Been gone for awhile... now back

[allih]

Hi All... I dropped off the planet for a bit while dealing with some stuff. I made the difficult choice to go off all my meds as I could not think coherently at all and was scaring my family.

Luckily the TN is kinda sorta in remission. I'm not having the constant pain anymore.. now it is more intermittent, but sharper in some places. So I can handle being off the daily meds at least until and if it decides to become constant again. Cold weather is the worst trigger now.. so thank God California is having a drought and unseasonably warm weather.

I also found out that I cannot chew gum... bad, bad trigger! or sunflower seeds...same reason.

I'm having a much worse time with the Fibro and migraines. But what do you do when the choice is being a zombie or having some sort of life? Even if I spend half my life in bed, I can now hold a conversation that sounds somewhat intelligent. And I can remember what I am reading which was becoming a bit of a problem.

I hope everyone is doing as well as they can.
Alli

[baywatcher]

Hi, nice to see you back. Tough choice, between pain relief and incompetence from drug effects. I hope that eventually you can strike a balance that works for you, you're dealing with a lot of painful stuff.

But hang around and give us your two cents - and have some good days. There are some days when I'd gladly accept a little warm air if you have it to spare. Bad long cold spell here, I think getting out of bed in a 41 degree house is the pits. And going outside? Whooo, not nice. Still . . . I have to admit it's beautiful. (If the beauty came with fur lined pajamas, that would be terrific.)

Hugs and hopes, Nancy

[dbobsnodgrass]

dear Alli, Congrats for dropping the meds; any difficult reactions? I can't carry on an intelligent conversation, but I'd be leary they'd put me in a rubber room if I did. Take care, bob

[allih]

Hi Nancy and Bob, good to hear from you!

Nancy I wish we could trade some of our sunshine for some of your rain. It is getting a bit scary how little rain we have gotten. I'm hoping for a really wet Feb, Mar and Apr. Then we might have enough water to avoid any more rationing.

Bob, it has taken about 8-9 months to get the effects of the drugs out of my system and get my brain function back to where it should be. I can now do the Wall Street Journal crossword in about 1 - 1 1/2 hours where before I was thrilled if I could get it done in a week. The withdrawal off of Effexor was the worst.... about 2 months of feeling dizzy and off.. Neurontin, I weaned off slower so my nervous system would adapt a bit. No side effects from that one.

Now I am in almost constant body pain from Fibro and the migraines are a little more frequent. Thank god the TN is not as bad as last year as long as I avoid any triggers and keep my face covered when outside. I still have zings and the dull pressing pain, but it is not constant and only lasts a little while depending on what part of the nerve is deciding to be miserable. My cheeks are the most constant and that just feels like a low grade sinus infection (which I know it is not). I can handle that!, it's the migraines it triggers that tick me off.

So, even though I'm in a ridiculous amount of pain most of the time, I'm not in any hurry to get back on all those meds. I'll wait until I'm really, really miserable before I turn my brain off again.
Alli