New meds are No Fun sometimes

[cjsmith]

I've tried all the things that had a good chance of helping my foot problems. Now I'm trying the extreme long shots. This month it's a medication for neuropathic pain. First dose was this morning.

I am dizzy and queasy. I can't tell whether I'm too hot or too cold. My hands are a little shaky. None of this is severe, but it all adds up to Unpleasant. Why, oh why, did I take my first dose of this thing on a day I had this much work to do?

Wow, I didn't even get to POST this. That was quick. I'm back from the restroom now. I think I feel better.

Comments

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

Bleah. I hope it wears off soon.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Google says one to two weeks. I might not wait it out that long.

[hnybny.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping the side effects subsided for the day.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

My fingers are crossed... but it feels like it's building up again. This is gonna be a long day if that keeps up.

[rfrench.livejournal.com]

Is this a listed side effect?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It's the most common side effect, says Google. It usually fades in a couple of WEEKS. I might also get an increase in blood pressure, which I certainly don't need.

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

Since we are newly acquainted so you mind if I ask what types of symptoms you have? I have been dealing with my leg 'falling asleep' while walking - starting at the ankle and hip and working itself up or down to the knee - for several years now. It limits my walking - I usually use a cane and when I know I have to walk quite a ways I use crutches - thus my exercizeing. Doctors just tell me it is my weight that is causing it.

It is annoying because I have not been able to stand on tiptoe for over ten years now which means I can't belly dance any more.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I have two kinds of pain in the balls of my feet. There's a deep-bruise kind of sensation and there's a tingling, pins-and-needles sensation. The bruise-like one is the worst. It limits my activity drastically. It seems to be nerve damage, and nobody can say what caused it.

I will probably never again hike, run, dance, ski, go backpacking, or ride a bicycle. I can walk short distances. I wear weird shoes to take the weight off the forefoot, and that allows me to do some of the most basic things normal people can do: get from the car to the office, etc. It's frustrating, because from the middle of the foot all the way to the top of my head I'm perfectly functional. (Well, one other chronic pain issue and bad knees. But I used to be active and athletic.)

Yours sounds like some kind of nerve being pinched or even circulation being partially cut off. Is that what the doctors have said is happening? I'm trying to imagine how weight could cause that. I wish you luck with it. It sounds like it's very frustrating.

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

It might be a pinched nerve - I fell down the stairs in 1979 and - in the days before MRIs - was told everything was okay after an x-ray. And when it is hot I get severe edema in my feet and legs. Can't afford a doctor right now (unemployed, no money, no insurance - not even Medicare) but want to try to find one after I get a job.

And I do know the pain in the balls of my feet thing. Feels like I've run over sharp rocks barefoot when they decide to hurt.

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

Ick, that doesn't sound like fun. I hope your body is able to find a way to process it better. I'll be thinking good thoughts. :)

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

Oh CJ, I'm sorry! Medicine is supposed to make things better, not worse! (Is it Lyrica? That's supposed to have fewer side effects than its predecessor, Neurontin, but it still does cause side effects, especially for the first couple of weeks.)

If the side effects are really bad, don't feel you have to push through it unless it's doing a great job of relieving your usual pain. When I started taking an antidepressant it made a zombie out of me. I kept insisting I would stick it out and the symptoms would go away in two weeks, but Ken finally talked me into giving it up -- which in hindsight was the right choice, because the drug was exacerbating my depression instead of relieving it!

But I hope the drug is doing a great job of relieving the pain, and that the side effects are transitory and quickly gone!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'll try to push through it only long enough to find out if it's doing a good job of relieving my pain. This is one of those build-up-over-days kinds of things. We'll see.

Today I ate first and took the pill right after my bowl of oatmeal. If the timing works out the same as yesterday, I'll keep breakfast and lose lunch. :-) (That's a win. Yesterday I lost breakfast and couldn't eat lunch, so I think I kept about 450 calories, all told. Today I hope to keep breakfast *and* eat some dinner.)