Baclofen works for me. I'm taking 5 mg three times a day.
The charley horse effect is gone from my thighs most of the time. I have it now, but just came from River Dogging with Ellie. I always overdo with Ellie.
I actually forgot to put on the Detrol patch! It was three days before I noticed that I was all out. Even then, I only checked because I had a note to change it.
Needless to say, no more Detrol. And now I am not logy. I feel great.
Now if I could just get rid of that pesky job (and still retain the income).
pb
Little Pond
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Sunday, May 06, 2007
I finally gave up
You've probably seen the shift in attitude. There can be no doubt that I lost a lot this year. Disabled seems to be written all over me. Disgusts me when an older person runs to hold the door open for me. (Wait! I can still walk! I take Ellie to the River every day...)
My boss has made a point of reminding me to take my meds. It's embarrassing.
So I finally gave up and began to take a cane places, and I purchased an alarm watch.
The cane (or walking stick) allows me to balance myself when I need to stand still.
The alarm watch is a Timex, IronMan Triathlon. It has three alarm settings. One for my morning doses (rings daily), one for my evening doses (rings nightly), and one for the afternoon dose only on weekends. I have to remember my breakfast and (work lunch) 8pm doses on my own.
When I'm not working, the evening doses are really bed-time doses and don't need an alarm.
And the watch is on a plastic with velcro band, so I don't have to work a buckle, or get a rash from it. I'm waiting to see how long it takes me to get a rash from the back of the timepiece itself.
The rest of the problem is all griping and hyperbole. I knew from the first few years that the condition was progressive.
I'll survive.
pb
Little Pond
(by the way, does anyone know off-hand how to program a quick macro for inputting my URL while in blogger? I'm now working from Windows Vista)
My boss has made a point of reminding me to take my meds. It's embarrassing.
So I finally gave up and began to take a cane places, and I purchased an alarm watch.
The cane (or walking stick) allows me to balance myself when I need to stand still.
The alarm watch is a Timex, IronMan Triathlon. It has three alarm settings. One for my morning doses (rings daily), one for my evening doses (rings nightly), and one for the afternoon dose only on weekends. I have to remember my breakfast and (work lunch) 8pm doses on my own.
When I'm not working, the evening doses are really bed-time doses and don't need an alarm.
And the watch is on a plastic with velcro band, so I don't have to work a buckle, or get a rash from it. I'm waiting to see how long it takes me to get a rash from the back of the timepiece itself.
The rest of the problem is all griping and hyperbole. I knew from the first few years that the condition was progressive.
I'll survive.
pb
Little Pond
(by the way, does anyone know off-hand how to program a quick macro for inputting my URL while in blogger? I'm now working from Windows Vista)
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Not so positive post
Once again the visit to the neuro has brought negative news. I am losing ground again. Man, that just seems to go hand in hand with Spring each year. Let's hope I can regain ground by Fall.
Still, that is just an observation. I've almost always known, right from the start, that I have relapsing-remissive MS. In my case, it's always been a progressive thing. Little by little. It makes it manageable.
But. That is not the least positive thing that came from my visit. A few days later, his office cc'd me the note he sent to my primary care physician.
It turns out that the urologist never sent them a report! The urologist also never gave me a script for the catheters, either. My neuro's office contacted them for information, and the damned uro-people gave them the same runaround I got!
I thought maybe it was just me. Perhaps I was being a scratchy-sort of lady who made the uro-people react badly. It was not me. The neuro-people were non-plussed by the encounter.
Laugh of the morning: The uro-people wanted to know "what I was going to use them for!" The neuro-people shot back, "she's going to sip ice-tea! What do you think she will use them for?"
Like Mencia says: If you ain't laughing, you ain't living.
pb
Little Pond
Still, that is just an observation. I've almost always known, right from the start, that I have relapsing-remissive MS. In my case, it's always been a progressive thing. Little by little. It makes it manageable.
But. That is not the least positive thing that came from my visit. A few days later, his office cc'd me the note he sent to my primary care physician.
It turns out that the urologist never sent them a report! The urologist also never gave me a script for the catheters, either. My neuro's office contacted them for information, and the damned uro-people gave them the same runaround I got!
I thought maybe it was just me. Perhaps I was being a scratchy-sort of lady who made the uro-people react badly. It was not me. The neuro-people were non-plussed by the encounter.
Laugh of the morning: The uro-people wanted to know "what I was going to use them for!" The neuro-people shot back, "she's going to sip ice-tea! What do you think she will use them for?"
Like Mencia says: If you ain't laughing, you ain't living.
pb
Little Pond
Monday, April 30, 2007
New Stuff
The past weekend was completely dedicated to learning the new Presario.
Usually we purchase a refurbished machine and have Radio Shack do all the installations. And we usually trade in the old machine. This time we were so far, far, far behind the times, it was almost necessary to start new.
On top of that, the kids are lusting after the old machine. So.
So. We will hook up as a network, at least for a few months. This will allow us to cover the kids and still have everything we need. At least until we get it all transferred.
Now that the "kids" are all adults, we purchased a wireless notebook. To get the darned thing out of the dining room.
