Today I'm not going to take any more of the pain pills or the muscle relaxers. I took the NSAID, Meloxicam, this morning and will take it again this evening. That's it. I'm hoping there will be no change in how I feel.
Yesterday and so far this morning, I am not pain free or walking completely normally, but there certainly has been a huge improvement. I don't think the pain level is high enough to warrant a narcotic pain pill anymore.
Also the muscle relaxer, Orphenadrine, that I got from the ER ran out last night. The doctor called in a refill for the Orphenadrine, but it's a drug that requires him to call my insurance for a pre-authorization. He refused to do that, which I cannot understand at all. Since it cost $94 for a month's supply, I refused to take it and asked him to call in something else. He called in generic Flexeril, which also required pre-authorization that he did not do, but it's cheap, only $12.59 for a month, so I took it. Then yesterday, when I read the fine print on the drug, it says not to take it with Tramadol, the pain pill I take. Hm...in fact, it says to be off Tramadol for two weeks before starting Flexeril. I conferred with my pharmacist friend Ginny and also went back to CVS and talked to that pharmacist. I was a little upset that the CVS pharmacist did not mention this drug interaction when I was picking it up. So CVS pharmacist said that since the doses are on the lower end, that if I'm not prone to seizures (I've never had one.), and that if I stagger taking them by four hours, the risks are low. Hm....so I plan to make the risk ZERO by not taking either of those drugs at all.
I really do think it was both the doctor's office and the CVS pharmacist's responsibility to have warned me about this possible negative drug interaction. Another notch against going back to Dr. Weinberger, EVER.
So my plan now is to use the NSAID until they are gone, see my own family doctor, Dr. Dunn, on October 26, and see how things go. I'm hoping I don't get worse than I am today, which is a tolerable pain level. I still would not be able to walk very far, but I can walk some without too much discomfort.
Now for the good news/bad news. My weight is down a bit to 266.2 this morning, which is very nice. My blood sugar was up to 107, which is not good. I had 7 straight days of perfectly normal blood sugar readings and then today I'm above normal. There is no rhyme or reason for it. I had a good day, all meals at home. I ate 139 carbs total yesterday and had the two Oreo thins for a snack at 10 p,m. with my last Orphenadrine. With less carbs than that, I had normal readings, but with MORE carbs than that, I also had normal readings.
Why am I not normal now? Why did I get a full week of normal readings after six weeks of above normal readings? I have no idea! And I suspect the doctor won't have any idea either when I see her on October 26.
My plan is just to continue counting carbs and calories, testing in the morning, and trying to lose more weight. You can never go wrong with that!
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