Ok, still havent slept.

Called the pharmacy to ask if it's normal for there to be frequent urination while withdrawing from amitriptyline. Yes, it is. But it's not really normal to have the same symptom when you're taking an extremely low dose of amitriptyline, which is one of the big reasons I quit taking it last week. The constant potty breaks were driving me nuts. I quit the ami because I thought it was one of the things causing me to practically sleep in the bathroom last weekend.

While talking to the pharmacist, he was reading the info about amitrip, and noticed that it messes with your blood sugars. So, he asked me if I was thirsty. (oh yeah) and then he asked me if I was shaky. (yep) hungry? (starving!) still peeing very few minutes? (*grumble* yes...dangit!)

He said that he wondered what my blood sugar is. He thinks it might be elevated. I think it's low, because I'm starving and shaky.

Called my regular doctor's office and got the nurse-on-duty to call me back. Got the rude physician's assistant that I hate, and she returns the hatred. Basically wouldnt answer my questions and I asked if this could be an emergency. She said it could probably wait till monday. (what? huh?)

I do have 2 small symptoms of the dread UTI. The obvious symptom, and another one.


Why does this always have to happen on a weekend, in the middle of the night, when the closest emergicare is closed???? (they dont open for 2 more hours)

My dad (a nurse) is going to be up in a few minutes, so I'm going to ask him if I need to go NOW, or if I can wait till 8am.

I think I started out with some mild withdrawal from the amitriptyline, but a UTI snuck up behind me and is trying to drive me bananas.

I know high and low blood sugars are bad. I have no idea what mine is. I'm guessing low, because I had soup and bread for dinner at 8pm saturday night. Didnt have anything after that except for maybe a couple of sips of pop. (diet, since that's all my dad buys) And I've been drinking water.

I hope this is just in relation to the stupid amitriptyline, since I know it can screw up blood sugars. I really do not need another autoimmune disease. One is enough.

I'm going to complain on monday to my regular doctor about the PA being rude. I know it's 6am, and I woke her up, but she's openly snotty to me. Even when I see her at the doctor's office. (I'm guessing that has something to do with her being an idiot with one of my MRI reports when she didnt read thru all three pages of the report and told me wrong information, she only read the first page, and didnt read the Impression at the end, which had the important stuff that I needed to know)

I'm guessing the pharmacist is right, that I might have wonky blood sugar, and probably a flaming UTI. (is it 8am yet? I want to go pee in a cup so that someone can play with their chemistry set)

I really hope I dont have a UTI, because I hate antibiotics. I take it for one infection and it trades me another.

I bought OTC XO (?) strips to test urine when I suspect a UTI. Not 100% accurate, but has been great for me. Sometimes don't know if it's MS or UTI related. I take one 100Mg tab of NitroFurn Mono following intercourse and 2 daily for two days after intercourse "In case" as two have been related in past. I have a constant presciption of it. (hey, I'm married, we still have sex). But when I have suspicions of a UTI, have GCP send to lab to test urine also as sometimes a different antibiotic is needed . Since my "in case" dosing, UTIs went from very frequent UTIs to rarely.

Erin, good luck and give us an update when you can!

Yup! I dislike them greatly as well. Hang in there hun and keep us updated.

Erin call doc and dont let that Dosage speech throw you I wasnt on a lot and had a lot of the same issues as you, remember as with ms effecting us all differently, so do the meds, there is no text book answer with MS or meds and thats what makes it sooooo much fun

Dont forget anytime you take antibiotics you deplete your own good bodys antibiotics and it can lead to other issues, there is not one biotic that will fix all things, so that is a factor too, and I dont have this but Debbie gets it all the time yeast infections from her antibiotics,, joy joy

call doc asap drink some cranberry juice in case it is a UTI

I sure hope you get to feeling better soon, try not to let the annoyances of MS get the best of you

Ok.

I think I may have broken my personal record for the length of time I've been awake without taking a nap at any time. It's almost 1130am (CST) here. I've been awake since 130pm yesterday afternoon.

I just talked to my aunt (she's a nurse practitioner) She told me to get my thyroid checked tomorrow. So tomorrow, I'm going to go to the doctor for that. Only reason my aunt is suggesting to check my thyroid, is because she's got a thyroid condition and she said I'm sounding familiar to her for some reason. She just had to have her meds adjusted for that.

Oh! When I went to the urgent care that my regular doctor's office has (outside doctors come and use their office space for after hours medical stuff) The nurse in the urgent care, who I've talked to before gave me bad news.

My favorite doctor has MOVED!!! To California!!! DANGIT!!!!!

I never got a letter saying he was leaving. (this was the guy who pretty much figured out I had MS before the neuro did and was the only doctor who actually supported me when the other doctors were doing the "she's nuts" thing)

I'm depressed about this, Dr. C was eye candy! Dang!

ok, rant about my doctor over.

getting back to what my aunt said. She told me that maybe the Copaxone might be causing some of my insomnia problems. She told me to call my neuro and ask him about that. My aunt (who I'm not sure knows much about Copaxone) is wondering if maybe I've developed a sensitivity to the C, and that it might be causing the insomnia, and that maybe I need to either switch to something new.

I told her all about LDN. She told me that when I go to the doctor tomorrow to check my thyroid, to ask him about the LDN. The doctor I'm going to ask for tomorrow is the another doctor at the office who my (now former) doctor brought in to talk to me about MS. This guy, Dr. C 2.0 (his first name is the same as the other doctor, and his last name begins with the letter C too) had a grandmother who had MS. And he's the one who kind of explained what MS is before I got my diagnosis.

He's the one who told me that it's not fatal and he calmed me down a lot when I was freaking out two years ago. So, hopefully he has no plans to be moving away. I'm going to see if he's heard of LDN and see if he can write me a Rx for it. (knock on wood! please! write me a Rx!!!)

I'm disappointed that Dr. C 1.0 has left, but at least 2.0 is still here and hopefully I can convince him to let me try the LDN.

It's almost noon. My aunt told me to take a very small amount of Ativan (breaking the pill in half, and breaking the half in half.) and try to take a nap for a couple of hours.

all I want to do is sleep for a little while.

set an alarm so you dont get too much sleep, insomnia can get to be a vicious cycle, hope you get a wee bit of rest this way tonight you can get a lot of sleep hang in there Erin, I know those are not the most comforting words, hope you are able to shake the sleep problems, meditation

Erin

DOH! I'd be upset too!

I slept a little! yay!

I want to go back to sleep, but I think I'll try to stay awake for awhile and see if I can go to sleep at a decent early time later tonight.

Yes, Copaxone can mess with your sleeping patterns but so does MS in time.

I am not on any of the ABCR drugs but the MS messed with my MS big time. My doctor put my on a low dose of Klonopin (comes in generic too). If you are on Part D for prescriptions it will not be covered But Rx Outreach will cover a 3 month supply for $30 even with Part D; look under Useful Website on the last page if you have Part D and are prescribed this.

Talk to your doctor about your sleeping problems. He will not be able to definitely tell you why you aren't sleeping but will be able to prescribe a drug to help you sleep throughout the night.

Take care.