice. Now I can’t go to save my life. I took some Miralax so hopefully I will have a movement today. Sometimes it takes a few days though and then unexpectedly, I will have colon blow. Not a good thing to have when you don’t have control over loose stool.

We made a compromise in therapy. For the month of November, I get three weeks of talking about anything stupid thing I want to talk about. But there has to be one week where there is treatment involved. I agreed to this. She wanted to switch to every other week but then changed her mind. I think this will be a good thing and might help me to talk more in therapy.

I am tired. It is a little after 4 am. I woke up around 0230 to pee and couldn’t go back to sleep. Probably because I was hungry. When I go on my errand I want to buy a snickers bar. I have been craving one since Halloween. I usually have candy but this year my brother in law didn’t put it out because of Covid. I don’t think Halloween was allowed in our town.

I see my psychiatrist today. I got to ask him if he will be doing bloodwork because I am on the new antipsychotic. My weight hasn’t changed. If anything it has gone down instead of up but only because I haven’t had appetite lately. I hate to get my blood drawn but if I do I am going to ask for a CBC to check my blood count levels. If they are low that could be why I feel so tired all the time. I might need to take an iron supplement. But I rather have beet juice and carrots to build up my system. I think my sister has a juicer. I also want him to test me for diabetes as it has been a while since I was last checked. Hopefully he will listen to me and order the tests I would like. So far, I haven’t had too many side effects other than loose stool but that hasn’t happened over the last few days. I am back to being constipated.

My back is acting up again. I have been taking Ativan and Zanaflex to try and calm it down. Sometimes nothing works despite my efforts. Only thing I can do is lay down and rest, which sucks. I have to take a shower today as I smell again. Should be interesting as I wonder how many times I need to sit down before I am done showering. I got to shave, too. But I am thinking of using my electric shaver instead of the razor this time.