Health Problems

  • Guest, it's time once again for the hotly contested and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!



    Go here and fill out your bracket!
    Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Once again, only you can decide!

Druss

Trakanon Raider
69
120
For levemir, you're basically paying for convenience. NPH is cheaper (one-tenth the price) and is a "long" (technically intermediate) insulin with duration of about 10-16 hours. May be dosed either once or twice a day.

If your PCP doesn't want to prescribe it, figure out why or find an endocrinologist if he's giving you the runaround.

Not sure why your Dr doesnt know about Tresiba its a better insulin, per my dr anyways for type 2. I was taking levemir 2x a day, insurance didnt want to pay for the tresiba so dr had me on levemir. Then suddenly the insurance "United HC" approved the Tresiba so dr put me on that x1/day. Both were like $60/month with insurance.

I think i replied to the wrong person but info the same.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,420
31,635
Ok, there's a lot of information in there to digest. The lymph nodes are unusual, especially just in your axillae. In regards to your fatigue, you may be bleeding which could be the reason for the low hemoglobin levels. In regards to your heart rate, if you are on a rate control medication, you are supposed to take it every day. Do you take it as needed/.

Also, you're taking likely a shit ton of ibuprofen. Pretty concerning. What you can do at home for shits and giggles is pull your bottom eyelid down to see the color. If it's pale, bad. If there's color, good.

In hospital atm. Heart rate, I do take a pill twice a day to lower/control it. Because I sleep for more than 12 hours at times. I wake up to a faster than average heart rate till I can take the pill. I've been to cardiologist after cardiologist with stress test, blood work, sonograms or whatever they are called. Always comes back normal so they keep me on the medication. The difficulty breathing for doing almost nothing comes and goes and it's not really tied to the heart rate.
 

Kuriin

Just a Nurse
4,046
1,020
You sleep for more than 12 hours at a time? What the fuck? Lol. Do you not have alarms to wake you up so you can take your meds on time?
 

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,420
31,635
If I see/know it's coming I do. Other times it happens right now. Got to lay down right now and out. My continuous glucose monitor sounds an alarm if blood sugar gets too low. The only medication I take now is insulin and it's once a day unless I eat and I don't eat in my sleep much. The two heart pills a day so 12 hours apart. Depending on when this happens my wife will wake me up for it. If she's at work not so much.

Friend of mine is on an insulin pump. I was talking to his wife yesterday and she told me about it. I looked it up. It's being recalled. There is a lawsuit about it as well now. Appaprently they've had problems with it for a while. Too much or too little insulin at times. The lawsuit claimed they really haven't pinpointed the problem yet to know if it's software or mechanical problems. They had another death leading to the recall. The lawsuit was from almost a year ago and they finally recalled it. She didn't know if they are going to replace it or it can be updated. She has an alarm on her phone if his gets too low while he's at work. She said another guy at the plant has it on during working hours so he gets an alarm too if it gets really low.

To qualify for the lawsuit they had a list of things. Loss of pay, pain and sufferring, wrongful death. Wow.

I went to Tulane for a period when I was 5 and first diagnosed. This was back in the dark ages. Several patients in my area of the hospital were on a pump test which was a pretty new deal at the time. In one week almost 1/2 of them died. I think they were trying it on really brittle diabetics but it kind of took the shine off of getting one for a while.
 

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,420
31,635
Any experience with the painkiller Tramadol. I have precsriptons for a variety of pain medicines. I'm scared to death of them and avoid them if I can. I've had prescriptions for hydrocodene, oxycontin, and possibly some others. I never took them. Most times in the past the pain was more what I would call an annoyance or discomfort, not relaly something I needed to take for pain.

I've had a prescription for tramadol forever. The prescription is listed as every 6 hours as needed, 50mg two pills a day by quantity. It's very rare for me to take two a day. For a long time I could go a week or more without taking one. Then it has sepped up to one every other day and now one a day 90% of days.

Any chance getting withdrawl from taking it "as needed", instead of taking it regular? I'm pretty clueless on this type of stuff. I asked the neurologist that prescribed it and he kind of blew it off. For maybe the last 6 months I only fill 30 for a month instead of the 60 and I still wind up with a little extra I hang onto for times when it's really bad.
 

jayrebb

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
13,857
13,724
50mg isn't ridiculous x1 per day. Its such an atypical opioid though that its difficult to say how much typical opioid withdrawal you would incur at 50mg a day.

Probably nothing that other support meds I.E. gabapentin, benzos et al couldn't help out with.

Its also a little bit of an SNRI as well. Which means its giving you energy from another pathway besides traditional opioid. You've probably noticed you have a little more calm energy on days you take it. And get up and going is less of a problem even hours later after dosing it, you probably feel a lot more capable. A tiny bit of SNRI withdrawal would be expected like fatigue.

