I went to Lakeridge Health to get help on Friday. But for the most part I’ve been screwed.
It’s Sunday & other than a 15-20 minute chat with the doc in the ER, I’ve seen no physician. The on call shrink who prescribed my meds has completely screwed me over I missed THREE doses of my antidepressant – which given that I’m here for mental health is excruciatingly bad. Finally back on as of this morning I was given a muscle relaxer & a Tylenol three on Friday in the ex for my fibro and that’s it.. nothing since.. but she did prescribed a Parkinson’s med for muscle spasms – huh? So my pain is skyrocketing… & It’s not freaking muscle spasms. & Have not been given any arthrotec (antiinflammatory) that I also take.. You should see my ankle from hurting it almost 2 weeks ago.. it’s exploded cuz I’m not treating the swelling
I have finally gotten the last nurse on the last shift to finally reach out to the doc to get something prescribed & his replacement is actually being more diligent & she has followed up twice now..
Then add to that my sleep.. while long, there was very little deep or REM sleep, so not much healing sleep here either
But God. This is the worst experience. Worse than being sent back home with my ex after a major OD (my ex was why I’d OD’d).
I dont know if I’m going to be able to get my shopping done for Christmas, let alone my baking.
This is supposed to be helping me It’s not. It’s making me worse
A few weeks back, I was talking to my mom about my health and we were discussing one of my previous trips to the emergency room. The visit in question was due to mental health not physical but it’s still triggered a thought in my head.
I used to be a fairly regular patient when I lived in East Toronto.. At my worst I was in the ER at either Centenary or Scarborough General 2-3 times a month for quite a while.
With this conversation, I came to the realization that I haven’t been to the ER or the hospital since covid started, and the world shut down March 2020.
This means that I had not had to go to the ER for my pain at all for almost a year & a half! Personally, I think that’s pretty good!
Before anyone tells me that a trip to the ER is pointless & they will just accuse me of wanting drugs and won’t take me seriously. I believe I’ve actually addressed this issue previously.
When I go to the ER, I’m not looking for narcotics. What I want is big shot of toradol and some sort of stronger muscle relaxant. What this does is it calms down my osteoarthritis which makes the rest of the issues significantly more manageable.
There is even one doctor there at Oshawa General who also used to be at Centenary where I used to go when I lived in Toronto. Because of being a frequent flyer when I was in Toronto, this physician knows me on sight, knows my likely issue, and will turn around and say “Toradol shot?” And he writes the order for me. I can be gone in minutes once I’m in the back when he’s there.
I did some exercise before bed. Normally a little exercise drains me & nixes my RLS.. Normally. Not so last night. It backfired.
I couldn’t sleep for a few reasons:
My Restless Leggs Syndrome kicked in despite the exercise. I had to take 1½ Trazadone to get them to settle..
My mind could not shut off..Kept thinking about stuff, like my cub scouts and my plans for the weekend. I just kept going over stuff in my head – despite trying 3 different sleep meditations.
The exercise reacted like it used to – negatively. In the last few years, basic exercise has not been the hindrance it was for the 10+ years prior. So imagine my surprise when in snuggling into bed & my leggs (in addition to RLS) start to hurt.. it was not good. I’ve not had this reaction (other than overdoing it) is several years.
No, the want for immediate gratification and instant response was not for sleep. In this case, it was for my pain meds to work. I had to run 3 courses of meds. The first one the regular evening maintenance pain regime. The second was more Tylenol about an hour later. After still not getting additional relief from the additional meds, I bumped it up, 2 more Tylenol, 2 Robax which includes another, but different, muscle relaxant & anti-inflammatory.
Over the years I have been on many medications & have tried various options for treatment. This is a list of treatments, both before & after diagnosis:
Summer 1988 – Menstruation cycle becoming more uncomfortable and occasionally painful. Treatment? Nothing.. I just figured they were just bad cramps.
Abdominal pain considered just ‘bad cramps’
March 1990 – prescribed Ortho 7-7-7 by my GP at my request for the purpose of lightening & regulating my cycles. This medications did helpat the time.
Winter 1994 – Increase of re-occurring and irregular abdominal pain, beginning in spurts. Pain usually, but not always, eased by soft bowel movement. Minimal impact on quality of life
August 1996 – Increase of re-occurring and irregular abdominal pain, still in spurts. Pain less frequently eased by soft bowel movement. Pain/discomfort had some impact on general quality of life.
Autumn 1997 – By this time, due to frequency in bouts of pain, was able to begin distinguishing between different types of pain as well as circumstance surrounding the pain. The abdominal pain and discomfort was beginning to have noticeable impact on general quality of life.
Spring 1998 – Referred to gynecologist who only adjusted my oral contraceptive to Triphaisal. This was changed back in the Autumn due to side effects ( no, I don’t remember or have record of what they were)
November 1998 – Referred to gastroenterologist by recommendation of gynecologist. Within a month I had a colonoscopy and a diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome. Prescribed Dicetel which alleviated some symptoms. Referred back to gynecologist in March 1999.
Laparoscopic surgery
The next three months were spent pushing my gynaecologist to perform an exploratory laparotomy to confirm, or deny the presence of Endometriosis within the abdominal area.
