Archive for August, 2008
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Keppra Overdose!
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Last night I got a bad headache, advil wasn’t helping so I decided to go to bed. I went upstairs and grabbed a bottle and took two pills and then went in to brush my teeth. After I brushed my teeth I went and got into bed. As I was laying there it hit me what I had done. I took two pills, meaning to take two tylenol pm’s but realizing I had actually taken two Keppra’s instead! I started to panic. I came downstairs and turned on the computer to look up what to do if taking too much Keppra. All the website suggested was calling poison control center and going to hospital to have stomach pumped but that there were no known side effects of overdose and that the largest dose ever studied was 6000mg and with my two extra doses I ended up with 4000 mg for the day so I decided to handle it myself. I tried to make myself throw up, but I have never been able to do that and so again I was unsuccessful. So I just decided to go to bed and whatever shall be shall be. I felt a little dizzy for a while, but other than that, no real side effects. I was just worried because by taking those two extra pills I had doubled my dose for the day and when I looked it up they said there was a possibility of psychiatric side effects, not really sure what that means, but it didn’t help me fall asleep, and since Keppra may cause drowsiness and I took 3 within an hour (yes, I took the extra two shortly after taking my evening dose!) I was too afraid to take tylenol pm! I am still not feeling that well today, though my headache is not as bad today. I had a cramp in my side for awhile that seemed like it would never go away. I didn’t take my morning dose of Keppra because I figure it is still in my bloodstream from the extra doseage last night. AI just need to drink a lot of water today to help flush it out of my system so it doesn’t cause any renal damamge. And I need to be much more careful when I take anything! I usually do double check the bottle I am taking pills out of before I take anything, but last night my head hurt so bad I just took the pills without checking. I just wanted the pain to stop!
My BTS bracelet broke, again, so I came up with a new way to fix it. I bought a leather bracelet, plain, and I am going to attach it to that. I’ll post a new pic when I finish it. This way I can take it off easier and it will stay with the silver part up so it doesn’t bang against railings like yesterday and last week. And its another option for selling it! I had lunch with an old friend from high school yesterday and she really liked my work too and thinks I will be able to sell them. Plus, after lunch I stopped at this store that had hand made jewelry and some of it was PMC so I got some more ideas.
My leg is still doing well, I am very hopeful that I will get my leg back completely, maybe even by the end of the year! I just wish one of my doctors had suggested a foot an ankle specialist sooner! So if you have this problem or know someone who does, orthotics really seem to help!
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Foot Pain!
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OK, my feet are killing me! These new orthotics were great the first week, but now that I am wearing them all the time they are killing me! I did some research and it can take months to adjust to them! I guess its a good thing I am not working! I was only out for a couple hours today, shopping, and my lower back started hurting and my feet are throbbing! At least I know now that it is normal to get lower back pain when adjusting to orthotics. And I also found out that the orthotics probably are the reason I am having more feeling in my foot and leg! Pretty weird how the body works!
I have been sleeping better lately, which is a relief. Taking melatonin. It seems to be working. It is nice to get some sleep again!
One thing I am not liking is that I have been getting frequent heartburn lately, not sure why. I am trying to avoid foods that are known to cause heartburn and all that, but I am overweight so that may be the reason. I am working on it. It doesn’t bother me too much.
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More Progress, Birthday, and Bracelet Broke Again!
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Today my leg is feeling even better and I am loving it! It is starting to feel more and more normal!
I got my new Playstation 3 and played Rock Band for a couple hours today, so far so good. Its not bothering me at all, maybe a slight headache, but I get that from being on the computer too long too! I also got Lost for PS3 and it is awesome! I had to force myself to stop playing! I also love the Blu-ray that is part of the PS3! I bought a couple Blu-ray movies and they look and sound amazing! And Lost looked and sounded awesome too, the smoke monster circles you and you can here it, it sounds like it is behind you! I love it! Other movies look and sound better too.
My birthday was nice, Saturday I had lunch with friends and that was great. We had a really nice time. Afterwards I didn’t feel too well though so I stayed home instead of going out to see another friend. I was invited to a party but I didn’t feel like being around a bunch of drunk and stoned people! So I stayed home and watched a few movies, it was nice and by the end of the night I felt much better. On Sunday, my birthday, I had lunch with a couple more friends. That was really nice too. I hadn’t seen either of them in months so it was great to get together. Then I went to see a movie. I had a pass for a free movie ticket, popcorn, and soda! I saw The Mummy 3. it was pretty good. Then after the movie I went to Best Buy to buy a Blu-ray movie so I bought The Mummy and The Mummy 2. They have special Blu-ray only features so I got them. All in all it was a very nice day. i got lots of birthday wishes from friends on Facebook and I got several phone calls too. Very nice day. The only bad part was that my BTS bracelet broke again. I had super glued it back together but it banged up against my med alert bracelet and a staircase railing and broke again. So I switched my med alert bracelet to my other arm and super glued the BTS bracelet again. hopefully it will stay together. I am also going to look for a new rope or band to put it on to make it safer.