Tramadol use for the purpose of energy is really big in Egypt. Taxi drivers have been using it to stay awake for decades now since the drug came to market.
 
  • 2Like
Reactions: 1 users

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,420
31,635
I don't have that many and I'm big on the "just in case".

I went back to the endocrinologist that changed my insulin. I got a good grade. For the last 30 days my glucose has been in the target zone of between 80 and 160 95% of the time. It was higher but I went without a sensor for 2 days and it counted that as 0% for those 2 days. She said they get a lot of people after changing insulin that are at 30% in the target zone time wise and 60% once they get used to it. I can't imagine 30%. She dosed mine way too low to start and for 2 days mine was real high. After the first adjustment it's been pretty good.
 
Last edited:

Brahma

Obi-Bro Kenobi-X
11,809
41,129
Ahem...

Noodleface Noodleface and the haters out there! I went and got my vision tested today buddy. I could have been a sniper! I am 20/10 vision...

...past arms length. Closer I am 2.00 readers. That ain't too bad. Right?
 
  • 2Worf
Reactions: 1 users

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,420
31,635
Does anyone have a scale of the effectiveness of pain medication. I have a multitude of prescriptions. Tramadol, Oxycodone, Hyrdocodene, Percocet just to name a few I have handy here right now. Some I've never taken. The pain is kind of moving up the scale. Not a fan of the number scale by the way.
 

Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
14,730
31,802
Tramadol never seemed to do anything for me and I don't see how you could become addicted to it. Even the more hardcore opiates never seemed to really have a significant pain killing effect for me, they just knocked me the fuck out so pain didn't matter.

Dont quote me but I think it's supposed to be tramadol-->codeine-->hydrocodone-->percocet-->oxycodone->morphine-->delaudid(sp?)-->fentanyl
 

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,420
31,635
I think that's about what I have experienced as as well. Nothing ever knocks me out. The less pain the more likely I am to stay up forever.
 

moonarchia

The Scientific Shitlord
20,899
37,875
Tramadol is shit tier, weaker than aspirin. I was given oxy once when I was in severe back pain. Shit put me out like a light bulb for half a day per use. Worth the price. Never got hooked on it.
 

Brahma

Obi-Bro Kenobi-X
11,809
41,129
Does anyone have a scale of the effectiveness of pain medication. I have a multitude of prescriptions. Tramadol, Oxycodone, Hyrdocodene, Percocet just to name a few I have handy here right now. Some I've never taken. The pain is kind of moving up the scale. Not a fan of the number scale by the way.

Percs I have taken for a back pull I had. (Pulled my back getting out my damn car!) Worked very well. BUT I can see how people get addicted to them. Tramadol has never done anything for me. Like nothing. Oxy worked but I hated the feeling. Never tried the Hydro.
 

Kuriin

Just a Nurse
4,046
1,020
Does anyone have a scale of the effectiveness of pain medication. I have a multitude of prescriptions. Tramadol, Oxycodone, Hyrdocodene, Percocet just to name a few I have handy here right now. Some I've never taken. The pain is kind of moving up the scale. Not a fan of the number scale by the way.

Tramadol -> Hydrocodone -> Oxycodone -> Oxycontin and Hydromorphone
 

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,420
31,635
I have all those listed except for hydromorphene. The tramadol really isn't so much of a big pain releif it kind of knocks the edge off so I concentrate on doing something. I'm starting to move up the scale now and I really didn't want to jump two spots at once. I can see why so many people get addicted, they shovel it out for anything. At least in the past they did.

I used to have a dentist that would prescribe 10 or 20 hydrocodene for when I got a teeth cleaning.
 

Kuriin

Just a Nurse
4,046
1,020
They should try high doses of Gabapentin on you. Like 600mg three times a day. Honestly, our country is so fucked with the opioid crisis that we keep making it worse by pushing strong and addictive pain medications onto patients. Doesn't help that we are getting heavier and comorbidities are increasing. I am pretty shocked your dentist would prescribe such high doses for dental work.
 

Tarrant

<Prior Amod>
15,516
8,969
Gabapentin is super hit or miss. My wife would be disabled right now if it weren't for Gabapentin , which shes taken for over 7 years.

They gave it to me for my back and leg and I didn't do well on it at all. All kinds of bad mojo going on.its been about 50/50 for everyone I've know whos taken it as well. Some swear by it, some just swear at the mention of it.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,420
31,635
I was on it for almost 2 years. I couldn't tell it did anything. Started at 300mg, then 600mg and finally 900mg 3 times a day. Taper off over a few months. The only thing I noticed is it made my hands somewhat numb.
 
Last edited: