The cardiac event monitor is still on (I take it off on the 16th, counting down the days). I have no skin left around most of the electrodes. Once I get this thing off, I'm going to heal up the sores and then pamper my skin like crazy! And I've given up on the hypoallergenic/more sensitive electrodes...at this point, they all suck and they all feel like they're made of battery acid.
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The pain management doc prescribed me Cymbalta to try for pain when I was there about 2 weeks ago. And for whatever reason, it took forever to get filled. I kept whining about how long it was taking and that by the time I got it, I wouldn't know anything by the time I saw the doc again.
So glad that I was proved wrong. I finally got my hands on the meds Tuesday evening (and it was prescribed for twice a day) and took it that night before bed, with the rest of my PM meds.
I woke up at 0500 shaking and feeling like my body was trying to turn inside out. It got worse as the day went on with the second dose. Oddly, caffeine helped ease it a bit, but that was the only thing I'd taken in for half the day...my appetite was GONE. I wound up taking Klonapin halfway through the day to chill out the anxiety and felt better, but still no appetite.
Same thing the next day; a bit less shaking, but still very anxious. Took Klonapin to get me through the day again. Decided that I probably hadn't noticed problems with the first dose because I took it with my bedtime meds, which includes Ativan, which is why it didn't hit me until early morning when the benzo wore off.
By day three, Friday, I felt like death. I was incredibly depressed, still a bit anxious, and felt like I was just trapped inside my body. I couldn't laugh - funny just didn't feel funny. And I'm a giggly person, so that was scary. And knowing that something was wrong like that felt weird too.
I went to the cardiologist to discuss how I was doing since my syncopal event and how I was doing with the monitor. He said that so far he hadn't seen any dangerous rhythms on my EKG strips. There had been some sinus tach, which isn't all that bad since my HR tends to run higher than it used to. He said there was a possibility that because of my previous ASD repair there was some atrial tach too, but he couldn't be sure. And the reason he wouldn't have seen that during my surgery was because anesthesia suppresses that. But all in all, not a lot to worry about right now. Which is good.
He also said that since I'd obviously had some dysautonomia but never had any official autonomic testing, he'd like to look into that (tilt table test). But with the way I was feeling with the Cymbalta, we agreed to hold off on that until I was feeling a bit more like myself.
I also saw the pain management doc Friday afternoon. He told me if the Cymbalta was making me feel as bad as it was, there was no reason to keep taking it and things getting worse. Thank God! He said that there was nothing really abnormal on the MRI images of my lower back and hips (which, good, but still...for that much pain, that's surprising). But at the time of my appointment, my pain was currently around my SI joints, so he offered to try some cortisone injections in those joints.
Thanks to EDS, the local didn't help as much as I would have liked (on the left side, I had pressure, but on the right side I had a ton of pain and felt the needle all the way down to the joint). But it's a quick procedure and I was being cleaned and bandaged within minutes.
Came home and napped, had a good amount of pain from the injections when I woke up, which wasn't shocking, just not fun. So I can't get comfortable on my side as much as I'd like to (since I usually sleep on my side). I have a lot of bruising at the injection sites and my butt crack just hurts. All in all, not the worst pain ever.
The doc said it would take up to a week for the steroid to work and to come back in 2-3 weeks to decide if it was worthwhile and something I wanted to do again. I have no idea if this will do any good and I know that it's not usually something that works well for bendies like myself, but I figured I would never know unless I tried.
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Even though I'm still essentially on light duty at work because of the monitor (I've been secretary or psych sitter), I decided to take the weekend off. While I need the money, I just felt horrible and my body has had one hell of a week with the Cymbalta and then the injections. I'm glad I took off too. I still don't feel like myself today and I've had to force myself to eat (though after some veggie pizza, I actually had a craving for ice cream!). And my butt is sore enough that I think sitting in an uncomfortable office chair for 12 hours would have made me miserable all day. I may have to pick up some hours elsewhere in the week if I can.
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And through it all, my puppy has been taking good care of me. He napped with me yesterday when I got home from the doctor. When he was done napping but I was still in bed, he went and sat at the end of the hall with his bone and just waited for me. And today, I haven't been allowed to take a step without him watching out for me. He's a good boy. Life wouldn't be the same without a doggy around.
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