My meds...rant

I take a buttload of meds to keep me stable in my head and painfree. Too bad the painfree doesn't work but anyway I am tired of taking all these pills. I know I have to take them so I do.

I have one of those pill dividers that is broken up into the days of the week and I have 2 of them one for the morning and one for the evening. Well last night I was filling them and my Aunt called just to talk and asked what I was doing and I told her watching T.V. and sorting out my meds putting them in their right spots. She asked how many meds I took and I said I don't know I never stopped to count them. She then asked why I took so much because I am so healthy. I just gritted my teeth and said something like the doctors want me to take these meds and some of them are vitamins that I have to take since I don't get it from my food. She then said if she were me she would talk to my doctor's and try to get off my meds because it can't be good to be on so many. I should have known better than to tell her what I was doing but I didn't listen to the voice screaming stop stop don't tell her.

I know I take a lot of meds and have talked with my doctors about going off of some them but they have said no not right now. Lynae the person filling in for my pdoc said she didn't feel comfortable changing all my meds around so I have to wait until my pdoc gets back from Iraq. I heard yesterday it will be late September when he is back in clinic.

Jan

Jan, I saw your heading and thought, "Wow, that is me!" Then, as I read your post I saw even more similarities, right down to the pill holders. And, I feel the same as you, I want to decrease the number of pills I take. But, I am afraid to since I am so stable right now and have been for quite some time. There is one thing I am doing different and that is I'm being weaned off of the pain pills because I have started to take more than I should. That is dangerous because it means I have been taking way too much Tylenol. In fact, I admitted to my pdoc and primary care doc that I felt I was addicted to the pills, and I want to be done with them, even if it means I might have to deal with pain for the rest of my life.

Why is that people can't figure out that we seem healthy because of the pills???? So, I just ignore them! However, a week ago I was in the hospital for a possible stroke (nope) but what they did find out was my sodium level was extremely low which is dangerous. Turns out I drink way too much water! Once it is normal, my body should function much better. Plus, my primary care doc found out (because I asked her to run it) that my Vitamin D levels are profoundly low which causes a whole list of problems I suffer from including chronic pain. It will take months of treatment to correct this and, once again, my body should function much, much better!

Now I know these things I am anxious to see who I will be once I am better. I have been sick for so long, it is all I can remember!

Hey, lady, it would be my pleasure to stay in touch with you.....

Becky

Hey Becky, I truly feel for you. I do also take a lot of pills, many of which are vitamins because I had a gastric bypass four years ago but I really identify and feel for your knee situation. I had my left knee replaced almost four years ago and I was very, very lucky in that the only complication I had was that I was lazy and some scar tissue interferred with maximum flexion. But the knee is stable and I (thankfully) have never had an infection. But, wait....here's the rest of the story: Just about a year ago, I fell down my basement stairs and broke my femur into four pieces. The break occurred just below where the bone angles and forms the ball into the hip. The ortho surgeon placed titanium rods, one short one into the ball and sticking out a bit from the turning point, and one beginning at the top of the femur straight down to the end where the artificial knee begins. He anchored the top and bottom with a horizontal pin. There were two pieces of the femur that were not caught up in the fix but the surgeon showed me the xrays and said they would find their way into position as the tissue healed. Sure enough, six weeks later, you could see them moving closer to the juntion of the other two bones. The accident itself created some PTSD for me because I was alone in the house and had to drag myself to the telephone in the basement to call for help. Fire dept. carried me out in a sling. OUCH! I was told later that I was lucky the femoral artery didn't get damaged or I would have bled out.

I can certainly understand all your concerns over meds because I was being treated for two disc bulges in my lumbar area at the time and the fall made them worse. Long story short there is that I had a procedure which cut the nerves on the vertebrae involved and I got to quit opiates after taking them for over 2 years. So, I too got to see who I was without all that pain. It was amazing to have a clear head after all that time.

I understand your concern about the Tylenol. My PCP and I had an agreement that as long as she was prescribing my pain meds, I would only take what she said I could take and if it wasn't enough, I'd use something else (inversion cot, rest, etc.) to relieve the pain. That also kept my dependence on the opiates down so weening off of them wasn't hard.

Don't you wish people would mind their business when it comes to someone else's health? My stepdaughter has insulted and alienated her father and me because she doesn't believe I am bipolar and my recent hospitalization (first one in 20 years) was a ploy for sympathy and attention. Her own sister warned her not to judge me because she didn't know anything about me but she did anyway. Now my husband doesn't know what to do about her. I told him I'm not interested in proving anything to her.

Hang in there.

Some of the meds I take are vitamins because I too had gastric bypass surgery and will be on them forever. Some of the other meds I know I will be on them for the rest of my life like my thyroid med. I am hoping I don't have be on my psych meds for the rest of my life but due to the fact that one of my issues is bipolar II I know that I will be.

I am just tired of my family sticking their noses into my business if they are telling me I take too many meds then it's I'm not eating the right thing or I'm not eating enough.

Sorry another rant in progress...I'll stop though.

I am just frustrated with my family right now and will be bringing it up in therapy tomorrow.

Jan