Last night I couldn't sleep from about 1:30 till 08:30. Very bad Phantom pain (PLP). The pain got bad so I took 2 Tramacet at 05:00. Tramacet doesn't stop PLP, but it does knock me out. They take a few hours to start working. I slept from 08:30 till after 13:00.
If I google "Lyrica withdrawal side effects" I get about 500,000 hits. Trust me people, Lyrica and Cymgyn (Cybalta) are bad things. They are prescribed so often because Doctors are told they are less risky from a legal perspective than opiates.
There are SOOO many people trying to get off Lyrica and Cybalta. The withdrawal symptoms are terrible, and usually the normal side effects are often worse than the original disease.
If I miss a Lyrica or Cybbalta dose I get the jerks, tingling in my phantom leg, and can't sleep, OR can't stay awake. When things get bad, is when I sleep through the time to take a Lyrica, and the effects start to snowball. Lyrica is very sensitive to under, or over dosing. So taking a Lyrica 3 hours late, means I both under dose, then overdose. I get insomnia mixed with narcolepsy. Duh!!
It doesn't feel quite like narcolepsy. It is more like my brain just shuts down for about 15 minutes. Like a super strong nap attack. But it never quite feels like sleep. Sort of like the brain is deprived of oxygen, and ceases to work. I believe in my case it is neurological, and caused by Lyrica and or Cymgen.
I have spent a very large amount of time to try to figure a mental way to deal with an obvious mental problem. Today I had about 5 of the "nap attacks". My brain would be functioning very well, then within a few minutes, I would get stupid, start slurring my words, and then pass out for 10 - 15 minutes.
While I was in awake mode, the PLP was between bad and very bad. Talking or doing something busy was not as much relief as it had been in the past. I noticed that as I slipped from smart, to stupid, to comatose, My PLP would decrease, and disappear right before I passed out. On awaking the opposite happened. As I gradually became more awake, the pain increased.
I think the Lyrica/Cymgen combination does reduce the PLP. But at a tremendous price.
Do I want the hell of being stupid and fading out, or do I want the hell of pain.
It seem that either way is bad news for me.
--
April 11 10:00
I slept well last night.
I called the PET scan place and asked if I can have a report of the scan. They say I have to see the doctor first, before they will give me the report. My doctor appointment is only for Wednesday afternoon.
So maybe today, I will walk to the mall. Maddie can drive there and we can have lunch. The mall is about 2.5 km away. I should be able to walk that. The road to the mall is a slight downhill. It would be easier for me to walk back home from the mall. Uphills are harder from an energy point of view, but easier from a prosthetic point of view.
The washing machine and Maddie are currently having a conversation. They are bleating at each other.
My buddy gave me some NFC tags. Some are thin like a small band aid. Some are like a key chain. One is smaller than a little finger nail.
If a tag is held very close to my phone, the information on the tag is inputted into my phone. This is the same technology that is used in a passport, and new credit cards. My phone tries to read a passport, but fails. I think the passport is encrypted, or else it is some proprietary protocol.
A friend uses them to change the settings on his phone. He puts a programmed tag in his car, so when he gets into the car, his phone knows to turn on blue tooth, and turn the GPS on. He has another tag near his bed, so when he goes to bed the phone knows to go to silent mode.
They are a wonderful solution to a problem that I have yet to find.
--
asdsad
ReplyDelete