Tag: chronic pain

cooking Wednesday

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

Cooking Wednesday

I slept crappy for the third night in a row. I am so spent and labile. My mood keeps going all over the place and I am weepy at times. I was determined to make something today. I had silenced my phone not thinking it would not sound my med alarm. I wanted it to wake me up around 11. It never went off so I woke up around 1230. I really didn’t feel like doing shit but I was hungry and needed to make something.

I decided to make a three cheese egg and bacon burritos. I made four but my niece wanted mac and cheese, so after I made the burritos, I made the mac and cheese. I had that instead of the burrito. My ankle and back were acting up so that was all the cooking I was going to do. I tried to nap afterwards but I felt so depressed because I was in pain. I honestly don’t know why I am living. I just want to die. I didn’t know what to do. I thought about texting my therapist, but what was he going to do? I emailed my psychiatrist and got no response. I think that was worse than anything.

I got busy with social media. I had posted my burrito work on FB, IG, and Twitter. I probably post at least twice a month what I make. Someone on Twitter, who I don’t follow, replied to my tweet asking if I liked making breakfast. This is the fourth time a café or restaurant responded to my pics on food. I think it is funny as they just want my business, but other than the Indian restaurant, I am not going to go. Other than Starbucks, I don’t eat out. I might order from Grubhub but that is all. I mostly have been eating at home as I just can’t be bothered to go out anymore. I am in too much pain.

After I had dinner, I took a shower. I needed one. My foot cramped up and my back ached but it got done. I had bought compression socks for my foot and ankle and they came in today. I wore them for a few hours. They left a nice mark on my leg as I was drying off. I am going to try wearing them a few hours a day to control the swelling but don’t know if I will be successful.

I am so tired. I hope I sleep tonight during “normal” sleep hours. I think I might lose it if I don’t have sleep for the fourth night in a row. All three nights my pain started at 2200 or after. It’s just about 1900 right now so I have three hours before I know if I will be in pain all night or not. It used to start at 2000. Now the “magic” number seems to be 2200. Probably because I am ready to settle down and turn in at that time.

One of my Twitter buddies just posted an article that was in JAMA about not to prescribe opioids for severe to moderate chronic back pain or hip/knee osteoarthritis pain because it was shown not to prove function. I am sorry but that is just wrong. Most people who take an opiate for pain do regain some function because their pain is less and they can do more. I don’t trust their results. But all over the article was written, “don’t prescribe opioids” so a little bias?? Pisses me off.

I am doing an experiment. I just took my night meds but I am not going to take the Ativan, just yet. I will take it later when I want to go to sleep. Maybe then I can sleep through the night. I just hope I don’t have side effects from the antipsychotic.

hope this isn’t another painsomnia night

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

Hope this isn’t another Painsomnia night

Red Sox game ended a little after 2200. We won 7-3. I was worried about the first baseman, Ramirez as he missed the bag on a play and caused a runner to be safe. But then he made a few good plays so I worried a little less. Last year he rarely played first base except in interleague games, which this was and when he did, he wasn’t great at it.

Soon after the game ended and I went to settle in for the night, my foot and ankle bone flared like it did last night, at around the same time. I just wrote a message to my psychiatrist saying I was sick of the pain and might need a urologist. I would see my PCP but he hasn’t really gained my trust in his care for me. I feel like he just wants to pawn me off with whatever issue I have but be in the loop so he knows what is going on. I really don’t feel comfortable talking to him about this. I might see a urologist at another hospital. I found one that is female. She isn’t interested in neurourology but does have an interest in bladder dysfunction so I think that is close. If I am not up all night, I will call sometime tomorrow to set up an appointment. Hopefully I won’t need a medical referral to see her.

I am really tired. I took a strong pain pill so I hope it eases my pain soon. I really want to sleep. I took my meds around 1900, but if I have a flare, that doesn’t guarantee I will be asleep by midnight. It makes me so angry when my pain spikes. I really wanted to punch the hell out of my pillow but felt silly doing it. I don’t know why. No one is in my room but I feel like the voices will judge me. They watch me all the time and criticize everything I do.

I am so annoyed with my laptop when it doesn’t do what I want to do. Sometimes I am amazed I have flung it out the window or against the wall. Stupid thing. I still don’t know why I picked a small hard drive and a low RAM. I know the money was an issue and the price seemed right but I figured I could upgrade. HA that turned out to be a joke. I still need to call Dell and have them tell me what are the components of this piece of shit. It doesn’t match the manual at all. I don’t want to buy a hard drive and have it be something else I can’t use. I still need to sell my RAM that I bought. I figure $50 will be better than nothing. It is just a pain to post something on Amazon. But once it is done, it usually sells quickly. Then I am scrambling to the post office to mail it out.

If I am not up all night and I don’t have too much back pain, I hope to make muffins tomorrow. I’ve been wanting to make these for a while but just haven’t had the time to do it. I hope they come out good and big. I hate when muffins come out small. I really don’t know what the trick is to have muffin tops. But then I am not a good baker.

yet another painsomnia night

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

Yet another Painsomnia night

I didn’t go to sleep till 5 am this morning. I was up all night in pain. My damn foot and ankle were having a contest as to who was going to hurt me more. Around maybe 4 I decided to put on the ace brace and noticed my foot was really puffy looking, probably why it was hurting so bad. I then decided to have some crumpets because I was hungry. I then tried to sleep.

