Hi all,
Had another bad day yesterday with stomach problems. Called off from work and didn't go anywhere.
By 6:00pm last nite I was tired of watching TV and went to bed. So naturally I've been up since 3:00am!
Going to be a really long day today at work. I'm concerned about getting into trouble as I called off 1 day last week also for the same thing. Just soo tired of stomach and neck pain.
I have an appt. with a specialist May 4 for stomach and still waiting to hear from back specialist on procedure with neck.
BD coming up in a week but yesterday I looked at myself in the mirror and thought I looked 80 instead of about to turn 52!
This sleep cycle can be brutal, anyone else experciencing this?
Marcia

Marcia, the part of my brain that regulates sleep started having trouble over a year ago. At first, just trouble falling asleep some nights. Over several months, I progressed to not being able to fall asleep unless totally exhausted, and even then I only slept a few hours. That persists, ergo my cannatea (marijuana tea), without which I don't know if I would ever fall asleep. If sleep doesn't come even with my tea, I'm allowed to take extra Seroquel.

Oh, the little joys of neurodegenerative disorders, eh?

For my Mom we kept the light off at night and kept the routine to go to bed at a special time. That works some but she is now in a nursing facility and seems to sleep from about 6pm to 7:30 in the morning. I have been having cognative problems and just had an MRI to see if it is happening to me. Both Mom and Grandmother had it. I am pretty scared right now and clinging to the hope I see written in this forum. Please keep me and my mother in your prayers as I will keep you in mine. PJ

Alan,
I bet that does help! For me tho, a triazolam 0.25 helps.
PJ, do you mind me asking your age? I havn't been "Officially" tested but I do know with my mother a spinal tap got the diognosis at age 70 a year ago.
Her father had it also so we do seem to have alot in common. Please keep in touch!
Hugs,
Marcia

hey alan can you tell me how to get info on med merijuana in state of Co. Laura

http://www.coloradomedicalmarijuana.org/

That's a good place to start, Laura. Finding out more is easiest if you Google "Colorado medical marijuana." Read the law and whatever else you can find. Then, ask me what questions you might still have.

Marcia, I'm a few weeks short of 54. What makes my long-term future interesting is I'm 6'4", work out, pretty darn strong, and know a bit about incapacitating people. If I end up in a nursing home and become enraged, I expect they'd have to use a tranquilizer gun from far away.

I wonder if it would help the pain. Lortabs sure don't. Doc wanted to add another one with it but I was afraid to take both.

Tickles, what is it you wonder would stop the pain, a tranquilizer gun?

Oh wait, maybe you mean medicinal marijuana? If so, yes, some hybrids have been bred that are pretty good at pain reduction. It's a fascinating area, medical marijuana. There's much more to it than most people might expect. It isn't about getting high, it's about the medicinal effect. It's just like Ativan, Valium, Morphine, etc., can be abused when too much is taken.

Alan, you crack me up. Never met a good psycotherapist without a sense of humor. No, I didn't mean the gun. Morphine was what they suggested, I'm afraid to take that. The other was oxycontin. Ditto on that. I went to bed last night at 11:30, finally got to sleep aliittle after 4.Had been doing pretty well for a few nights. It's hard cause my mom is up at the crack of dawn. Bless her, she slept til 6:45 this morning. At 3:15 I took 3 tylonal PM at 1:30 I had taken 2 Lortabs. I know alot of tylenol in there. Question 1001. How do I know if my being agitated is from mom wearing me down(she can be very irate at times,) lack of sleep or my own condition getting worse? I probably need to go to counseling a few times, a lot has happened in the last two years. My three mo. illness, my father dying, mom's diagnosis. Oh, did I mention my husband of 34yrs filed for a divorce because I couldn't walk. (critical illness syndrome) Of course now that i can he would like to get back together! Good possibility I'm just going a little crazy here.You can bet the latter will never happen!!!!!

Tickles, I guess your husband isn't big on "in sickness and in health"? I wonder what other wedding vows he didn't mean? If you're going to divorce him, get a man-eating lawyer and do it right. Abandonment is the worst thing he could've done.

If you need morphine, then by all means take it! I'm trying other things for my peripheral neuropathy pain, like Cymbalta and the medical marijuana. But if only morphine brought relief, I'd at least take it for special occasions.

It's so common for people to ask the question you ask, "Is it this or is it that?" I think it's the American educational system that teaches us this typical but flawed way of thinking. It's all those things, Tickles, and probably a few more you haven't had a chance to think of.

As for crazy, remember what that great philosopher, Jimmy Buffet, says: "If we weren't all crazy, we'd all go insane."

Thanks, I've had an especially hard day but am feeling better tonight. Took about an hour nap which helped me tremendously sp?. We have been divorced for a year and a half. He filed while I was still in the hospital. I got the house and everything in it that I wanted.( which I'm sure is why he wants to come back)I'm not living in it right now as mom won't leave her home. She may half to as mine is a ranch on one floor, except for the basement and I'm having trouble with these stairs.
Anyway- the cymbalta, I need to look that up. I didn't know it was for pain. I take neurotin, works fairly well at 3600mg, but knocks me out.i have never tried the morphine or the oxycotin. They just offered it to me. I have mom to think about or I wouldn't care if i was out a few times a week to sleep. Seems like I took Ambien a few times and slept good, that won't help the pain tho.
Your right, I need to think out of the box. I like everything to neatly fit and do as it is suppose to. Nothing I have does that, so I never think enough is being done.
Also, while I'm yaking. Were you the one who wanted to find old friends? Do it. A guy I dated 47yrs. ago found me on classmates. He is one of my biggest supporters. We e-mail or talk several times a week. He's flown in three times,( he is in Md. I'm in Ky.) since we re-united last Sept. It's been great and we are still best friends. Of course he can't relate like this forum can, but he's great support.

YOU GO, GIRL!


Iris L.

To those of you in pain,

Have you tried an aspirin/tylenol mix? They work about as good as codeine. Excedrin is tylenol/aspirin/caffeine. They do not have interaction problems and you can take a maximum dose of each at the same time. My orthopedist told me about mixing the two. When I am in bad pain, I take about 1000 mg of each two times a day.

Now, usually I can get by on just tylenol.

I take the aspirin in "enteric" form. That does not dissolve in the stomach so there is no stomach discomfort.

Lyrica is also useful for some people.

My only problem is remembering if I have already taken a dose. Overdosing on tylenol can mess up your liver.

RE oxycontin, be very careful to take it just as prescribed. It can be very addictive if you take too much or too often.

My drug of choice is morphine. Doc says you can take it for 4 days without addiction problems.

Now, I think I took some tylenol about 45 minutes ago. Why hasn't my headache gone away?

Maybe I need to eat some breakfast.

Jenny, Before my wife goes away, she cooks up some meals ahead. Last time I chowed down on lasagna, turkey pot pie, and home made soup. They all heat in the microwave easily. I had food for a week. I know that the grazing on junk is not good for my well-being.