For Older People with Sense
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Hi everyone just popping in to tell you I have started a new thread Called Pinktober Revolution the header explains it.
community.breastcancer.org/for...
Chrissy glad to see/hear knee is good and enjoying kids and GK's
Mactalk with you soon
3jays for ever the optimist with encourageing words god love you all
Sassy
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Morning all, well it's mid morning here.
Had a really odd day yesterday. Saw my doctor on Wednesday about fibro and RA and she decided that it was time I tried nortriptyline, low dose, for the pain. So that night took one tablet as instructed. Woke in night needing drink and feeling really sweaty and then didn't get back to sleep. Got up with DH, was feeling odd but didn't say anything. Then soon after he left for work everything went crazy, I was sweating, heart racing, shaking violently, dizzy and severe nausea. Was sick, passed out, luckily by then I was sitting in chair in my room. Goodness knows how long I was there. Rang doc but decided not to go up as I wasn't dressed and didn't have the energy to do so and thought I was over the worst. Spent most of the day just sitting, I was so drowsy it was dreadful. Have seen the GP this morning and sure enough it was a classic allergic reaction. I am still feeling very washed out and have little energy. Now the GP wants me to try gabapentin but I am too scared to do so. Think I would rather put up with the pain than have more reactions. Drugs really affect me, I managed chemo but it took a huge toll on me and as well I can't have vaccinations and the big one for me was that as a child I got polio for the vaccine.
And I didn't get my glasses, maybe later on today or this evening when DH gets home. Drove up to the doctors but would hate to go far. Anyway it is a lovely fine day here so must check my plants and make sure the snails haven't had a feast.
Sending everyone big hugs
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Yikes - that sounds scarey Alyson. I'd be staying close to home after that as well. I hope the next drug is nicer to you if you decide to try it.
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Alyson ----so sorry about the allergic reaction. You should have it added to all your records. Nortriptyline is Elavil. It is a tricyclic antidepressant --it was the first in it's class of drugs approved in the early 1970's Rarely used today or since Prosac was approved which was the first ssni in it's class in the 1980's. Next visit ask your doc what her thinking was in precribing it. The use of it went by the wayside b/c of widespread s.e.'s I also react strongly to drugs, so, I always ask for what is the absolute lowest dose even below recommended lowest dose. You could even ask for the lowest pediatric dose.
Please, if you are starting a new drug have someone with you for the first day . AND AND keep in mind have the phone ready to call EMS---in your pocket. This recommendation is not for everyone, it is particularly meant for you.
People often hesitate about calling EMS. The trip words I use to get people to know when to call.
You know something is very wrong----FEAR< Impending doom>>>>Call EMS
Things are beyond your control-------You can't function. Forget that someone is with you , if you need assistance to get to the car--your body is out of control >>>>Call EMS
Widespread symptoms, rash, swelling or tickling in the throat, severe weakness /dizziness, noticeable heart changes i.e if you can feel something going on with your heart that's unusual b/c it usually just beats away doing it's work and we never notice.
Difficulty breathing , also shortness of breath --sounds the same but they are distinctly two separate things.
If you feel like you are going to pass out , get down on the floor and call EMS. Lay flat or with legs elevated at at least a 45 degree angle. (((((((HUGS))))))))sassy
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Oh Alyson, I'm so glad you're okay! Allergic reactions can be terrifying and can happen anytime and I'm going to be really mean here and say you should have gotten some help! You just never know, if you're prone to reactions (and I guess even if you're not) what's going to happen. I've always known I'm allergic to penicillin, but in recent years I had a reaction to a blood pressure drug I'd taken for years and wound up in the hospital overnight. Also had the same reaction to Advil when I was driving to a meeting in the NC mountains. That time I was near a hospital so I just drove over there and got Benadryl and sat several hours until it was over. Thinking of you going through this by yourself makes me shudder.
We'll find out the sex of the new grandchild tomorrow, so I'm getting all excited now. DIL sailed through the pregnancy with DGS and it's definitely Not smooth sailing this time (she looks positively green!) so she thinks it's a girl. We shall see.
Hey to Sas and Lassie; good to see you!
Thinking a lot about 3jays and hoping she's seeing some improvement. Love you, 3jays.
Hugs to all, Kathy
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Yes I know I should have got help but anyway all is OK now except I feel as if I have been run over by a bus and my mouth feels dry and horrible.