June 1999 – Diagnostic Laparoscopy resulted in diagnosis and initial surgical treatment, excisement of Endometriosis. She was unable to excise all of the endometrial tissue as she did not have sufficiently long tools to get to all the areas.
August 1999 -January 2020– Quick return of abdominal pain. Prescribed Lupron hormonal treatment who was an ineffective treatment.
Depo Lupron
January 2020 – Full Laparotomy resulted in excision of remaining & new Endometriosis growth and a left ovarian cystectomy. Back on an oral contraceptive, Ortho 7-7-7.
March 2000 – Due to scar adhesion, approximately 12s layer of muscle fat & fascia scarred together. It took one very long and very very painful hour for my osteopath to loosen the abdominal scaring from my surgery. But OMG, the relief when she was done was phenomenal.
July 2000 – began to experience abdominal pain during and immediately before menstrual cycle., A more typical reaction of Endometriosis
Summer/Fall 2000 – Attempted to try accupuncture & Chinese herbal medicine for Endometriosis. The needles, I have found, don’t help me & usually also give me a migraine.. The herbal had zero impact.
November 2000 – began vitamin therapy to help combat Endometriosis & to improve overall health. It helped as a month later the abdominal pain during and immediately before menstrual cycle decreased.
October 2001 – Ceased oral contraceptive to participate in Endometriosis study .
January- July 2002 Participatef in study for Depot Provera. Received monthly shots of Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate Subcutaneous Injections. No change in symptoms while on the medication. Returned to Orthon 7-7-7 upon completion of study.
Depo- Provera
August-December 2003 – Increase again is abdominal pain level throughout monthly cycle, missing increasing amounts of work. The ended December 25 when I went on medical leave.
February, 2004 – Laparoscopic surgery, cautery of Endometriosis & lysis of pelvis adhesions. Bowel declared ‘immobile’ likely due to IBS.
March 3, 2004 – Start Othro Evra Contraceptive Patch continuous.
April 4, 2004 – Start Othro Novum 1/35 oral contraceptive continuous as patch resulted in breakthrough bleeding..
June 20, 2004 – Start Minovral oral contraceptive continuous as Ortho Novum resulted in breakthrough bleeding
January 2005 – Change Minovral to 3 month cycle due to break through bleed
March 2005 – 3 weeks of severe abdominal pain – Thought to be endo related, as corresponded with menstrual bleed. Took Percocet.
Severe Abdominal Pain
June 2005 – Severe abdominal pain again – Thought to be endo related, as corresponded with menstrual bleed. Took Percocet. Started Yasmin oral contraceptive continuous as Minovral had negative side effects. Was told if breakthrough bleeding occured, let cycle come. Unfortunately, I had three visits to ER for abdominal pain, CT scan showed enlarged gallbladder & possibly an ovarian cyst again on right side.
August 2005 – Abdominal, gynaecological ultrasound. Negative result.
October 2005 – Abdominal, gynaecological ultrasound. Negative result.
I don’t recall what I was switch to next, but it was a continuous oral bcp. Have been on a few other continuous birth control pills since then. Been fairly well.controled since then with occasional spots of pain. Changes were due to side effects and allergies.
Mirena IUD
Currently, I am still pre-peri-menopausal & have an IUD. I was also placed on Arthroyec, an anti-inflammatory, in the late 1990’s prior to any surgery but am still on.. The only problem I currently have is the natural bleed I get due to placement of tiny veins/arteries just inside the vagina. My current gynaecologist cauterizes them once or twice a year.
Actually, no, not for fibromyalgia.. Well it does help some of the fibromyalgia pain, but that is not how it helps the most.
I’ve mentioned in previous posts about the injections that I get. I mostly talk about the trigger point injections & less about the epidurals..
The epidural medication, Triamcinolone, is a corticosteroid which is an anti-inflammatory. It works by activating natural substances in the skin to reduce swelling, redness, and itching. I have osteoarthritis in my lower back from S1 to L1, if I recall correctly & it’s probably progressed since the original diagnosis about 7-8 years ago. Osteoarthriti is the degradation of the spinal cartilage making the bone change resulting in pain, stiffness, and swelling..
The process is done by anesthesiologist. He gives me a local anesthetic, and then a second deeper anesthetic before finally injecting the corticalsteroid into my back through the notch in my coccyx aka the tailbone. He then also does the regular trigger point injections.
A visual representation of where the needle is injected to.
After the injection I am monitored for 30 to 45 minutes before I am permitted to leave to ensure I’m not reacting badly..
The initial results are awesome, always. Later in the day when the local anesthetics were off the area of the injection is sore. Fortunately at that point it’s later in the day and I’m slowing down anyways.
I typically get two to three epidurals per year starting in November or December & ending in March or April. For whatever reason my osteoarthritis tends to be worse during the winter. I usually get them every 7 and 9 weeks. I would say my initial pain level drops to ½-1 /10.. Considering I’m anywhere between a 5 and an 8 when I go in to get these shots, that’s amazing!! The effect does tend to wear off and is pretty much worn off in 7-9 weeks. The shortest time I’ve gone between shots was 5 weeks.
They help me. & For a short while, I almost feel pain-free!
Fibromyalgia 
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