Monday my PS3 arrived. It took me a couple hours to hook it up. I had to go buy a new HDMI cable because the one I had wasn’t long enough. So I ended up buying one that also came with a connector for another HDMI cable so now my satelite box is connected with HDMI and it looks much better too. The composite cables just aren’t as good! Unfortunately my surround receiver only has one optical digital input so I don’t have my satelite hooked up to the surround sound any more. At least untill I can afford a source selector. I need to work some more before I buy one. I sold all my PS2 games and my PS2 and some of my X-Box and Wii games too. That gave me enough money to get Rock Band and Lost for PS3 and I pre-ordered Rock Band 2 and I still have creidt left over which I will probably use towards Guitar Hero World Tour. But I was to see what the new RB drum kit looks like because the GHWT kit looks really cool! But I read the new RB kit will have cymbal attatchments so I am waiting to see. I also got a new bowling game for Wii, but so far I am having trouble figuring out how to bowl, it is not as easy as on Wii Sports.
My neuro doc appointment is next week and I called and asked for a refill for Lexapro because I will run out before the appointment. I need to call the pharmacy to make sure the refill was called in. I also have another foot doc appointment next week. I am wondering if I will need the other brace. Although I am doing much better right now I almost twisted my ankle several times yesterday and today. The doc said to try just the orthotics without the brace so I am but my foot still pulls outward without the brace and causes my to misstep. I feel much safer with the brace on, but I don’t want to keep myself from getting better by wearing it too much. I will find out next week.
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More Progress
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Today I rode my exercise bike for 20 minutes without incident and I went for a 2 mile walk. During my walk I was finally able to walk heel to toe with my left foot! I am loving this progress! It has me very excited and motivated!
On a bad note, today my BTS bracelet broke. I think it was from banging together with my Med-Alert bracelet and my laptop. I think I can fix it with crazy glue, but I will have to make the rope easier to take on and off because I don’t think it will be good to wear it all the time now. Sucks, but no problem.
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My Left Foot!
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I haven’t seen that movie, but I heard it was good! Yesterday I mentioned that my left foot (and leg) was starting to feel better, and today I am positive that they feel better! I am actually noticing that I have more sensitivity in my left foot! And it is moving better! I don’t think I mentioned how when I went to the foot doc the first time and they took molds of my feet I really noticed how different the feeling in my left foot was from my right foot, I knew that there was less feeling because I would step on things and not realize it right away, but man what a difference between the two feet! But the past couple of days I have really been noticing more feeling in my left foot! I am so excited! And its so funny because I was so upset the other day because I had to turn down 3 days of work because of the weakness in my leg and foot! I have hope! I was beginning to think that I might not get my leg back, but now I have hope!
Today, for most of the day, I have had a headache. It was bad enough for me to take advil, but not too bad, although it did keep me from exercising, except I did do some free weight exercises. I think this headache was linked to my sinuses, again, I kinda had an earache too. I see the neuro doc in a week and a half and then if need be I will see an ENT doc.
I heard from one of the friends I was waiting to hear from about Saturday. I sent her an email to tell her the plans I thought I had with our other friend had changed, in case she was basing her plans on that and she emailed back. We are having lunch on Saturday. I sent an email to the other friend to let him know and haven’t heard from him. Anyway, I am still planning on seeing a couple other friends Saturday night so its all good, and if I don’t hear from the guy about lunch its his loss. He did this to me at the beginning of the year too. We had plans and he bailed and then never called and didn’t return any calls. I had given up on him then, but I saw him at someone else’s birthday dinner and he asked to be invited for my birthday! Oh well. Like I said, his loss.
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Leg Causing Problems…
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I went to the foot doc on monday and I got my orthotics. They are not as bad as I thought they would be. I always pictured hard plastic insoles, but these are actually cusiony. I wore them for 4 hours today, day 3, tomorrow I am supposed to wear them for 6 hours. I actually think they are helping, today my leg feels better, its weird how much better it feels. I didn’t notice it until after I wore the orthotics, but I went to the movies and while sitting there I realized that my leg was feeling better and then afterwards walking to my car I felt like I was walking better.
I wish it had felt better yesterday. I got a call from a friend who wanted to get me a few days of work, but they were going to be long days and lots of moving couches and such so we both decided it would be better for me to turn it down. I got so frustrated afterwards that I cried a little! That hasn’t happened in awhile. After I cried I went for a walk, I really need to exercise if I want to take the next work call. I have come up with an exercise program for myself, I just need to stick to it.
