Ambien, tried it once and forgot my name. Neat. Amnesia is so embarrasing and unbecoming. Lorazapam works fine, thank you![/FONT][/QUOTE]


funny you should say this. my husband has to take this to help him self from a back injury and when he takes his ambien and doesnt go straight to bed its like a drunk 2 yr old ROFL.. so many stories LOL i tried to see if it would help better than the lunesta and i swear it the worst feeling i have ever had . so not for me !

carrie

Carrie- I don't get the chest pain EVERY time I get the palpatations or have the breathing/heart rate issues, but I do maybe 60% of the time. Sometimes it's only like an asthma tightness, other times it's like a "boa restrictor wrapped around my chest squeezing my ribs to breaking point" tightness, with a painful burning feel right in the middle of my chest, as well.

Thankfully, I don't have any tachycardia or arrythmia issues, I was relieved to find that out. I'm sorry that you do have that, though. I'm glad your cardiologist is monitoring well for you.

LOL about the amnesia. I get that too! Or when I'm in the middle of a big flareup my brain stops working properly, so my words come out wrong. Instead of asking for a drink I'll say "can you get me one of those... you... know... t-shirt things... no... err... you know.... you got me one before... in the bathroom... it's... no, in the kitchen... what you put in... grrr!! Drink! That's it! A drink!" My family think I'm a tad loopy!

Sandra- On the migraine thing- I also get migraines. I've had them since pre-RSD days (my RSD started in 2000) but I'd only get them once every 3-6 months back then, now I get at least two nasty ones a week, and it's been at that level for at least the last four years. Mostly I can take the edge off them with medications, but not every time. I talked to my RSD specialist about my migraines last year and he said that they're a good friend of RSD. I guess that's where the vascular issue comes in.

The medication I'm going on (the beta blocker) to steady my heart rate is called Metoprolol Tartrate. They're 50mg tablets and I've gotta start on a 1/4 of a tablet. She doesn't want me on too much too soon as it may lower my blood pressure, and I near faint when I get up quickly already, we don't need anything else lowering it!

I'll be starting it tonight and am off to research it more now- I never put any medications into me without first reading up everything I can find. Matt (my husband) likes to have a printout of all the side effects etc so that he can monitor me in the first 24 hours and make sure I don't keel over, lol

x Kate

You all are crackin me up with the ambien stories! Never saw a drunk 2 year old, but the picture in my head .........oh my

This heart thing is really scary to me because it is the very thing that got me into this whole mess. If it wasnt for a botched angiogram I probably wouldnt be here.

Plus heart disease runs in the family, and this RSD has been messin with my blood pressure and heart now for about 5 years. So far clear EKG's, and blood tests thank goodness. But every time it starts messin with me you gotta know it runs through my mind that this is it!

It's the big one! You hear that Elizabeth? Im comin to join ya honey!

I know I just dated myself with that last line LOL!

I get migraines. Last year before medicare I went to the ER thinking it was because I hadnt had any blood pressure meds in over a year. Thought it was giving me these whopper headaches, and I just couldnt take it anymore.

They did a CT scan of my head, and low and behold they found this osteoma in my head. They said that is what is giving me the headaches, and it is pretty serious. It is growing in the upper left nasal cavity, and man it makes the head hurt!

They sent me to a specialist, and he says he wouldnt remove it until I can put my finger right on the spot where it is in my head because of how radical the surgery is. Then he showed me what he had to do to remove it!!!

I will suffer the headaches LOL!!

All that to say this. It might be a good idea to go get checked out to rule out anything else it might be. It just might surprise ya to find there is something else going on besides RSD sometimes. I really hope there isnt, but make sure there isnt to be on the safe side

Luv ya all!!

You know Allen, I've wondered that every now and then- whether there's something else going on in my brain to cause the migraines- but then I freak out that there IS something wrong and I have a giant tumour or something.

I've never had any tests done. I guess because my Dad has always had migraines that we just assumed it was hereditary, then it became more of an issue in these later years because of my RSD.

Usually they're your run of the mill migraines- hurting at the temples, behind my eyes, and at the lower back part of my head etc. Occasionally I can point a finger to the exact spot where it's hurting, but that's not often.

But you're right, I should really get a scan done to rule out anything else. I'm glad you don't HAVE to have the surgery, that you can keep going how you are. I hope it doesn't bother you too much.

Also, I just wanted to add that the main brand name for the beta blocker I'm starting on is Lopressor.

x

Dear Kate, Allen, Carrie et al -

My heart (thump-thump) goes out to each one of you. What a fine but deeply caring crew we make.

Mike

I never really put the RSD and migranes together before. I got my RSD in August '86 and migranes in Ocotber '87. Usually just one per week, but it lasted seven days. I had so many x-rays, CTs, MRIs, LPs, etc, etc, over the years. Whew! No one ever came up with a cause.

Anyway, I take Ambien when the RSD pain is too severe to allow me to fall asleep. When I first started it, I did act like a drunk in about 15 minutes. but it really did "knock me out" so I could sleep. Lately, it takes over an hour to give me any effect. Like anything else, each body can react differently to things and change over time.

