Tag: coffee

Presidents’ Day blog 2020

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, cauda equina syndrome, Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, CRPS, depression, mood disorders, suicide

Presidents’ Day Blog 2020

It has been another painful day except this time it is my leg that hurts. I haven’t been able to do much today. Both legs hurt but the left is worse. I hope I don’t have a DVT. I always worry about that when I have been laying about and not being active too much. Hard to be active when you are in pain. I see my therapist tomorrow and I plan on calling my pcp’s office if it still hurts. I got to call the office anyways as there seems to be a scheduling error. I don’t have an appointment with my psychopharm until March. I thought I had one on the books for the last week of Feb but there isn’t one. I need a refill on my meds for the end of the month so I would like to see her but if I can’t, I will just tell her I need a refill. I got to call my surgeon’s office as they have the wrong medical record number on my paperwork. I think the number is my mother’s.

The last call I need to make is to make an appointment with the public transportation Ride service. It is a pickup service that I may need after surgery because I will be too weak to take public transportation. Once I have it, I will be able to see that pain clinic my pcp wants me to go to. But that won’t be until after my surgery. I don’t want to be changing up meds before then. I just hope that my pain will be taken cared of while I am in the hospital.

I was hoping to go to Starbucks tomorrow but I am out of funds. I’ll have to make my coffee tomorrow. Past few days I have been drinking tea. I still have the iced coffee in the fridge. It is past its expiration date so I hope it still takes good even though it hasn’t been opened. I will see tomorrow.

I got my grocery bill down to $174 even. Hope I can keep that total for a week. I don’t get paid until next Monday. I got a lot of cereal and frozen dinners so I have food while recovering from surgery. I wanted something quick that I didn’t have to stand and cook. I don’t think I will be able to do much the first few weeks after surgery. I have no idea what I am going to do about therapy. I don’t think going six weeks without is a good idea.

The voices are somewhat better. The increase in dose of the Invega has helped stabilize the psychosis. I chatted with a suicide hotline last night because the pain was so bad, I was losing my mind. We were talking and I felt like I gave too much information about being suicidal. They asked me what my plan was and I said that wasn’t relevant as I am not going to act on my thoughts tonight. I can hardly walk or stand so there was no way for me to attempt. They wanted me to let my therapist know I talked to them. I cringed at this. So after the conversation ended, I texted my therapist to tell her. I also asked for an appt for tomorrow and she responded with some times. I think it will be good to talk to her as things have been building up. The stress of surgery is causing so much havoc. The flares have been, too. I just feel so hopeless and helpless when the flares are so bad I can’t stand. It causes me to think of ending things and once I start, I can’t help but plan things. It is my escape and I don’t think that is ever going to change.

concussion and other shit going on

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

Concussion and other shit going on

Yesterday morning I went to the ED as I had such a severe headache. I got it around 2pm and it got worse despite medication. By 3 am I couldn’t handle it anymore. I was up for 30 hours before I finally passed out. I was diagnosed with concussion and sent home with orders to brain rest. I had severe ankle pain today and decided that I am not going to be celebrating my birthday. I am in too much fucking pain and I am tired of being disabled.

I am supposed to see my therapist tomorrow. I guess after 5 months, I can call her “my” therapist. I was putting it off because I thought she would run from me by now. I like her so I am terrified she isn’t going to stay. People I like don’t tend to stay long when they work in public places. It’s like when your favorite coffee shop has that favorite pastry and then one day they no longer have it. It is sad.

I have the biggest headache the past few hours due to this damn concussion. I fell last Thursday, whacked my head off the cement sidewalk pretty damn hard it knocked my glasses off my face. This week it knocked my appetite out. I haven’t eaten too much the past week. I had a mocha and cookie today. It was 9 hours before I realized I haven’t peed. I am going to drain my bladder again before bed because I got a spasm while I was cathing a few hours ago. I hate this new life of mine and I don’t want it. I had zero urge to pee since this morning and even then I forced myself to pee. Kind of helped that I had to move my bowels. Got two things done at once. Then I showered. Only thing I didn’t do today was brush my teeth and my head hurts too much for that.

I saw my NP psychopharm today. She ordered some blood work I was supposed to get done today but decided to have done tomorrow morning. I thought she was going to order an Invega level but it isn’t on the paperwork. She wants a prolactin level, which I thought was weird. I am not having symptoms of galactorrhea. But whatever. She is also checking A1c level for diabetes. This will be like the 6th time this year I have had this test done. I am not worried about it as the level is near 5 which is normal. I think it needs to be greater than 6 to be in diabetes land.

I am tired but I wanted to let you guys know I am still around, least for now. I probably won’t be that much longer though. CRPS has won.

It’s 5 AM

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, cauda equina syndrome, Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, CRPS, depression, mood disorders, suicide

It’s 5 am

I woke up an hour ago to pee and couldn’t go back to sleep. So I am writing hoping that does the trick. I had posted in my support group for cauda equina about me having to bring my catheter bag with me to the wake and funeral. I really don’t want to but if I need to go, well, I need to go. I can sometimes go on my own but other times, it is a hit or miss, with a miss being I need to cath. I am so nervous about this. I think I am going to call my cousin later this today to let her know just to ease my mind a bit, though her knowing what the bag is for might cause things to be uncomfortable for all. I don’t know. I didn’t think of that scenario. Fucking stupid bladder!