SAS, nortriptyline is used in low dosage for fibromyelgia pain as are the anticonvulsives such as gabapentin which has now been suggested. However I am not too keen on even trying it, even the pediatric dose which is what I would start on. GP said it was my call if I didn't feel happy about possible side effects. Don't think I can take the risk.
Have spent much of the day knitting and watching TV - Olympics, catching up on things from last night though we did stay up for the rowing and will do so tonight.
Looking forward to a reasonably quite weekend.
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Alyson, in Aussieland Elavil may be used for fibro. If it's used here , it's in a very small % b/c there are so many more advanced approaches. Not that I'm against old drugs. Some old drugs have really stood the test of time, but elavil had so many side effects---oddly, desert dry mouth was the worst. BUT super glad you are improving.
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I have been taking Lyrica for about 8years now. I love it
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Lisa, lyrica is not available here, well it is but I would have to pay for it.
I am watching the finals of the olympic rowing, something we are good at. We have just got another gold.
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Oh 3jays, just read your post on the Lively thread........girl I thought they were going to put you in hospital so they could get rid of that infection! Just know that we are all thinking of you and send prayers and good wishes to you.
Aly that allergic reaction sure was scary! I don't blame you for not wanting to try another new med but if you have someone there with you for 24 hours after taking it just in case you may find that it helps a lot. Constant pain is sooooo debilitaing so any relief is a good thing. Hope you are feeling better.
Hiya Sas! Nice to see you drop in! How have you been? Hope you are doing well.
Well spring is not too far off. The Almond trees are getting ready to burst into blossom and the way they look that will only be about a week or two away. The first indication that the warmer days are on their way! Time for me to get some energy going and spend some time out in the garden. A friend of mine is bringing a whole heap of gazania cuttings for me in a couple of weeks so they will add a lot of low colour to the garden. The daffodils are getting ready to burst into flower and the jonquils are already flowering. They are looking so pretty with their heads nodding in the breeze.
I was checking out the roses the other day and they are also sprouting. The Lavender have begun to grow and by the looks I'm going to have an enormous amount of flower. The more the better as I'll have enough to dry for sachets and while they are drying my house will smell divine.....mmmmm. Now that is something to look forewared to.
Have a great day all!
Love n hugs. Chrissy
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Alyson, shame on you!! Those symptoms are also some of the symptoms of heart attack in women!! From all my heart issues, including my pacemaker, I have learned from the doctors how truly stubborn women are in calling an ambulance or going to the ER for what ends up being a heart attack!! Why are we so embarrassed to get help? As well, you know that anaphylactic shock and the swelling of your airways could be deadly....you scare me!!! Don't make me come down there...!!
Chrissy, I googled ganzanias and they are what I define as "Walt Disney" flowers. I call something that when they are 'over the top'!! The first time I saw a Passion Flower I freaked out. HAD to buy it (and did!). Totally amazing what is created for our joy, isn't it?
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Yes I know Barbe, it was silly. Now I am really scared about trying anything else. Can't believe that my eyes are still feel heavy. Have decided to go back to the rheumatologist and discuss it with him. My GP is lovely but think I need to discuss issues fully. Like many folk I seem to be seeing various different doctors.
DH has gone to work, it's Saturday here, because they are trying to sort out what happens now with the US company which is part of the group. The owner/director died suddenly last week aged 48. So must get organised a bit today, haven't for ages as the joints have been so bad. Might even go to the garden shop and get some more plants.
Hope you have all has a good week.
Big hugs.
BTW even though I hate the idea DD2 and family are planning to move to Canada possibly next August so this means I just might have reason to visit.
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Going to have another DGS and couldn't be happier!!
Kathy
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Kathy, WONDERFUL news!!!! Congrats to Mom and Babe....
Alyson, I will share my space with you....which Province?
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Kathy that is super news.
Ginger
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Kathy: Congratulations...what great news....grandkids are so special!
Alyson: Hope you're feeling better!
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Kathy, yea
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Alyson..sorry you were taken so suddenly ill, pretty frightening when you are alone....hope you can get something sorted out because Fibro flares really take it out of you, don't they. Trouble is when you have all this extra pain you don't look much different, and no-one seems to believe the pain has increased. I get so that I can't bear sheets on my body when I go to bed it makes me so sensitive...just don't want anything to touch me. I end up putting the heating on and sleeping on top of my bed !
