Tag: complex regional pain syndrome

the 4 AM painsomnia blog

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

The 4 AM Painsomnia blog

It is a little after 0400 and I still have not slept a wink. Pain is keeping me up. I have tried different drugs and was getting ready to settle down about a half hour ago, when I moved my ankle to get comfy and was rewarded with more pain. I am so tired, physically and mentally, of this crap. I don’t understand how normal movements of my ankle the way it is supposed to work are causing me loads of pain. It doesn’t make sense. Maybe my neuro can help me. I see her in a couple of weeks.

I have been adding apps to my phone. I still haven’t made the playlists on my MP3 player. That will involve my old phone and mega time. I actually don’t know if the songs will be on the old phone because I took out the storage card. It had all my music on it. Will really suck if I have to create each playlist and then try to remember what songs were in it. I had a good list going, too. Should have written it down before pulling the card out. Oh well.

I took my pain meds a little while ago, before my pain really hit skyrocket levels. I am debating on taking the strong pain med and another Ativan. With any luck I will be asleep by 0530. I hate when I am up all night. I probably will be sleeping all morning and into the afternoon again. I feel like waking my mother up and telling her I am going to sleep now so she has some idea that I don’t sleep when I am in my room. I could do it just to be a bastard.

I think the CRPS is spreading up my leg. Lately, I have been getting pains above my ankle, nerve pain, on the same side where my ankle hurts and where originally the swelling was greatest. It hasn’t hurt like that in a while so I thought it had gone away. Now it doesn’t seem to be the case. It just causes me to have hypervigilance and anxiety with my PTSD symptoms. That’s why I wanted to take the strong pain med and Ativan. Kill two birds with one stone. And it might help me doze off.

I keep trying to ignore the pain but it is throbbing and it changes and moves all over the place. One side of my foot will feel one thing, the top of my foot will feel another. My toes will feel something else and my ankle will just have several kinds of pain all at once. It can be up, down, and all around. There is no rhyme or reason to it, which is so frustrating. I took some Neurontin for the burning pain and applied Lidocaine so numb it. Then I move my ankle to get comfy and was overwhelmed with pain again just as I thought it was finally settling down. Fucker. It’s awake so so am I.

I took the meds. Fuck it. I need relief and sleep. I got to wait an hour or so for the Ativan to work. I was watching videos on Facebook. One of them was about how to cook eggs easily. It showed how to unpeel a boiled egg in a container after putting some water and then shaking it with a cover on the container. It was cool. Also showed how to make a poached egg in the microwave. I’ll have to see it again to learn how. I like poached eggs once in a while but they can be messy when you make it by pan. I saved the link so I have it in my saved thingy. I really like that option.

My sister thawed out burgers so she will be making them today. I know I am going to have a couple! That is my favorite summer food. I want to buy the grill thingy that you put on the stove to grill things without mess. I should have written down the number or the website. Maybe they will have it at Walgreens in the “shown on tv” section. It would be awesome to make grilled stuff year round. So when I wake up from my “nap”, the food should be ready, lol. I wish I had bought cole slaw with my grocery order. Maybe I will get it when I go grocery shopping later today. I need to get my bread that wasn’t delivered. My mother buys wheat bread, which is okay, but I like multigrain bread. It just tastes good. I also plan on buying some deli turkey breast. Boar’s Head just came out with a new kind called Maple Honey Turkey breast. I want to try it. I also want to get more ribs. They are so good.

I know I take a lot of psych meds, but having to take all these pain meds drives me nuts. It’s only because the pain changes so I need to adjust the dose or take lidocaine or Neurontin more because I know the opioids won’t respond to it. I never get to a zero but a three would be nice every once in a while. Someone liked one of my low pain tweets about wanting to shower on Twitter. It was back in June. Long time since that day. I think the weather has caused my pain to spike. It decreased another 10 degrees. It’s 57 degrees F right now. It was 70 degrees when I woke up at 1415, so many hours ago. So what is that, 13 degrees in a little more than 12 hours? No wonder I am in pain. Fucking human barometer I am. SUCKS!!

telling a turtle to run fast

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

Telling a turtle to run fast

I woke up in the middle of the night due to pain. I took some meds and then had something to eat. I couldn’t go back to sleep so decided to set up my new phone. I had charged it while I was sleeping. There were plenty of updates like the phone I was giving my niece. It took a while for every thing to download. I think I finally went back to sleep around 0600. I woke up around 1415. I had a bad dream that I was diagnosed with lymphoma and was telling my father’s side of the family. In the dream, my cousin was my doctor (which is weird because in real life, he’s an architect). I woke up after we hugged one another. It was very strange.