I did what I wanted to do yesterday. I ended up showering Friday night because I just couldn’t take my hair being dirty anymore. Then yesterday when the pharmacy was open, I went and got my meds. I also got some of my favorite cold brew coffee drinks. They were on sale so I didn’t mind spending money on them but forgot to buy the M&Ms peanut candy. Will have to go back today. I want to go to the Chess Club today. I set my alarm and will be taking my morning meds later than I usually take them in case I am able to get back to sleep. I just checked the bus schedule and, oof, the bus doesn’t run frequently on Sundays. I thought I would be able to leave around 1230 as the club starts at 1300. The bus is at 1155 so I will be a half hour early. Which is fine as I want to check out the coffee shop the club hangs out at. I will see if I can borrow ten bucks from my mother as I don’t have much cash on me. Wish I remembered about the club before buying the coffee stuff at the pharmacy. Oh well.

My foot just exploded in pain for whatever reason. There is a storm brewing in the area so that maybe why. I am not sure if it is today or tomorrow. I just know I am hurting now. I don’t think I will be able to go back to sleep now. The psychosis is still there so much to my reluctance, I am going up to 6 mg of Invega to try and stop the psychosis from getting worse. I just got to worry about side effects and cognitive issues as it might interfere with my writing more. It happened when I was in college. God I hated it because I would read the same paragraph at least three times still not knowing what the hell I read. Oddly, I was taking a neuroscience psychology class at the time. When I told the professor I had to withdraw she understood. I was thankful for that.

I guess my dream of coming off the Invega is not going to happen. Seems every time I feel ready enough to stop taking it, shit like this happens. I know it is always a risk when my mood is getting bad or is already bad. Sometimes the psychosis is not congruent with my mood so there is that. I did check my “issues” and seems the NP took off BPD and just left the Persistent Depressive Disorder, which used to be known as Dysthymia. That does fit into what I have better than recurrent major depression. Either way, I do have a depressive disorder and calling it whatever doesn’t change the fact I have it. My skies are always going to be gray no matter what it is called. I am just glad the BPD has been taken off my record. I have certain criteria but I don’t meet enough to have the disorder.

I am going to try and nap for a bit. I got five hours before I need to get ready. Hope to sleep for at least 4 hours. Wish me luck!

it’s 2 am and I am still up

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

It’s 2 am and I am still up

Pain hit me bad around 2115 or so. My foot has been feeling like it is being crushed all day and still continues to feel this way despite my breakthrough med. But around 215, I started having severe suicidal ankle pain. This caused me so much fucking aggravation. Like the last nerve had been hit. I spoke the other day how I have all the ducks in a row and now they will call come together. I am sick of being and will be taking efforts soon to not be. It won’t be this week but sometime this month.

I am supposed to go to physical therapy in twelve hours. I am going to cancel the appointment mostly because my voice still isn’t there and I don’t want to be talking for 45 mins just for my throat to be sore the rest of the day. I will see if my voice is better next week and then have the eval then.

I sent a message to my psych to see when she wanted to talk, if she wanted to talk. I never got a response so I guess we aren’t talking. No big deal. I can try to talk to her on Tuesday. I sent her a thing she wanted me to write to try and get the therapist up to date on my suicidality. She hasn’t said anything about it so I guess it is ok. I wrote about the background and then how things are now. I also wrote about how I want her to be accountable to things we discuss and have them followed up the following week. I am tired of therapists not following through or continuing what was said the previous week. I have not printed this out. I don’t even want to see the therapist because I am afraid of what will happen. I told her some stuff about how I want to proceed in therapy from now on until the suicidality is somewhat under control. I am not sure how she will take this so I am nervous. I went through this with my long term therapist and things didn’t go well. She didn’t want to carry through on things and that frustrated me more than anything.

One of the things I talked about was the SSF (suicide status form). It is part of the Collaborating, Assessment, and Managing of Suicide (CAMS) framework. It is used to assess suicidality to get a better picture of what the episode it like for the patient. It is individualized for that patient and it really helps the clinician know where the problems or situations are that are leading to this person thinking about suicide. I have made copies of the forms from the 1st edition of the book but have not done so for the 2nd edition. The 2nd edition has the changes of a few things and on the current DSM (diagnostical system of mental disorders). The last message I had with the creator was a month or so ago and he was looking into an electronic form so that it could be easier sent to the medical record. The wonderful thing about the SSF is that it has all the documentation needed in just a few pages for the patient’s record. Right now that is just paper but eventually it will be electronic. I am not sure how that will go or if there will be a 3rd version of the book to reflect this or what. But it is in the works and last I heard would be ready sometime this year.

I don’t know if she would be interested in something she has not seen or heard of. The bottom line is that CBT and DBT (both of which she does) are also evidence based treatments for suicidality. I am not sure if this is true for chronic suicidality but I don’t think that has been studied.

1203 pm: I canceled my PT appointment. I didn’t sleep until after 0500 and with my voice being terrible, I really didn’t want to talk. Now I have the whole day to myself. It is nice out. I have one business I need to take care of before I go. I got to close my IRA account as I haven’t put any money in for years and because it is below the minimum amount, I have been charged every year, dwindling what was there. I figure I better close it before there is nothing and then be in the negative. The interest is not that great either. I just updated my book because I found it and it was only 1 to 2 cents given. I am just worried about how much taxes are going to be taken out because I am not of age to collect it. I went through this once before and it was a hassle. I think it was more because the bank didn’t want to do it than anything. Least that was my impression. Maybe I will go to the square and do it at the bank there as the one near me always gives me a fucking hassle with transactions.

I need to take a shower. I also need to change my bed sheets but that in itself is more tiring than taking a shower. My foot is a 7 right now. I know after the shower it will be up for a bit. Maybe in the afternoon I will go to do the bank business. I already had my coffee for the day so I won’t go to Starbucks. Though I might as someone misplaced or got rid of my reusable cup. I can’t find it anywhere. Maybe my nephew has it in his room. I will ask him when I see him.