h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hey ! Glad to hear that you're getting some 's!

Are those medications for rheumatoid arthritis? I don't recognize the names.

When I was leaving my Cthulhu game Sunday, something happened to my right knee (not the bad left one) on the way down the steps. Everytime I bent the knee to go down a step, I got this terrible sharp pain. I didn't think I'd make it down all the steps, and was practically in tears by the time I got to the bottom. (Not only do these steps curve halfway up, but the risers are fairly high. I couldn't use the rails on both sides, as there are comic book standees in the way.) Luckily, my daughter had gone down ahead of me, and helped me make it to my car, where I once again had to bend the damn knee to get in. My friend Tra, who is an R.N., says it sounds like a muscular thing. To be perfectly honest (and completely paranoid), it feels like the rod in that leg was hitting the muscle or kneecap every time I bent the leg!

Yeah, it all happens at once, and it just keeps on happening. Guess I'll have to reschedule my orthopaedic appt. sooner than I planned.

Oh crikey madmum - that does sound painful - don't forget that muscles & joints are all attached to tendons & that tendons can be 'pulled' too.

However, I reckon you need X-Rays to both knees to see if this knee is going the same way - as a precaution that is! to the orthos.

I didn't get to see the normal diabetic specialist (who I have only met once because he is new), but his registrar - he went through all the stuff that after 39 years I already know - wants to see me in 6 months instead of annually - sending me for more blood tests including yet another test for thyroid & ... wants me to take more bl**** tablets: aspirin each day - to thin my blood

So, let's see:
4 injections a day - I'm used to that
4 blood tests a day - " " " "
1 stomach tablet half hour before each meal - extremely mild IBS
1 ant-acid tablet one hour before evening meal - to counteract side effects of following tablet
1 diclofenac 3 times per day after meals - painkiller & anti-inflammatory
1 cholesterol tablet - to lower that which is only borderline anyway
1 blood pressure tablet - which is normal, but to avoid damage to kidneys (which is common in diabetics)
and for the finale .... next week another tablet for the arthritis

and he wants me to take aspirin too - very

He also said that if I take Ibuprofen with diclofenac I would get stomach ulcers, but it was alright to have paracetamol with dic.

I suppose I should be grateful that they are going to such lengths to keep me fit & alive for a long time

I could never remember to take all those pills every day! Heck, I could barely remember to take my glucosamine, while it was working!

I hope that your doctor is keeping an eye out to make sure that all these meds are okay to take together!

Be grateful for the age we live in. It doesn't bear thinking about what our grandparents had to put up with medically. I am very thankful to have my Diclofenac and my Perindopril (for high blood pressure) Insulin is a miracle drug.

Oh I totally agree - I was having a "mad at life, docs, the universe" moment I fully appreciate that if I'd been born 50 years earlier I wouldn't have lived very long at all

I suppose what I'm concerned about is that nobody is looking at my 3 separate conditions together - each are prescribing this & that, but don't realise the effect one can have on another condition. I feel tired all the time & the anti-inflammatory for arthritis is causing problems with my tendon problems in neck, shoulders & arms. So you can see my predicament ?

My mother was taken into hospital 5 weeks ago unable to breathe (diagnosed heart failure again) & the state she was in for 5 months before (one month after her first heart failure) & the GP said "it was just old age", i.e. violent trembling, loss of 5 stone in weight, being queasy 95% ot the time & physically sick occasionally!

Now she is in respite care for a 3rd week with a complete change of medication - a faint amount of trembling & appetite returning - if only the GP had diagnosed better. Mum is not out the woods yet though: 2nd chest infection & legs swollen again, but she is very bright in herself, which is alot more than before. Again, if it were not for living in this age she wouldn't be here.

I do wish we would pay the medical researchers more money in this country, instead of footballers. My daughter is to begin a new contract around September working on an aids &, before her baby was born (literally 24 hours ), was working on lung infections.

Although we are extrememly grateful for what we have - we must not forget that more is being researched & that, possibly, in another 100 years they will look back at this time & think: "however did they survive?"

I go rest
PS: diclofenac doesn't seem to working for me at all - I am prob. going to go back to Nurofen alone after I have been to the rheum. clinic next week - see what they say.

Understood about what you are saying about prescription drug cocktails. The side effects work against each other, then you get prescribed more meds to treat that, rather than your original illness.

More money for medical research and education... and less for sports! Yes! I agree.

Hope your Mum continues to improve.

Tales From The Arthritic Afternoon:

--Due to constant rain, arthritis in shoulder decides to act up
--Arthritis causes pain and swelling in shoulder and neck
--neck stiffens up, which causes pain to rush to head
--Nasty headache occurs
--Excedrin taken, and lying on sofa commences
--More Excedrin taken, since lying down didn't help
--Dinner eaten
--Stomach upset occurs from mix of dinner, headache, and Excedrin
--Stomach upset causes me to be in the bathroom on and off (mostly on) for several hours in the evening; headache mostly gone, but now the least of my woes
--George Bush address almost brings back headache, until I find that I finally agree with him on something: illegal immigration
--Bedtime finally rolls around; the best I've felt all day!

*Back from hospital and feeling better.*

The arthritis pain in my hip is gone now thank to my new titanium and ceramic joint. The only pain is from the operation wound, and I'm getting better everyday. I'm walking!! yay!!!

Mari, glad to hear that you are doing better! I guess the operation went well.

I finally got my ortho appointment resecheduled for this Wed. I don't count on much happening - it's only a follow-up appointment, after all - but I at least get to bitch at the doctor about his incompetent nurse and the fact that he wrote nothing about the Syn-Visc injections on my chart! (And for all that, I have the pleasure of paying $15!)

Give 'em He**! They are working for YOU!

January 2011 - I've just called in to see if this all still works!
Are you all still around? If you are - how are you?