I've been dicking with my medication again. A year and a half ago, I got put on Cymbalta, which is an anti-depressant sort of drug developed for chronic pain folks. (Those of you who aren't interested in health shit, I get that. Scroll down. There won't be a test later.) Anti-depressants are kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't solution to pain; they work better than a lot of other options, but they still suck. (I ranted about the whole thing here, on a blog post entitled "Fucking Happy Pill Shit", which tells you what you need to know.)
Anyway. A year and a half ago, the doc put me on this drug. It gives me what I call "nap attacks" - I will fall asleep almost like I pass out, for two or three hours. When I first started it, one memorable evening I fell asleep on the living room floor with the Goober's beanbag chair as a pillow. When I mentioned this to the doc, she told me to keep at it, because it would go away. HAH. Guess again.
After a year and a half of trying to time the nap attack at bed time, by moving the time I take the pill, I am done. DONE. Fuck this. Next appointment, we are going back to a different drug I've taken in the past. OR ELSE.
Or else I will take a nap on the counter of the nursing station. That'll show her.
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Still knitting on the sleeves. I was going to make the bell sleeves bigger, but after reading the comments on my last post, reason set in. I'll be keeping them as they are.
I will do a blog post on different sleeve types, but ultimately, in the EPS system, so long as you're at your 40% number when you get to the armpit, you can do anything you want, short of knitting a Volkswagen.
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So, I've got this little netbook I roam around the house with. Usually I keep an electrical socket open in all my favorite spots, and plug in as I roam. I've even got a spot on the back porch. Lately I've noticed the plug felt funny as I moved around, but didn't pay much attention. (See drug commentary above.) It worked, so who cared?
Yesterday I sat down at the kitchen table, went to plug in my netbook, and there was this hunk of metal sticking out of the hole for the ground plug. Huh. Then I looked at the plug itself.
Well, there's the problem.
Fortunately (sort of), I had saved the cord from the netbook I killed the winter before last, so I switched them around and all is well. But damn, that was weird.
11 comments:
i think that is the only connection i haven't broken on a laptop power cord. (so far, *knock* on wood.) :) i even managed to loosen the connection between the female end and the board. but that was on a five year old craptop, so i got to have fun taking it all apart, desoldering the bad part and soldering on a new one (less than $5 with shipping on ebay!). that was the crowning achievement of my unemployment, and it still works! :)
anyway, i've learned my lesson about pulling from the plug rather than the cord, even when you are cozily in bed and the outlet is ever so far away.
good luck with the meds!
cymbalta gives me faint attacks >< it works fantastically otherwise! best of luck.
Uhm yes-- definitely odd! (And good that you didn't have to turn off the power! ) And the meds thing-- that's hard. You need to know when that shit's gonna happen!
I feel your pain (really). I also deal with chronic pain and have tried Cymbalta. I got the side effects, but no pain relief. I hope you can find something brilliant that helps. I know it's hard.
Bummer about the medicines - if I had any recommendations, I'd give them because I remember that post you referenced!
At least the thing that came out wasn't alive - I went to plug in my toaster this morning and a little fried earwig fell out of the plug.
I've been loathing the antidepressants I've been taking for my migraines. I think Cymbalta is the one that made me feel like I was never going to sleep EVER AGAIN. The doctor told me to keep at it and I said no. Pristiq had no intolerable side effects, but didn't fix the migraines. The latest one (inimpramine) has caused some improvement, but not enough. If the botox shots I'm getting ina couple of weeks doesn't do it, somebody's getting hurt.
I'm impressed you stuck with the Cymbalta for so long. I'm guessing it's because it helped with the pain, at least.
I was on Cymbalta for about 1.5 years for depression. When I went off of it, it took about 3-6 months before I felt "normal". I have always been a coffee drinker. When I went off the Cymbalta, I could not drink coffee for 3 months. Good luck!
Interestingly, we (me and psych docs) decided to see if I could stop Cymbalta in favor of just nortriptyline which works for my depression, migraines, and delayed sleep phase crap.
I figured the Cymbalta probably wasn't doing much.
Yeah, 2 weeks after I was off it entirely I wound up with suicidal ideation again. Fortunately, starting Cymbalta again has fixed that.
Honestly, it was worth the anguish/freak out to figure out "hey, it really does do something."
But damn if pharmacologists need to work faster/more on figuring out what mediates individual reactions to meds. It amazes me how differently people react to some meds - antidepressants and pain killers especially.
I'm sorry you're having issues again with the meds. Chronic pain is one of the most difficult things to deal with and you've been extraordinarily patient. We prescribe cymbalta and it's about 50/50 in terms of effectiveness. Some folks love it and are so happy and others are meh.
I wish I could wave the magic wand and have a solution for you. I hate to hear about pain and not be able to fix it.
I have FMS and a year ago - literally RIGHT before I got pregnant - I started taking Savella. Ive tried everything else but Cymbalta with no luck. Some things I had been able to take once made me sick...BUT the Dr said it would also help with the killer migraines I get during our monsoon season (otherwise known as Spring).. I noticed a difference with the migraines in about a week. By the time I was done with the titration pack I felt A LOT better. I was doing so much better I wound up pregnant ;) I am patiently waiting until I am done nursing to go back on it. It worked really well with my ADHD meds Adderall (which gratefully counteract my normal narcolepsy symptoms) so I am not sure if it would make you sleepy.
Good luck on your quest. I hope you find something that works for you.
I have tried tons of antidepressants. The best so far is the oldie but goodie, prozac. Low dosage first ting in the morning and you don't give a damn about anything. My doctor told me I was a type A personality, gone terribly wrong. haha. Anyway good luck, don't give up.
Susan
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