Because of my low kidney function, I have needed to stop taking Advil for the pain and inflammation. During my last awful flare, I felt that I had no choice but to take Advil. There was no sleep, otherwise. So, the last three days has been very rough. Switching to Tylenol makes a drastic change in my pain levels.
Taking 2 Extra-Strength Tylenol for pain does almost nothing. I tried skipping a couple of doses to see if it was helping at all, and it was helping some. Now, I’m taking a dose along with extra muscle relaxer (I’m prescribed this) knocks the pain down enough to sleep through the night. All this negates the progress I had made cutting back on the muscle relaxers. Muscle relaxers have a moderate interaction with my other drugs and make me very dizzy.
Because of my risk of falling and breaking other fragile bones, dizziness is a side-effect that I should avoid. Medications are ridiculous with all of the side-effects and the dangers they pose. I’m constantly juggling one risk or another and hope and pray that I don’t suffer some consequences that I fear.
I’m also trying to pace myself and do all the list of things my doctor told me to add to my daily schedule. It’s crazy how hard adding a few little things into my day has made my life. I get up every day with the gung-ho feelings that I can do it! I barely make it through half of the list each day. No matter how hard I try, I haven’t succeeded on any day.
When I wake up each day, there is no progress. I just feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. I hurt in most of my joints and I’m completely exhausted. There is no energy and I feel like there is no blood flowing through my veins. I feel like a limp rag doll.
My hope is to look forward to when the next bloodwork is done and I can hopefully get started on B12 shots. Why does it have to take so long to get any help? When you have chronic illnesses, doctors always go by the medical test results and there is always a follow-up test to make sure of the first test results.
During the waiting, misery continues. We hope for better days and are promised that if the new diagnosis responds to the treatment we will feel tons better. So far, this has never been true. But, I have to keep hoping that this one will be the answer to my fatigue. Surely, there has to be some type of help out there?
I don’t ever want to give up hope. I pray for healing and strength. Most days, I do feel an inner joy and strength. I know that God is with me, whether or not I stay sick. Today is a day where I hope that some of my medicines will kick in and make me able to function. But for now, I’ll just rest here in my recliner.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble” 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4.
2020, copyright Lisa Ehrman
Oh I feel for you; I was only in pain sporadically for a few months and thought I was going to go nuts waiting from one test to the next and like you said hoping we’d figure out what was causing and be able to “fix” it. I am always so leery of taking medication because of the side effects but when the good will (hopefully!) outweigh the bad you’ve got to take a shot with it. I hope you find some relief soon but I do admire your attitude!
Thanks! Pain is awful in every way. Meds are always trial and error and usually error, though many of my medications are wonderful. They actually are helping problems that I really am scared of: heart rates and anaphylaxis. The rest, we just pray that there isn’t any life-threatening long-term damage.