Kathy. Many congrats , another baby- how nice. Wish someone in my family would get on and produce another little one. I love tiny babies...but only as long as I can hand them back ! Got past the wanting the newborns to stay the night with me. I used to always offer to do this in the first few weeks, so Mum could get a good nights rest, can be very tiring while the Mums get back to normal. I had DD here 14 weeks when she had her first baby, it was chaos, almost had to throw her out, and back into her own home. They were settling in for the duration, and my house was a complete mess, baby things everywhere ! AND all the extra cooking fell to me, SIL can eat monster piles of food, so it was very hard, as I HATE to cook, and 14 weeks straight of preparing meals nearly did for me ! But, I'd love to go back and do it all again....my life I mean, NOT have DD here for another 14 weeks !!
I am getting REALLY sick to death of Olympics...it's upsetting all TV and radio, newspapers are full of it ( I object to paying for my papers, which are just the same size as usual, but have a dozen pages of sport plastered all over it...I don't want to buy this rubbish so why can't they put in a supplement for those who do ?) I love current affairs programs, and am totally lost about what's going on in the world, can't get in depth coverage of anything. I put our local news on yesterday, a 30 minute TV programe, 23 minutes was Olympics, and 3 mins was weather. WHY on earth we have this saturation, when we are miles away from the actual event I don't know. I emailed my objections to the TV station, but got no reply!
Everyone in London is sick to death of the disruption, the shops and hotels were told there would be 'billions' of extra pounds of business coming their way, yet the hotels are without the expected bookings, and the shops are complaining they will be stuck with all the extra merchandise. There are many pictures in the press of the 'ghost town' shopping centres. People in London were told to avoid the centre, so thousands have stayed away from work...the only things that seem to be over subscribed is the transport system, and that's in chaos, stations shutting down, buses jamming the streets , and while prime traffic lanes are out of bounds to the people who live and work in London the cosseted athletes are swanning around with ease, in lanes specifically for them. We shall be paying for this fiasco for years now , extra taxes for all for something we didn't all want, It's just a glorified Sports Day for the few to show off. One of my favourite early morning radio current affairs programes has refused to put out anything but the bare results, such is the swell of opinion against this money wasting exercise that's been thrust on us. It did a 'phone-in poll and 78% of those who took part said NO to the money that's being wasted on all this razzmatazz. We should have been given a referendum for the people to decide IF they wanted all their money being spent on an elite few...there would have been a resounding NO to any Olympics at all, if all the facts were given to us, instead of us being TOLD this was what was going to happen. The country is all but bankrupt at the moment, things just aren't getting any better, in fact things are getting decidedly worse..losses of thousands of jobs, abandoned houses... schools and hospitals shutting down...just everything is bad, but to go and waste billions on this little lot when old people are being turned out of old peoples homes which are going bankrupt, and some hospitals having to shut A&E departments between 10pm and 8am (we can just go back home and die now if we have a stroke at night. I'll remember this when I have a stroke...I'll just sit back in my chair and wait 'til 8 am and think, never mind, I have helped pay for the bl**dy Olympics !!!)
Of my high horse now, well for a little while , anyway, right until one of my favourite programes is once again cancelled to put some more of this stupid sports day on TV. Roll on next weekend then it'll all be finished...and we'll all start seeing more and more cuts, and more and more taxes taken from us, to pay for it all....maybe people will THINK before they vote next election, or maybe they'll actually start and sit up and take notice !!
Isabella.
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Thanks everybody for the good wishes about our new DGS. Due date is still 1/1/13, but I know DS hopes he'll be a day or two early so they can get another tax deduction!
Isabella, I so agree with you about the olympics, but at least now we're into the 2nd week. My DH has watched every night, so I've seen a lot of it but don't like the coverage this time at all. Why spend so much time on something like beach volleyball, for example, and so little time on the equestrian events and only partial coverage of the gymnastics? (Well, having seen the scant outfits of the beach volleyball girls, I know why so much time was spent on them--looked like they were wearing THONGS!) I can't imagine what disruption this must have caused for you, but I shall get a taste of it later when the Democratic national convention is held in Charlotte, about 25 miles from here. That's already the main topic of the news on our stations and I'm sure it will increase ad infinitem!
Alyson, hope you'll be feeling much better soon! Those reactions do take a while to get over totally.
