Health Problems

pharmakos

soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
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Can attest to Gabapentin being a real brain-freezer. But that drug is a godsend really, it has such a wide variety of applications and tapering off the drug usually goes pretty well titrating up and down.

yeah it can be an unfortunate fact of life for some unlucky ones who can't get Lyrica.

Lyrica was just made generic btw Borzak Borzak , now that i think about it i think maybe you told me before the issue was your insurance would only cover Neurontin? so yeah, man, try again to get that Lyrica, now that it's generic you should be able to get it

and yeah jayrebb jayrebb that also means that hopefully all those people who gabapentin is a godsend for but can't get Lyrica can now get generic pregabalin instead, because yeah man as we know it really is SO MUCH better with regards to side-effects
 

Borzak

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yeah it can be an unfortunate fact of life for some unlucky ones who can't get Lyrica.

Lyrica was just made generic btw Borzak Borzak , now that i think about it i think maybe you told me before the issue was your insurance would only cover Neurontin? so yeah, man, try again to get that Lyrica, now that it's generic you should be able to get it

and yeah jayrebb jayrebb that also means that hopefully all those people who gabapentin is a godsend for but can't get Lyrica can now get generic pregabalin instead, because yeah man as we know it really is SO MUCH better with regards to side-effects

Thanks. I passed the info to another family member that was going to try it and the Dr. just said "it works great" and when they went to the pharmacist to pick it up was $800. It's been a while tho.
 

Borzak

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Anyone have any experience with large doses of ibuprofen. I started with 800mg ones taken "as needed" 3 times a day. That worked for a while and now I try to not take it 3 times a day and instead take (2) 800mg ones at a time and that gives some relief for short periods to allow me to at least move and do a few things. I assume it's inflammation, but I've had several Sed rate test and all came back clear. Of course I may have to get them redone, the Dr. that ordered those and gave me the results also told me "Type 1 diabetes is not an autoimmune disease". So far I haven't noticed any stomach problems. I normally take with food.
 

pharmakos

soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
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Thanks. I passed the info to another family member that was going to try it and the Dr. just said "it works great" and when they went to the pharmacist to pick it up was $800. It's been a while tho.

yeah it's suuuuuper recent, like just a month or two now since my refills switched from name brand to generic. they're super generic looking lol, just plain white with a black serial code printed on it.
 

sleevedraw

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Anyone have any experience with large doses of ibuprofen. I started with 800mg ones taken "as needed" 3 times a day. That worked for a while and now I try to not take it 3 times a day and instead take (2) 800mg ones at a time and that gives some relief for short periods to allow me to at least move and do a few things. I assume it's inflammation, but I've had several Sed rate test and all came back clear. Of course I may have to get them redone, the Dr. that ordered those and gave me the results also told me "Type 1 diabetes is not an autoimmune disease". So far I haven't noticed any stomach problems. I normally take with food.

Ibuprofen has the lowest probability of GI side effects among all NSAIDs, and taking with food would further lower the risk. If you plan on taking it long term and/or high dose, however, you probably want to check with your doctor and stop taking it if you start experiencing any strange stomach pain. NSAIDs also increase cardiovascular disease risk if used long-term (other than aspirin, which is a special case because it's non-selective), and ibuprofen is in the intermediate-risk group among NSAIDs for that particular group of side effects.

TL;DR:
  • Ibuprofen: Low risk of GI side effects; moderate risk of cardio side effects
  • Aleve/naproxen: Moderate risk of GI side effects; low risk of cardio side effects
  • Aspirin: High risk of GI side effects; likely cardioprotective
 
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Borzak

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Thanks. I took naproxen at one point. I can't remember even who prescribed it or how much I took. But apparently it either didn't do much or I got better because I didn't take it long term. I just remember naproxen is all. Instead of taking the ibuprofen 800mg 3x a day I normally just kind of hold off until it gets to the point of I have to do something and double up and take 2. I go to another specialist this next week so I'll bring it up. I kind of feel at this point they are kind of at a dead end to try anything else so they just kind of rubber stamp any request that's "reasonable".
 

iannis

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You can build up a tolerance to naproxen as a pain reliever relatively quickly and long term use of high dose s of ibuprofen can exacerbate inflamation, which is exactly backwards from what you want out of an anti inflammatory medication.

Generally unless you are under specific orders from a doctor you want to vary them.
 

Kuriin

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Just like our pediatric patients, we just say alternate ibuprofen and tylenol unless contraindicated.
 

