Even more fucked up...

[haas mark]

Went to the doctor's on Thursday. Got officially diagnosed with insomnia for the first time (as if it were any surprise to us). Also got diagnosed with arthralgia, which is another name for premature arthritis. So for the time being, I've got 800mg horsepills..err..ibuprofens that don't help much (the only effective pain-killer I've had other than ibf is Vicodin.. not Percosets, cos they hyper-ize me). So I get to call in for a follow-up in two weeks.. Ugh. Gonna be fun when they put me on lithium again..

~ver

[Tsyroc]

Went to the doctor's on Thursday. Got officially diagnosed with insomnia for the first time (as if it were any surprise to us). Also got diagnosed with arthralgia, which is another name for premature arthritis. So for the time being, I've got 800mg horsepills..err..ibuprofens that don't help much (the only effective pain-killer I've had other than ibf is Vicodin.. not Percosets, cos they hyper-ize me). So I get to call in for a follow-up in two weeks.. Ugh. Gonna be fun when they put me on lithium again..

~ver

That's too bad that Vicodin is the only thing that works. Because of the tylenol component I wouldn't want to be on that for anything close to long term, it's hard on your liver. Also, I don't think the other component, hydrocodone, is available by itself. At least I haven't seen it.

If Percocet had worked for you there are many forms of oxycodone available without tylenol. Although, many of them have gotten a bad rap recently because of the dope heads who were abusing them.

Has your doctor considered stuff like Vioxx? I've never tried it but it's supposed to be good for arthritis.

[Equinox2003]

I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you don't have to go through much pain.
Get well soon.

[Ghost Rider]

Went to the doctor's on Thursday. Got officially diagnosed with insomnia for the first time (as if it were any surprise to us). Also got diagnosed with arthralgia, which is another name for premature arthritis. So for the time being, I've got 800mg horsepills..err..ibuprofens that don't help much (the only effective pain-killer I've had other than ibf is Vicodin.. not Percosets, cos they hyper-ize me). So I get to call in for a follow-up in two weeks.. Ugh. Gonna be fun when they put me on lithium again..

~ver

Jeez...that blows.

Insomnia...I think any of us could've guessed, but premature artiritis?

Ouch...hope things go better for ya, seriously.

[Lord Pounder]

Has the doctor made any mention of side effects when your different medications are mixed. This happened to a mate of mine. He was on tablets for Asphma(sp) and prozac at the same time. Apparently this turned his bodily fluids red, he went for a piss and fainted because he thought he was pissing blood.

[Rye]

Well that sucks. I reckon i have some kind of arthritis too, my fingerjoints hurt like hell after i spend time drawing, or typing.

Be sure to check with your doctor than none of your stuff conflicts, like pounder said.

[Miss Grim]

You may want to see a rheumatologist for your arthritis; they specialize in arthritis and other auto-immune problems. I have systemic lupus, and one of the symptoms is severe arthritis, which I've had for years, and all of the male members of my family have arthritis (which for them usually starts in the late teens). There are a huge number of effective treatments for arthritis, but the trick is that your body is constantly adapting and you'll need to experiment (under a doctor's supervision) to find treatments that work for you. You'll probably want to find some kind of non-steroid anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs if you want to look some up online) because Ibuprofin, while sometimes useful when combined with another drug once in a while, can be bad for you on it's own over a long period of time. Lots of people have had good results with Celebrex, although it's never really worked for me... Vioxx works for me, but it's too expensive for me to take with no prescription coverage (I only have Medicare until my income increases to the point where I can afford a supplement). I don't know what your insurance status is, but if you want to try those drugs and can't afford them a good rheumatologist should be able to give you at least a few weeks worth of samples (that way you'll know if it's worth spending money you may not have).

I've also heard that acupuncture works wonders, but I've never gotten around to trying it myself.

[aphexmonster]

Went to the doctor's on Thursday. Got officially diagnosed with insomnia for the first time (as if it were any surprise to us). Also got diagnosed with arthralgia, which is another name for premature arthritis. So for the time being, I've got 800mg horsepills..err..ibuprofens that don't help much (the only effective pain-killer I've had other than ibf is Vicodin.. not Percosets, cos they hyper-ize me). So I get to call in for a follow-up in two weeks.. Ugh. Gonna be fun when they put me on lithium again..

~ver

damn, see doctors are bad, he gave you Insomnia, and premature arthritis ...



shitty though.. i got the insomnia ... It only affects me worse though when its most important for me to sleep ... but basically i can just go without sleeping most of the time.

[InnerBrat]

*hugs ver*

Sorry babe.

The ibuprofin is probably more to reduce joint swelling than to the pain, BTW.

I have a family history of osteoporosis, so I'll have more of an idea of what you're going through later in life, but my mother, grandmother and sister would all probably recommend you join the worship of the great god Calcium - make sure you get plenty of milk, vitamin D (carrots and SUNLIGT) and cod liver oil.
Don't tire your poor knuckles out with typing.

Love you, sweetie. Take care of yourself for me.

[YT300000]

Well, you could always spend your waking da- er... hours inventing a cure for arthritis.

[kojikun]

if you an insomniac, can you just not fall asleep regardless of how tired you are, or is it that youre always awake and wakeful at the same time??

[Illuminatus Primus]

Lithium? You're bipolar?

[aphexmonster]

if you an insomniac, can you just not fall asleep regardless of how tired you are, or is it that youre always awake and wakeful at the same time??

You're very sleepy, but when you lay down to go to sleep, your mind foccus' on the things around you.... any tiny sound you hear, or any thought that pops in and or out of your head. Stress is an easy cause for this, but its easy to stay up when you're worried. You just lie there and cry yourself awake.