Except that Husband RJ wants it in the dining room. I want it in the office that we will put in MammaDog's old bedroom.
Except that Husband RJ, unbeknownst to me, filled MammaDog's old room with seedling flats. I mean I know now, but it wasn't mentioned to me during the decision process.
Anyway, some sort of side table or flat desk will replace the big, bulky Sauder cheapie. And we can close up and remove the Presario when we need the space for dinners.
A question to the over 40 crowd: when you were a kid, could you ever have imagined that we would be worried about such mundane stuff concerning our personal computers?
Progress.
pb
Little Pond
Usually we purchase a refurbished machine and have Radio Shack do all the installations. And we usually trade in the old machine. This time we were so far, far, far behind the times, it was almost necessary to start new.
On top of that, the kids are lusting after the old machine. So.
So. We will hook up as a network, at least for a few months. This will allow us to cover the kids and still have everything we need. At least until we get it all transferred.
Now that the "kids" are all adults, we purchased a wireless notebook. To get the darned thing out of the dining room.
Except that Husband RJ wants it in the dining room. I want it in the office that we will put in MammaDog's old bedroom.
Except that Husband RJ, unbeknownst to me, filled MammaDog's old room with seedling flats. I mean I know now, but it wasn't mentioned to me during the decision process.
Anyway, some sort of side table or flat desk will replace the big, bulky Sauder cheapie. And we can close up and remove the Presario when we need the space for dinners.
A question to the over 40 crowd: when you were a kid, could you ever have imagined that we would be worried about such mundane stuff concerning our personal computers?
Progress.
pb
Little Pond
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Not Quite Lost Days
Ellie and I drove to the Grove Street Boat Ramp/Fishing Access Site (hereinafter the "Goose Poop Area" or GPA) to get our last bit of exercise before the storm that is forecast for this evening.
This sort of thing surely must have birthed the English phrase "mucking about." Our trip was a sort of test. A week on the Baclofen now. 5mg, three times daily is definitely out. It was heaven on the weekend, because I spent three hours napping each day. At work, well, they are lost days. I look at something, mention it to my coworkers, who inform me that we've already discussed it. They jog my memory, I remember it, then an awkward silence or disgusted look. 5mg, two times daily still seems to be leaving me a bit slow.
However. After our very long walk in squishy, mucky ground, I feel the spasms in my legs again. Due for a dose even as I type. If I get through the weekend without pain and with sleep, it will probably be worth the trouble of trying to figure out the proper spacing for the dose. Or maybe another dose altogether.
More later.
pb
Little Pond
Ellie roots around in our primary GPA
This sort of thing surely must have birthed the English phrase "mucking about." Our trip was a sort of test. A week on the Baclofen now. 5mg, three times daily is definitely out. It was heaven on the weekend, because I spent three hours napping each day. At work, well, they are lost days. I look at something, mention it to my coworkers, who inform me that we've already discussed it. They jog my memory, I remember it, then an awkward silence or disgusted look. 5mg, two times daily still seems to be leaving me a bit slow.
However. After our very long walk in squishy, mucky ground, I feel the spasms in my legs again. Due for a dose even as I type. If I get through the weekend without pain and with sleep, it will probably be worth the trouble of trying to figure out the proper spacing for the dose. Or maybe another dose altogether.
More later.
pb
Little Pond
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Finally gave in.
I wasn't planning on it, but when my neurologist suggested something for the strange charleyhorse in my upper thighs, I took it.
I can live with the spasm and pain, and I can live without sleep, but I cannot do both. Makes me feel sorry for myself just remembering it.
He prescribed Baclofen 10MG, three times a day. That was way too much, and now, a week later, I take only two, twice a day. Each an hour or so before I sleep. And I sleep!
By the way, the first day I was so loguey I screwed up my other meds and packed all the wrong stuff in my pill case for work. Now I am more normal than I've been in weeks and weeks.
Let's see how long it works before I decide to wean off them.
pb
Little Pond
I can live with the spasm and pain, and I can live without sleep, but I cannot do both. Makes me feel sorry for myself just remembering it.
He prescribed Baclofen 10MG, three times a day. That was way too much, and now, a week later, I take only two, twice a day. Each an hour or so before I sleep. And I sleep!
By the way, the first day I was so loguey I screwed up my other meds and packed all the wrong stuff in my pill case for work. Now I am more normal than I've been in weeks and weeks.
Let's see how long it works before I decide to wean off them.
pb
Little Pond
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Short and to the point
It is snowing and I am glad. The cold will dampen the burst of pollen that is making me asthmatic.
The addition of Flonase has made me much more comfortable this Spring. So far, just two asthma spells in about seven weeks!
My visit with the new/old neurologist proved okay, if somewhat ineffectual. More on that later.
It will be a much longer post.
pb
Little Pond
The addition of Flonase has made me much more comfortable this Spring. So far, just two asthma spells in about seven weeks!
My visit with the new/old neurologist proved okay, if somewhat ineffectual. More on that later.
It will be a much longer post.
pb
Little Pond
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