I went down to go to the bathroom and then make coffee. I asked my mother if she wanted a cup and she did. I made it and gave it to her. I then went upstairs with my coffee. As I was drinking it, I was updating my apps to my new phone. Some had transferred over and some didn’t. I didn’t realize I had a 64GB internal memory. That is neat. After I played with my phone and my coffee was half done, my sister wanted to see me so I went downstairs. I got to the bottom and my ankle gave out on me. Lovely. My mother makes some funny comment and I’m like whatever. Then she says I sleep too much. That pissed me off. I told her I am not sleeping at night and so I need to sleep during the day. I must tell her this nearly every day. I think the next time I wake up at 0300, I am going to wake her up so she knows I’m up and see how she likes it. I am so mad that she gives me no fucking support. I said so to my sister, and she said it’s like telling a turtle to run fast. It is still annoying.

I had some eggplant and some soup that was left over from the other night. I’m still kind of hungry so I might order a sub. I had to shut the AC off because it’s quite cool today. Luckily, my back isn’t hurting from the drop in temps. I don’t get how it can be this cool in July, but I will take it over scorching hot. It’s cloudy today, least it is now. I hope it doesn’t rain because I want to try and listen to the ball game.

My Hawaiian coffee came today. I will have it grounded on Monday and then have it Tuesday. I love this coffee. I am going to use it sparingly because it costs a lot but it’s worth it. Monday I see my dipshit therapist. I have no idea what to talk to him about other than how the hospital stay didn’t help me at all but keep me safe. It did annoy me to the point of giving in to my suicidal urges/tendencies. I haven’t acted on it while I have been out but I am still planning. The other therapy place hasn’t called me and because I slept most of the day yesterday, I didn’t call them like I wanted to. I will call Monday before I leave to see dipshit.

Before I went to bed last night, I called Sprint to see if the return kit was on its way. I wanted to make sure the idiot I was talking to did the right thing and that I don’t have three phones I am paying for. He said the kit will arrive on Monday as it takes 3-5 business days. As long as it’s on its way, that is all I need to know.

I put the otterbox and screen protector on my new phone while I was up around 5. It is much thinner than my other one. I tried not to get bubbles with the screen protector but I did. I am not that great at putting on protectors. I am hoping that this new phone will allow the functions of my Bluetooth headset to work. It didn’t work with my old phone. I seemed to have thrown the pin used to take the extended storage card out. I don’t know what happened to it after I used it. Hopefully I don’t need it again. The only thing that sucks about this phone compared to the old one is charging takes forever. It takes at least two hours to fully charge. I do like it in every other way. I found how to make different screens while I was updating my niece’s phone. My ringtone transferred over so I don’t have to change that. I hope it did for my contacts as well, though I don’t know because the ringtones are different. I have to find annoying ones for my mother and her crazy sister so I know who it is that calls me.

Just another painful day

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

Just another painful day

The temps jumped twenty degrees so my back didn’t like it at all. I have been in pain since I woke up. I didn’t take anything because I thought just resting it would help. I checked on my niece and then the package from Sprint came. She was having a bowl of cereal. I brought the package to my room and then slept. I didn’t mean to sleep the afternoon away but seeing as I have been up in pain most of the night, I was tired.

My mother woke me up around 1530. I checked to see when the next bus was coming. She was making fish for dinner and I didn’t want that. I wanted a burrito. I should have stayed home but I wanted to take my niece out. I texted her to see if she still wanted to go out and she did. I got dressed and then went downstairs to hurry her up. She was taking forever. Finally, she was ready and we walked to the bus stop. My back was killing me by the time we got there. I gingerly sat down on the bench. It was humid out. We waited for the bus and I thought the age for the bus was 12 and under but it was 11 so I had to pay for my niece.