[haas mark]

Okay, I don't want to shamelessly raise my post count, so I'm going to do it all in the same post...

That's too bad that Vicodin is the only thing that works. Because of the tylenol component I wouldn't want to be on that for anything close to long term, it's hard on your liver. Also, I don't think the other component, hydrocodone, is available by itself. At least I haven't seen it.

IIRC, hydrocodone doesn't come by itself, but I can check on that. Although, I've heard Percodan works pretty well.

If Percocet had worked for you there are many forms of oxycodone available without tylenol. Although, many of them have gotten a bad rap recently because of the dope heads who were abusing them.

Yeah, it's too bad Percoset doesn't work. I know lots of people with Percoset.

Has your doctor considered stuff like Vioxx? I've never tried it but it's supposed to be good for arthritis.

Well, I've heard of Vioxx, but I still have to go to a follow-up.

Has the doctor made any mention of side effects when your different medications are mixed. This happened to a mate of mine. He was on tablets for Asphma(sp) and prozac at the same time. Apparently this turned his bodily fluids red, he went for a piss and fainted because he thought he was pissing blood.

That's asthma. Which I probably should also get tested for. But yes, the drug interactions include lithium, so we'll see where that goes.

You may want to see a rheumatologist for your arthritis; they specialize in arthritis and other auto-immune problems. I have systemic lupus, and one of the symptoms is severe arthritis, which I've had for years, and all of the male members of my family have arthritis (which for them usually starts in the late teens). There are a huge number of effective treatments for arthritis, but the trick is that your body is constantly adapting and you'll need to experiment (under a doctor's supervision) to find treatments that work for you. You'll probably want to find some kind of non-steroid anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs if you want to look some up online) because Ibuprofin, while sometimes useful when combined with another drug once in a while, can be bad for you on it's own over a long period of time. Lots of people have had good results with Celebrex, although it's never really worked for me...

Well, I've actually had Celebrex help me with a headache before...

Vioxx works for me, but it's too expensive for me to take with no prescription coverage (I only have Medicare until my income increases to the point where I can afford a supplement). I don't know what your insurance status is, but if you want to try those drugs and can't afford them a good rheumatologist should be able to give you at least a few weeks worth of samples (that way you'll know if it's worth spending money you may not have).

Well, I get my meds free cos I have military insurance and I go to the Indian Hospital here, but until I can get my I.D. renewed, I can't go to the military hospital.

I've also heard that acupuncture works wonders, but I've never gotten around to trying it myself.

Same here...

but my mother, grandmother and sister would all probably recommend you join the worship of the great god Calcium - make sure you get plenty of milk, vitamin D (carrots

Okay.....

and SUNLIGT) and cod liver oil.

You are fucking evil. End of story.

if you an insomniac, can you just not fall asleep regardless of how tired you are, or is it that youre always awake and wakeful at the same time??

It's actually a form of insomnia where I can't STAY asleep. Sometimes I get classic insomnia (just can't go to sleep), but more often it's the other form.

Lithium? You're bipolar?

Hypomanic, ultra-rapid cycling, with diurnal mood variations at times. Yes.

You're very sleepy, but when you lay down to go to sleep, your mind foccus' on the things around you.... any tiny sound you hear, or any thought that pops in and or out of your head. Stress is an easy cause for this, but its easy to stay up when you're worried. You just lie there and cry yourself awake.

Insomnia is a lot of things, stress (both physical and mental), as well as being a symptom of bipola disorder. Sometimes it is such that you can't fall asleep, sometimes that you just don't get restful sleep, sometimes that you wake up several times during the "night," and sometimes just that you only get a few hours of sleep (typical in manic patients of bipolar disorder).

~ver

[Hyperion]

Oh my, I am sorry to hear about this.

*hugs Verilon*

If it makes you feel any better, you just gave me a likely explanation for my sleeping problems, since the shrink has me on meds for bi-polar disorder and they solved the problem (gee, maybe I have bi-polar disorder? I wonder...). And I have arthritis in the knee and some of my other joints, so I know how you feel, and I would never wish it on someone else.

Ugh, this sure was a "nice" thing to find out about after a ren fair weekend...

[InnerBrat]

I'm not evil, ver. I'm right and you damn well know it

*hugs*

[YT300000]

if you an insomniac, can you just not fall asleep regardless of how tired you are, or is it that youre always awake and wakeful at the same time??

You're very sleepy, but when you lay down to go to sleep, your mind foccus' on the things around you.... any tiny sound you hear, or any thought that pops in and or out of your head. Stress is an easy cause for this, but its easy to stay up when you're worried. You just lie there and cry yourself awake.

By that definition, I have a mild case of insomnia.

[aphexmonster]

if you an insomniac, can you just not fall asleep regardless of how tired you are, or is it that youre always awake and wakeful at the same time??

You're very sleepy, but when you lay down to go to sleep, your mind foccus' on the things around you.... any tiny sound you hear, or any thought that pops in and or out of your head. Stress is an easy cause for this, but its easy to stay up when you're worried. You just lie there and cry yourself awake.

By that definition, I have a mild case of insomnia.

alot of people do.

and then alot of people have self inflicted insomnia ... you just convince yourself you cant fall asleep because of your worries.

My psychology teacher told me that people with REAL insomnia DO sleep, it just doesn't feel like they got a good nights rest, because their REM sleep is fucked... so they're tired and jacked all the time ...



" when you have insomnia, its like you're never really asleep or awake "

[haas mark]

I'm not evil, ver. I'm right and you damn well know it

*hugs*

Sunlight = instant headache, unfortunately. But it doesn't help any that I have night blindness, either.

~ver

[InnerBrat]

Sunlight = instant headache, unfortunately. But it doesn't help any that I have night blindness, either.

See? Vit D deficiency