Monday, June 04, 2007

evening

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s SuperNauseaGirl

Blergh.  I’ve been reading up on it, and I think my Vistail might help though.  I was reading the Chronic Pain newsgroup and someone said that they took their Vistaril thirty minutes before their Methadone and that took care of the nausea.  That’s what I did with my last dose, but it’s definitely not completely gone.  Maybe I just have to suffer through it for a couple of weeks.  I’ll try to write something more interesting later.  Maybe a nice Idiot of the Day.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

the wee hours

I’m Totally Prepared If I Ever Become Addicted to Heroin

The cost of my meds was getting completely out of control, and they weren’t stopping the pain, so I either needed a higher dose, or I needed to try something else.  After much research, on Tuesday I asked my doctor for a prescription for Methadone.  At first, it sounded a little scary, especially when it was going to be time to stop taking the meds.  However, the pain was making it so I couldn’t think of much else, so I decided that withdrawal was something I’d worry about another time.  So, on Tuesday evening, I took my first dose of Methadone.  I didn’t feel much, except a little woozy and a little nauseous.  No pain relief.  On Thursday or Friday, it started working for me.  I worked completely through the night on Thursday, sitting at my computer for hours and hours.  Ordinarily, that would’ve had me writhing in achey pain.  But nope, just a little bit of ache.  My average pain went from about a 6 to maybe a 2 or 3, and I didn’t have to take any breakthrough pain meds at all.

My OxyContin was costing about $230+/month, plus extra Oxycodone.  In order to get a better handle on my pain, I needed to up my dosage, so it would’ve cost more than $250.  The Methadone cost me $13.16 for a month’s worth.  I also paid another $22 for 5mg Oxycodones for breakthrough pain.  So far, I’ve only taken two for pain I was having on Tuesday, and two for Wednesday.  I didn’t need anything extra at all on Friday, except some Sudafed for my sinuses.  I’m still on a rollercoaster of nausea, but it’s usually not terrible.  The Methadone has worked better than the OxyContin, and it lasts longer.  I love the financial savings, so maybe now I can afford to get my Protonix (for reflux) refilled occasionally.  I know everyone thinks about heroin when they hear Methadone, but it’s time for that to stop.  I’ve never used heroin - eek, needles!  Also, with Methadone, as far as I can tell, there isn’t any sort of “high”, just pain relief.  And it’s cheaper than Advil or Tylenol.  The side-effect of nausea sucks, but I’m hoping that will go away soon.  I also can’t drink any alcohol or take anything like Ativan, but that’s fine.  Pain relief is what I want, and pain relief is what I’m getting.  I’ve been more active in the past few days than I have been in quite some time (brushing the algae-covered pool walls), and so far, I haven’t suffered any of the usual painful consequences for getting a little exercise.