I Think I Tripped Over A Rabbit Hole

I have had a lot of trouble with the Fibromyalgia lately, so I decided to take my supervisor's advice and ask my doctor to fill out paperwork allowing me to take my sick days under FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act). This is a federal law that allows you to take up to 12 consecutive weeks off, or multiple days throughout the year, to recover from or manage an illness. I saw the doctor this past Monday, and was excited to learn that a medication commonly used to treat depression had recently been approved by the FDA to treat FM. He said that, among other things, it was found to have a positive effect on the peripheral nervous system receptors, which is suspected to be part of the problem for FM sufferers. I was very excited to hear this, and thought to myself that I might be able to get a part of my life back that I had recently lost to this condition. He sent a prescription order to the pharmacy and had me leave the FMLA forms with his medical assistant. I asked my husband to pick it up for me the next day, and took my first pill that evening.

At this point, I was dealing with a new pain which I had thought was a migraine, but my prescription migraine medicine hadn't affected it at all, even after taking the maximum dosage allowed. I realized how good this medicine was for FM, when just 30 minutes after taking it, the pain I was experiencing was gone! I could not believe how quickly and thoroughly it had resolved my pain.

I should point out that, based on the way I had reacted to another medication last year, I was cautious and had read about the side effects online before taking it, but when I was reading the insert that came with it (after taking my first dose), I noticed there were precautions for those who were also taking migraine medication. I got back online to review drug interactions, and became concerned that my particular medicine could interact in such a way as to cause a severe adverse reaction that could lead to death, if the signs were overlooked and counter measures not taken promptly. I read what it said to watch for, and started making mental notes of everything unusual.

The first day I took it, I developed a mild nausea, and noticed that I felt as though I was dreaming at some points, for brief periods. I presume that this was in part because the medication is in a time-release capsule form, and every time a little more of the medication went into my system, I would feel my body respond to it. The next morning, I decided to wait until I was at work to take it, so that it would not affect my driving ability, and that I would take the second dose I was supposed to take when I got home. While at work, I noticed that there were times where I felt that dreamy feeling, as well as times when I felt I couldn't concentrate or maintain focus. The nausea, however, had remained constant from the first dose. I also had occasional trouble following other people's lines of thought. When I got home and took my third dose, all these symptoms were still present, and I experienced my first serious side effect from the medication.

That evening, I was typing a comment to someone on my Facebook page, when suddenly, my left arm developed a mind of its own. Bap!Bap!Bap! went my left hand on the keyboard. I thought, of course, "this isn't good." I had read that tremors and involuntary movements were side effects of the medication, so I decided I should probably talk to my doctor in the morning about this. I continued my typing, and it happened again. Later, after I had given myself a break, I was typing something else, and it happened a third time. By now I was completely annoyed with my arm and decided to hang up the keyboard for the night.

When I got up Thursday, I didn't really feel well. In fact, I didn't really feel like myself, but I went into the kitchen to get ready for my day. I noticed that I felt a bit weak, and as if I had run a marathon and gotten winded. I also noticed a bit of a flutter, but thought nothing of it at the time. I tried to push through these feelings, and started making my breakfast and lunch for the day. I got my oatmeal in a bowl and my teabag in a cup, then proceeded to start making my sandwich. I got the bread out and cut, and the lettuce rinsed and dried. Then I had to sit down. For 10 minutes. I got up and tried again, and got the meat and cheese out, then I had to sit down again. I had almost finished making my sandwich, and I had the same feeling come over me, and had to sit down one more time. I felt my breath was gone, and as though I was gasping for air. That's when I knew it was time to go to the emergency room.

I called my husband, who was away since Wednesday visiting his Mom, after waking my son to tell him to get ready to take me to the hospital. I started to get dressed to go, and that's when I felt my very first, ever so slight, twinge of pain in my chest. "This is really not good," I thought. After my son helped me to take care of our cats and our dog, we got in the car and headed to the emergency room. Once there, I went up to the window and explained my symptoms and added, "I think I'm having a bad reaction to my new medicine." The young man at the window poo-pooed the idea, saying it would have happened on the day I first started taking it, if it were that. I thought, "Fine, Mr. Know-it-all-who-isn't-even-a-doctor, I'll just list my symptoms on the form and let you guys figure it out."

After returning the paperwork, I was taken into the triage area, where the nurse there asked me, "What do you think is going on? You look fine to me." I shot her a look and again explained my symptoms. She went through all the normal questions, did I smoke or drink etc., and wrote down my responses. She then turned over the paperwork to another nurse and continued to go over my symptoms and history, asking me what else I had besides depression, since my medication was for depression. Another look, and I explained, politely, that I have FM and that the doctor had prescribed this medication for it, based on the FDA approval. Then she asks again, do I smoke or drink. I look at her. The guy who was helping looks at her with a "gotcha" grin on his face, and says quietly, "No, she doesn't. It's right here where you wrote it."

After eating a bit of humble pie, Nurse Attitude takes my vitals, then preps me for an EKG. A tech comes in and administers the test, then the male nurse points me to some chairs where I need to wait for blood draw. After that, I was led to the bed they were assigning me for the moment. A few more questions, a blood pressure cuff and a pulse rate sensor, then the doctor finally comes in and interviews me for more information. He told me he didn't find anything medically to base my symptoms on except for the new medicine, but was going to have a chest x-ray done and run some other tests to be sure. When all was said and done, that was the final diagnosis - medication side effects. I was sent home with more papers and instructions, and told only to go to work if I felt up to it. I called my doctor once I got home and left a message, and he was supposed to call me back that evening, but here we are into the weekend and he still has not called.