We both had burritos and it was good. I didn’t have anymore cash on me for the bus so I had to go to CVS to get cash back. We just missed the bus so had to wait for the next one. My niece was like can’t we go to the other stop and I was like no way. My back is not going to make it. It was really hurting by the time we finished dinner.

I had to stop at Walgreens to pick up my prescription and my niece wanted a snack. I gave her the rest of my cash to get it but I also got a chocolate bar. She is too funny. I dropped her home as her mother was there and then went upstairs to my room. I immediately put the AC on. That sucker is not being turned off unless the temps drop again.

I still haven’t opened the package with my phones. I was checking out the screen protector that I bought and it looks like it’s going to be a project. Any protector that needs directions with a glue stick is a project. I’m not looking forward to it but oh well. Sprint has yet to send me the return kit or charge me $400 for the return of the phone. Now that I think of it, I should have just kept the phone and then upgraded my line. Comes out the same. But I am going to take my night meds and deal with it tomorrow. I don’t have the brain power to do it today.

Ramblings 474

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

Ramblings 474

Today’s pain is not much different than it has been in the early morning hours. My ankle gave way just as I was having supper. I am in mega pain now. I have been trying to relax all day. I watched the movie Moana as it was free on Netflix. It was a good distraction and I really liked the movie.

It rained today so my back was acting up. It has settled down now but it’s muggy so I have the AC going. I can’t stand humidity at all. I emailed my psych to ask for a refill for the Invega as I would run out before I see her next. It’s ready at the pharmacy but I will pick it up tomorrow. I am hurting too much to walk outside. I am watching my niece tomorrow and was going to take her for lunch but I just got email saying my phones will be delivered tomorrow. I will wait for the delivery and then take her out. We’ll have lunch at Chipotle’s. This is the plan as long as I am not being tortured by my ankle. I just found out that it’s supposed to rain tomorrow and all weekend so I may not go out as planned. My sister will be leaving me cash so maybe I’ll just order pizza and fries for us.

I had taken an Ativan when the pain started to get really bad so I could possibly take a nap. I watched the movie instead and that helped to settle down the pain anxiety I was feeling. I really just want to chop my ankle off. It is so uncomfortable and I hate being so miserable all the damn time. It’s like every day I keep on having severe pain and I just can’t keep up with it. I’ve been taking my meds around the clock and they do work to lower the level of pain but it’s still there all the time. I’m never at a zero. My foot and ankle always tell me it is there. I hate it.

I’m going to try and go to sleep at a decent hour so I don’t wake up in the middle of the night. Think I will take a strong pain med at bedtime and see if that prevents me from waking up in the early morning hours. I need to sleep. There is no baseball game today as they are off. They won yesterday. It was a day game but because I was on the phone most of the day with Sprint, I didn’t watch or listen to it. I just caught the score on Facebook. The rookie had his first major league hit with a homerun. That was sweet. I hope we get good things from him and that management didn’t bring him up too early.

Was going through Twitter and Jason Aldean tweeted his video for his song “Night Train” and it brought back memories of his album. Now I am listening to it. I love these songs. I think this was the last Jason Aldean album that I bought. The rest of his songs are just individually purchased.

I am to take my night meds in about an hour. I will take the strong pain pill then. I need to try and get this pain under control. I know it is sometimes an uphill battle because all it takes is movement or a touch to set off my pain. It is so frustrating. I need to take a shower but it’s not happening tonight. Maybe tomorrow morning. My pain levels tend to be lower in the morning than any other time of day, not always but usually. If I have severe pain in the morning, it doesn’t bode well for a good day.

The pain group coordinator’s office staff called me to set up an appointment. It’s in October. Lovely. My October schedule seems to be getting filled. I see my PCP, the new neuro, and now this coordinator. I don’t know why I have to have a new intake when I saw her a few months ago. The only thing new is that I am seeing a therapist, which was her requirement before I went to the group. I don’t really care. The way that things are going, I might not be around come October so it doesn’t really matter.