Mike

Hi. I am sorry for all you are going through. I hope your rsd doctor can see you too. I would call everyday for cancelations. That is what I do with my doctor apts and I have gotten in way early. I too get migraines and head aches/pressure. I have this possibly in my eyes so thought it was due to my severe eye pain. Anyhow I had by my neuro mris,etc to rule out anything else so I agree that you may want to ask about that. I always get fearful of saying it is rsd because one day who knows it may not be and I don't want to let something go. Well take care and hang in there

I had to go look because my mind that used to run like a well oiled machine, became this squeaky slow, forgetful.....ummm where was I? Oh yes!

I too am on Metoprolol Tartrate. The doc has me taking 25 mg twice a day. Seems to be doing the job for lowering the blood pressure, but not helping much in the anxiety or that awful feeling of breathing not working.

I sure do hope they figure out how to get you some relief, keps us posted on how things are going. I can use all the help I can get when talking with my doctor about this very subject.

[QUOTE=Cake;550164]Hey guys!

I thought I'd let you know how I'm going with my heart symptoms. Today I finally saw my GP (my regular doctor, you US RSDers call them PCPs) for the first time since wearing the holter monitor a few weeks ago.

She had a look at all the results and told me that within that 24 hour period, my heart rate went from 50 bpm pretty much straight up to 160 bpm numerous times for no apparent reason, such as in the middle of the night when I was asleep. That’s a fair range when you’re snoozing!

When I had the holter monitor on I’d had to keep track of when I noticed any palpatations etc but my GP looked at all that info and said there was no obvious pattern that linked my activities to what my heart was doing. So it doesn’t make much sense. But the good thing is there’s no arrythmia- even though the speed varies so much, the beats themselves are regular and I’m not missing any.

So the next step is to go on beta blockers. This’ll help even out my heart rate so it doesn’t go from one extreme to the other. I’ll start on 1/2 a tablet for a while and see if that helps.

Feeling like I suddenly can’t get a breath in, or feeling my heart thumping so fast it’s going to come out of my chest, is a daily issue at the moment and I hate to admit it, but it does worry me. I’m a tad over it already! I’m still dealing with the itching issue every night and it may be that the two problems are linked. But my doctor said it’s ok for me to keep taking the phenergan (antihistimine) for the itching until my pain specialist can take a look at me.

If all this (the itching and heart rate issues) is my body saying it doesn’t like the oxycontin anymore, I won’t be happy, as that’s the only medication I get any decent pain relief from, but I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. We’ll just take it one step at a time and hope these beta blockers do their job.

Kate, you are describing symptoms very similar to mine.

Are you taking NSAIDS?
NSAIDS have been linked to cardiac disease and, after taking them for 23 years I did have a heart attack. When I stopped taking them (Anaprox), I had to realize that they had not done a thing for the pain anyway.

The heart pounding so hard that it seems to want to jump right out of the chest sounds familiar. My pulse, instead of going way up, goes way down to as low as 42 bpm (sinus bradycardia) and my blood pressure fluctuates from 200/95 to 116/63 within minutes sometimes.

The itching is, most likely, caused by chemo-sensors or, due to circulation issues. RSD or the combination of RSD and medication can cause all those symptoms but, I don't believe that the Oxycontin is the culprit here.
I didn't take any medication other than Anaprox and my lower left leg itched so much, especially at night, I scratched it bloody many times. The itching has, for the most part, resolved itself now.

I am driving my Doctor up the wall but, I refuse to take any medication for my blood pressure or colesterol and only take, for the last three years, morphine when the pain gets too bad; about 500 mg a year.
Medication has its own set of problems and, quite often requires more medication to combat the side effects of the first medication and that can become a vicious cycle.

For the most part I rely on physical activity despite the pain and grabbing as much joy out of life as I can get. It has worked for me quite well since I decided to make friends with the pain about 24 years ago.
Acceptance is a large part of living with RSD without suffering.

I know that you are probably scared Kate but, believe that you can still have a good life and your symptoms will resolve in time.

I wish you well.

woodsman

Hi Kate and others, I don't post often because of the RSD pain in my left arm, but I read this forum all the time. When I read this post I wanted to jump in because I too have been dealing with the same issues since my RSD diagnosis in May 2007.

I started with migraines in December, 2007 but I did not know what was going on until I lost my vision for about 16 minutes back in January of this year. That incident resulted in a lot of test taking (MRI, MIA, etc) and showed that I have what is called a pseudo tumor cerebri, which is a fancy name for increased cranial fluid. My neurologist (I have several) feel this may be a result of the RSD. I never once had a migraine prior to the RSD diagnosis, so it is quite frustrating and scary.

I also have been dealing with the extremes in heart beats. Just a few weeks ago, for no reason, while I was watching TV, my heart rate jumped up to 150 beats per minutes. This went on for a few hours before it finally settled down. I had my purse in my hand, ready to go to the ER, but I took an Ativan and it finally settled. What a miserable experience.

Then I started to have chest tightness and pain, along with some slight heartburn, so I was started back on Prevacid last week and I am so happy to report the chest pain (really bad) and tightness have eased up a great deal. It is all so scary. I never know if I am experiencing a new problem, or a continuation of the RSD. I don't think my doctors ever really know for sure either.

It is all so hard to deal with sometimes and I can't thank the folks on this forum enough for sharing. It has gotten me through some really rough patches. Kate, I hope it all settles down for you so you can trust your body again. The fear of the unknown is so unnerving.

Lisa