I was able to work Friday, but still had some difficulty with shortness of breath and weakness, so I kept my movements slow and relaxed to avoid additional problems. I haven't taken any of the new medicine since Wednesday night, but it was still working its way out of my system Friday. I am not feeling any of the symptoms now, so I'm certain, since today is the day it should be fully washed out of my system, that everything I experienced starting on Tuesday was a direct result of the medication, and I have no plans to take any more of it. I also plan to call my doctor on Monday to find out why he hasn't called me back to discuss things like trying a different medicine.

Yesterday, I was going over the written instructions that the hospital gave me about my aftercare, and found an interesting notation: "Continue to take all medication." Yeah, right.

Migraine, Day Three. Or Is It Four?

Tuesday morning this week, I woke up with a migraine. Not a bad one, but it was definitely migraine pain. I decided to go to work anyway, because I had a migraine the previous Tuesday, and I don't like to take more than one day off per month for these kinds of things. I work in an office where office politics go wrong a lot, and this Tuesday was one of those kind of days. I don't normally pay attention to it, but when a supervisor confronted me and a coworker of mine, who were minding our own business and not doing anything wrong, I got a bit upset and stewed. By the end of the day, I was struggling to finish the day.

After work, I had to pick up dinner since nothing was defrosted in the house. By the time I got home, I was so glad for the day to be over! I took my prescription medicine, ate dinner, spoke briefly with family over the internet and went to bed early. When I have a bad migraine, I usually sleep with a ski cap on my head because my head actually feels cold, and ice on my neck to numb the pain so that I can sleep. This is because the medicine sometimes doesn't do a good enough job. When my migraine is really bad, I sleep on the sofa because I can't get comfortable in the bed. This is how I slept that night.

Wednesday came, and while now the pain seemed to be gone, I was really groggy from the medicine. I struggled with myself and went to work anyway, and once the medicine wore off, the pain was back. I kept debating whether I should just go home and rest, but I kept wanting to get "one more claim" paid, because that's one more person with money in their pocket. I stayed the day, and while I masked it with a smile, I was absolutely miserable at quitting time. My husband is home in the evenings on Wednesdays and Thursdays, so he was going to pick up dinner, but I had to go get gas in my car. I sped home from there, because I just wanted to get to bed. I was able to eat, so I had dinner after changing my clothes. I again chatted with family about some things, and went to bed (or should I say, sofa) early again, after taking another pill.

Thursday, wee hours of the morning. The ice pack had melted and the medicine worn off. I tossed and turned, finally got comfortable and fell asleep. When my alarm went off, the pain was definitely back, and I decided I'd had it. I called one of my carpool buddies, left her a message and went back to sleep. I called work once the office opened, and reported in as sick. The plan: Call the chiropractor and make an appointment, in the hopes that maybe it's because something moved in my neck again.

I managed to get to the chiropractor in the late afternoon, and he adjusted me thoroughly, and ordered traction table with ice for my neck. In speaking with him about what had gone on for me in the last two weeks, he reassured me that it was primarily not the FM that had caused so much ongoing pain. He agreed it was a factor, but stressed that it was more likely my pain started because the tissues in my neck had become inflamed from the weird, hot-then-cold-then-hot weather we had for the last month. I felt so much better after my treatment that, with doctor's approval, I did all that was planned for the evening, including prepping a salad for an office luncheon, going to dinner with friends and playing miniature golf with the group afterward.

I was refreshed and enjoying the freedom from pain. Sadly, I woke with the alarm and found myself in pain again. I realized that I had been laying on my left side, and it seemed that some of the pain dissipated slightly when I rolled to the right. It dawned on me then, that I am aggravating my problem whenever I sleep on the left side. I am now determined to stay off that side, no matter what. In the meantime, I knew I would have to take a pill to be able to get to work.

My husband had picked up a refill of my migraine medicine, and this time the pharmacy had filled with the generic version of the medicine. It had no coating, and the moment it hit my mouth, I was enveloped in the bitter taste of a rapidly dissolving pill. I hadn't even had time to get the glass of water to my lips before there was nothing but bitter grains throughout my mouth. BLECH! GAH! EW! While this was an ordeal, I did find a positive side; the pain had melted away within a matter of minutes, almost as quickly as the pill had dissolved in my mouth. Then there was the side effect. I felt like I was high. I tried to cover it up, and foolishly chose to take my turn driving for the carpool, in an effort to hide the fact that I was having an unpleasant experience. I did admit to one person that I felt overmedicated, which I had admitted to before without anyone batting an eyebrow, but she immediately asked me if I was okay to drive. I tried to convey confidence, but agreed to pull over if my driving skills proved to be less than adequate, and let her take the wheel. Fortunately, I got us to work safely.

My feeling of intoxication wore off as the day progressed, and now I am sitting somewhat comfortably in front of my computer, documenting this latest experience to share with all who care to read. I am feeling some pain, but it's not at a level that would escalate into something worse, or require me to take any medicine. I am grateful to be where I am at, and I hope this is the worst I feel for the rest of the weekend. Here's to not having a "Day Five."

P.S. - I started this blog on Thursday, expecting to have it finished the same day. Because of the way Blogger works, the date is Thursday's date, because I drafted it in the blogger editor. However, today is actually Friday, the 30th.