Quote:
Originally Posted by Southern Bell
Jeff,
I'm not sure but I probably did not mention that I also take Gabapentin (generic Neurontin) because of a back injury 24 years ago. I'll try to be short but being a southerner (and a female) I've realized that's not an easy thing - sorry.
I fell down a flight of stairs at our house (graceful) and first orthopedic doctor said I had a cracked tailbone. But over the years my lower back pain really became more than Advil could help. My internist recommend that I go see a neurologist to see if there was possible nerve damage which there wasn't but he prescribed Gabapentin, that was around 2005. It did help relieve the pain more than Advil and I took it at bedtime. I decided to go to a different orthopedic doctor again in 2007 who determined with an MRI that I had two degenerative discs (L4/L5 and L5/S1). First I went through numerous pain management procedures - a waste of time and insurance costs. Then he said the only way to fix the problem was to fuse the vertabre - that's two fusions. Well needless to say I went for a second opinion, and that doctor said he'd recommend physical therapy first.
I take one 300 mg capsule at bedtime even though I'm starting to hurt alot during the day but I have to get my sleep. It doesn't really last all night so maybe I need to see if I can take more but I'm not sure if I should along with the other drugs I take that make me drowsy. Since I can no longer work, the brain drain issue isn't a problem. I also think the increase in pain is due to the osteoporosis. Since it's been at least 5 years since I've seen an orthopedic doctor, I'm going to see another doctor just to see where things stand now.
The double vision can be a symptom of SPS. My husband found the connection in his research along with the swallowing problem. This has led me to think that most and if all of my problems are SPS related. I don't have much weakness, just the stiffness issues. I think my new neuro agrees. Thank heavens the prednisone has solved my double vision issue. That was horrible to try to live with and I only had it for two months before starting the prednisone (60mg at first).
Well as I said this wouldn't be short.
Becky
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Don't worry about it. I always set out to be short, but never am. The first thing my doctor said to me is that Neurontin is used for this, but we both agreed, I'd been on it and it never worked. It was a complete surprise that coming off it at night set my symptoms off again. It seems to work in combo with the other meds.
Unfortunately, I'll have to rearrange my schedule as I wake up from it in a complete daze and need a good half hour to come back to reality. I like watching baseball and playing games at night, but I guess if I want to be able to walk (which I think is an important skill), I'll have to sleep at night, TIVO the baseball games and fit gaming in on weekends. The hardest part is going to be that someone will probably spoil the game for me while I'm at work
Any chance you or your husband know if this can run in families? Everything I've read say's it can't, but I just met my cousin for the first time in years and she looks like I did five years ago. I'm really hoping it turns out to be something different, but at least they know what I have as a starting point
Thanks,
Jeff