Borzak

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I talked to a rep that is just an answer questions person at the MS Society today. I was kind of shocked but they were actually pretty helpful. She sent me links to the MS Society website that nobody can find heh. They have an entire section on systemic Lupus is often diagnosed wrong as MS. They had a chart showing all the MS symptoms on the left, Lupus symptoms on the right, and overlap in the middle. I have zero MS ones, a number of the overlap ones, almost all of the Lupus ones. She also said "If you see a MS specialist, you will get diagnosed with MS". Also had page she linked about how visually they can't tell the difference between lesions in the brain on a MRI being MS or Lupus. I really have never seen that anywhere. Be careful what you get diagnosed with because apparently it sticks with you forever even with doctos who say "I don't think that's what you have, but you've been diagnosed with it...".
 
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TheNozz

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Hey my friend noticed this near his elbow, any ideas of what it is?

1AAFD95D-74BE-4A4F-8F2F-3ACB7222D17A.jpeg
 

sleevedraw

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Hey my friend noticed this near his elbow, any ideas of what it is?

If it itches, contact dermatitis would be my first guess, but I'm an ortho/cardiac guy, not a derm guy. Lower suspicion for ringworm, because an elbow strikes me as kind of a weird place for that, and it doesn't look circular.

Kuriin Kuriin ?
 
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Borzak

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Went to the doctor today. The nurses ask your birthday to check that it is you. I forgot mine and had to talk out to the waiting room and ask my mom to come answer it for me.
 
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iannis

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Unf, when they ask me how old I am I have to do some fucking math. Or what the date is. I've had to say, "That's not a good one, I very rarely know what the date is, never have, I write it down and then forget it. Have to check every single time... I'm fairly confident that it's october though!"

But spacing your birthday is a little rough.
 

iannis

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The elbow also looks kind of like it could just be an abrasion. Really hard to tell.

I'll get stuff like that on my elbows in the spring from pine sap/resin. It's a weird thing to be allergic to, and it's weird that it mostly presents just on my elbows, but there is no doubt whatsoevr that's exactly what it is.

Tell him to check his feet. It could also be athletes foot. That can present in your palms and elbows too, even though it's down on your toesies. Gets into your blood, and elbows are thin skin, palms are highly vascular.
 

meStevo

I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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Kinda looks like psoriasis to me. Every couple years I get that on my elbow(s), none of the scary shit you see in a google image search thankfully.

Brief update a month in to diabetus meds... blood sugar on average between 88-100, bp about perfect, walking 2-4 miles a day and losing a pound or two a week. Progress.
 
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Tarrant

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So, the shelter I was managing part-time has joined and merged with another program that provides both housing and crisis counseling to runaway youths and their families in order to help keep them out of the court system, and their sister program that provides housing for young (troubled) adults (17-21) and teaches them how to be productive members of society and out of the legal system. I'm pretty excited and tomorrow is supposed to be my first day with them fulltime.

Today though I just learned I have a very badly herniated disc between my L5 and S1 that caused half my right leg to go totally numb. The doctor doesn't think PT will help much, if at all and suggested that I should still try it, but to prepare myself for it needing surgery. I'm really nervous about going into my first day with them tomorrow. I can't walk without a cane and I'm afraidif I tell them my first day that I'm going to probably need surgery in the near future it'll hurt my future with them.

I'm going to hold off as long as I can, hopefully, the PT will help. In the meantime, I'm taking steroids, hopefully, that helps too.
 

Gavinmad

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So, the shelter I was managing part-time has joined and merged with another program that provides both housing and crisis counseling to runaway youths and their families in order to help keep them out of the court system, and their sister program that provides housing for young (troubled) adults (17-21) and teaches them how to be productive members of society and out of the legal system. I'm pretty excited and tomorrow is supposed to be my first day with them fulltime.

Today though I just learned I have a very badly herniated disc between my L5 and S1 that caused half my right leg to go totally numb. The doctor doesn't think PT will help much, if at all and suggested that I should still try it, but to prepare myself for it needing surgery. I'm really nervous about going into my first day with them tomorrow. I can't walk without a cane and I'm afraidif I tell them my first day that I'm going to probably need surgery in the near future it'll hurt my future with them.

I'm going to hold off as long as I can, hopefully, the PT will help. In the meantime, I'm taking steroids, hopefully, that helps too.

Well you probably don't need to be told this, and it sounds like they haven't even offered you any, but this is how normal squares like you get hooked on opiates. So tread carefully and prioritize your health first.
 

Tarrant

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Well you probably don't need to be told this, and it sounds like they haven't even offered you any, but this is how normal squares like you get hooked on opiates. So tread carefully and prioritize your health first.

I’ve had a running script of norco for years due to my crohns. Usually a 20 day supply lasts me about 90 days. Im no stranger to it and in my my work I see that stuff every day. I only allow myself to take it when pains extreme since I don’t want to turn into Dr. House down the road.

Appreciate the concern though man. Truly. (No homo)