Hope all of you had a good day, and hugs to all!
Kathy
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Isabella: I can only imagine the traffic and such...your worst nightmare! I enjoy the gymnists and swimming but little else.
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I have NO interest in the Olympics!! NONE. I thought something was wrong with me until I see some of these posts! Thanks for being honest Isabella. I didn't want to get political or anything.
I have a problemo. This is a long weekend in Canada. I get a drug - Morphine Sulphate 30 mgs - that I can only get filled every 28 days due to the strict laws on it. So, it's due tomorrow. I called Walmart and she said yep! we're open tomorrow. Good thing!! BUT, (it was the pharmacist Karen) she said there are no repeats left. Huh!? Shouldn't they tell me this on the last refill? I get pages of scripts from my doc each visit that I "bank" to be used as needed. I had NO idea I didn't have any Morphine left!! What is going to happen to me in the next couple of days???? I will have a problem getting in to see my doc on the day after a long weekend. A walk-in clinic will NOT presribe naracotics. The pharmacist mentioned the hospital but I don't know if they'd just refill it. What to do????? I'm having her fax the doc so they will get it first thing Tuesday and I just called and left a message at his office, but that still gives me DAYS without it!!! Warning: I may become cranky.
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Doesn't your doc have an answering service?
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No, they don't do that anymore. We're just supposed to go to an ER if it's an emergency. This isn't really an emergency. Thank God I saved some of the other pain meds I was on!
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Barbe, Do you know anyone who is a doctor or could the pharmacy give you enough just to get through the day? I have had them do that for me before, but it's never really been a controlled substance, just something like my warfarin or something they know I take daily.
I have not been watching the Olympics either since I have no interest in sports whatsoever. I was under the misconception that the event brought a lot of money to the place it was being held so thanks for the real story, Isabella. I do know that the Cincinnati Reds are winning every game lately, but you can't live here and not hear that news...however, I am shallow enough that I would not mind going to the World Series IF the get into it.....went to one and it was quite thrilling.....plus I like hot dogs and brats.
Congrats on the upcoming birth, Kathy.
Glad you are feeling better, Alyson. Sometimes the drug companies will help pay for or pay for all of a drug is you contact them....you may want to check on the lyrica.
My scans showed improvement, tumors did shrink, but I was disappointed that it was not more of a change since the numbers had gone down so dramatically....will discuss it all with onco tomorrow and see what we are going to do about the heart issue with the Adriamycin since if I try to take the amount me meds the cardiologist prescribed, the amount that I need for heart protection, my BP bombs out.
I am off to feed my friend's cats not\w....old one hates the young cat and won't eat so I just shut the young one in the laundry room so the old one can eat in peace. Doubt if my friend would do this, but it works.
Sky looks a bit like rain, but that is just to tease us.....we never get rain and it is a challange to keep the flowers and lawn going.
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ACH! Marybe, you had me all excited! I phoned the pharmacist, but they can't advance "controlled substances". Crap!
I look forward to hearing back from you that your onc said it was necrosis. I mean seriously, where is the tumour supposed to "go"? When I needed a hysterectomy due to endometriosis, the surgeon said he could blast the huge cysts. When I asked him where did the blasted parts go and how did THEY disappear? he couldn't answer! I went for a traditional surgery. So here's to you just having dead lumps.
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I'm glad to see others like me who are supremely uninterested in the Olympics. Maybe that's where the "more sense" part comes in?
Barbe, I'm so sorry you're going to have to go without your meds for a few days! I definitely think a complaint to the manager of the pharmacy is in order. You should have been told last month that you had no more refills. And thanks for the heads-up on feeling cranky - my MIL lives in Toronto so I'll warn her that no, it's not an earthquake she's feeling....
Leah
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My DH's niece and her husband are both pharmacists in London Ontario, but ironically they are both in London England to watch their little daughter dance for the Olympics, not as a contestant.
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I think maybe the target audience for the Olympics is not "Older women with more sense".
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LOL....good thought, lassie !
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I mean, I'm happy about the athletes and getting validation for their efforts, but we had a huge picture in our newspaper a week ago that showed Asian babies hanging onto metal rods suspended about 8 feet off the ground!!! They start them training while the kids are still in diapers!!! How much joy does that child have working for his country from birth???? One of the babies was obviously crying. I'm sure there was a hue and cry across the nation on that one...sigh.
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