I didn’t sleep, maybe 4 hours. Then I was a hungry maniac. I had more crumpets, waffles and then some chips with dip. I had two glasses of mango orange juice and a cup of tea. I was hoping the tea would keep me up but nope. I went up to my room and slept for a few more hours. I woke up because I had to pee really bad. I went to the bathroom and it was like I could not stop peeing, at all. It just kept flowing. After like 10 minutes, it stopped. I went again about a half hour later. My bladder hurts so bad from the strain. I have no idea what is going on. I have no idea if my pain meds or the baclofen I have been taking is affecting my bladder or it is just my nerves going berserk. Either way I need to see a urologist but I am so scared of the testing involved. Urodynamic testing is not fun. They use a catheter and fill and empty your bladder. Then they fill it again and you need to void in front of a nurse. Last time they filled me up and I could not pee for the life of me. It was an hour or two before I was finally able to void. I was on serious pain meds at the time so they couldn’t tell if it was neurogenic bladder or retention caused by opiates. I am scared this is what is going to happen again, which is why I have been avoiding having this test done. Not to mention that I have a trauma history and it freaks me out. I had a uro that I was seeing at another hospital, but every time I set up the appointment, he got called away to an emergency. After the third time, I didn’t reschedule.

My back was doing somewhat better, until I sat down on my bed with the bunched up blankets under my butt cheek. That flared me up again. I just took some ibuprofen. Any kind of muscle thing and I am hurting for a while. I hate it. I have to be so careful the next few weeks.

My sister has been calling me a nanny because I take care of my niece while she is out. I think it’s so funny. She wants me to check on her and make sure she does her homework. I just made a cup of tea and wanted to listen to the game. Guess I will be going to watch it on her big screen TV. Being a nanny has some perks!

I hope I can sleep tonight. I really don’t want another night of horrid no sleep. I know last night was because I took my night meds late and I was sitting for more than three hours with my family. Actually, sitting more than three hours anywhere will cause me to have a flare at night. There is nothing I can do about it. Just happens.

Easter Sunday 2018

by Midnight Demon, posted in Bipolar Disorder, blogging, chronic physical pain, CRPS, depression, mood disorders, suicide

Easter Sunday 2018

I woke up to my fricken med alarm around 645 this morning. It scared me out of my sleep and all I wanted to do was throw my phone against the wall. I shut the thing off and dutifully took my meds. My back was so bad. It hurt more than my CRPS pain in my ankle/foot. I had to use the bathroom and it hurt to move. I decided to cancel therapy for tomorrow as I wasn’t sure how my back was going to be. I was sure that just walking to the office would not be a good idea. When I came back to my room, I texted my therapist. I then got my heating pad and adjusted it a few times to get the heat where it hurt, which was mostly around my hip. I had used a tennis ball to try and massage it but the pain was so intense. I know I need to do it a few more times to get the knots out. I am lucky it is just muscle pain or it could be a lot worse.

I fell back to sleep. My sister was having Easter dinner at 2. I think I woke up a little after 1. My pain was a little better but my ankle was throbbing. I heard my mother make her way downstairs so thought the food must be ready. I followed her after gobbling a few chocolate chip cookies for an appetizer. My brother in law’s family wasn’t there yet. The time my sister told her to be there and the time my brother in law said was off by an hour. I have no idea why he said 3 pm as we never have dinner that late. That caused a little argument. Just what I wanted to hear, fighting on Easter.

The in laws arrived about a half hour later, which was good because I wanted to eat. Everything was good and peaceful. I saw my nephew and his sister, who I haven’t seen since Christmas. They don’t come over much or call. I might get a text from them every so often. I still can’t believe my nephew is going to be 24 this year. Seems like only yesterday I was holding him in my arms and playing catch with him. This caused him to puke on me for at least his first two years. I never learned. I was just happy to play with him. He often was like Dino the dinosaur in Fred Flintstone. I would come home from work and he’d promptly attack me with hugs. Later it was just to grab my baseball hat so I could chase him.

I spent most of the afternoon and evening down my sister’s. My back was surprisingly cooperating and so was my foot/ankle, though it was still throbbing. It hurt to go from a seated position to a standing. My aunt came over around 6. She saw a stray cat and wanted to take it home as it was malnourished. It had been living for some time on my sister’s porch for at least a month. I guess she told my cousin and he talked her out of it. Now my brother in law will be calling some cat shelter for it. That really pissed me off as the cat would have had a good home with my aunt.

I was late in taking my meds because I was downstairs. I hope I am not up all night. I did have a cup of caffeinated tea. For some reason, having tea late can either not affect me or will. I am tired so hopefully I will sleep.

I read twitter before writing this blog. There was a tweet that someone wrote that got my attention. It was about chronic pain and people being forced off their pain meds because their doctors are no longer prescribing it for them anymore. One tweet read that they were planning their suicide. I felt that person’s pain because my thoughts are the same. I am also planning. I don’t know if I will go through with it, even though I have given myself a date and some time to actually plan it. Not saying that it will happen the way I do plan it but the thought is there. Now that the CDC is admitting it falsified its data for their proposed guidelines, hopefully that will make doctors treat patients the way they should be treated. I don’t have hope that I will ever be treated for my pain because I have a psychiatric illness. I think that is why my PCP and pain docs are staying away from me like a 10 foot pole. I can’t prove it but it makes sense. I think that is why my PCP is in constant contact with my psychiatrist, which is kind of leading me not to trust my psychiatrist as much. I know what I tell her is confidential and all but my paranoia gets the better of me. I don’t know if she tells him how suicidal I have become. I have no idea what she writes in her notes about me because he reads them, even though he is not supposed to. I am too scared to request my records from her. It would be easier if I had access to them when I was hospital employee, but now I need to fill out a release like every one else. Plus I am not so sure reading them will benefit me in anyway.