I had therapy today, which was good because I was still frustrated about my leg and also about this car accident I had a few weeks ago, insurance companies aren’t fun to deal with. I took care of it later and now I don’t have to worry about it and if they raise my rates I will shop around when the time comes and find a new insurance company. Any, therapy, he let me just complain about everything and tell him how frustrated I was with my situation and that I am frustrated with some of my friends. My birthday is this coming weekend and I had decided not to make big plans and to stay open to things, but I don’t think its too much to ask for people to return a phone call or email in regards to what we are going to do. One friend told me he wasn’t going to make any plans for the weekend so we can do a few things and that he would call me last weekend to discuss further. he didn’t call. I even left a message. Still today I hadn’t heard from him yet so I texted him and he has other plans so he has to leave by 5pm. So that hurts, when was he going to tell me? And another friend hasn’t bothered to return my call or email so I’m not sure if we are getting together. But I do know that I am having lunch with two friends on my actual birthday so that will be nice. I am tired of dealing with people who don’t respect me enough to get back to me. I realize people get busy and may forget about things, but when you’re making plans for someone’s birthday you should return their call. I have decided from now on people get three strikes. I give up after that, I don’t want to waste my time on someone who doesn’t “have time” to get back to me, especially in this day and age when you can text or email, its easy and you don’t have to worry about actually having to talk. Respect, that’s what it comes down to.
I need to get a job and make some new friends. People who didn’t know me before all this. I need to start over. My therapist said it sounds like I am in a transition period, getting better yet not being able to fully get back to work yet, at least not to the point I was before the surgery. He also said that I am too hard on myself sometimes and that I am, given my situation, doing very well. I just have to keep remembering that. I am the miracle!
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Doing Better… kinda
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I am doing better, I think, its just that yesterday I played Rock Band for a little while, not too long, and I started to get the vertigo feeling and a half an hour after I finished playing I had seizure activity. It only last a minute or two, but still. Then a half an hour after that I got the pressure attack in my head (I believe that is a migraine aura without headache.) I still have 2 weeks until my neuro appointment, but I am writing everything down so I can tell him everything that has happened since I last saw him. Hopefully he can shed a light on some of my theories.
Today I rode my bike for 15 minutes, I am taking it easy since I am afraid of the vertigo attacks. I don’t know if I actually felt it starting to come on and was able to prevent it by looking at the floor or whatever, or if I am just paranoid about it happening, but it never fully happened so that’s a positive right? I also started some weight training exercises today. I bookmarked a webpage of upper body strengthening exercises that give you different things to do every day so I am trying it out.
I had lunch with a friend today, it was really nice, good to see her again. Its really hard to get time with my friends so I really appreciate it when I do. Next week I am getting together with more friends I am excited about that too!
Tomorrow is my follow up appointment with the foot doc. I’ll post tomorrow how that goes… whether I need a new AFO brace or not, how the orthotics are, etc…
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Exercise
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I got lots of exercise yesterday and I still got a headache, though while I was exercising I felt OK. By the time I went to bed the headache was bad. This morning I woke up with an earache, stiff neck and a stiff knee, go figure. My ear feels a bit better now, my neck is still a bit stiff and my knee is achy and stiff. I have looked every where for my knee braces and I can’t find either one. I have one more place to look. I thought about buying one, but I have my doc appointment on Monday and since they gave me such a great ankle brace, maybe I can get a good knee brace too, and let my insurance company pay for it! It felt good to exercise, maybe I overdid it a little. I’ve already worked up a good sweat looking for my knee braces because I searched everything in my closet and I have a big walk- in closet!
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Frustration…
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I think my problem last night was frustration, accompanied by a headache. My leg frustrates me and not having a job frustrates me and the constant headaches… I just don’t know if its something I should worry about or something I will have to live with the rest of my life. The headaches come and go, so maybe they are just something I will have to live with, I am just afraid that if I ignore them I will let things get worse like when they first found the tumors. i have gotten headaches since high school so I just took advil and ignored them. Of course I didn’t have insurance for most of my adult life and the times that I did my headaches weren’t really bad, at least not often. I do remember several years ago I was getting bad headaches that advil didn’t get rid of. I just figured they were sinus headaches and beer tended to make them go away! Once I got insurance I got it checked out and I was told the headaches were probably from a sinus infection and was given antibiotics and pain killers and told if the headaches persisted to call again. The headaches went away, for awhile, so I believed my original diagnosis.
I also don’t want to spend the rest of my life paranoid, because that will just make things worse. At the beginning of the year I had an MRI, in January, and it showed no new growth and I waas told to get another MRI in 3 months. But 2 months in I got paranoid and went ahead and got the MRI a month early, it too showed no new growth, as did the next one. I am not due for another MRI until december and I don’t want to spend all that time being paranoid!
Basically I need a job! I need something to do! I got a call yesterday from a friend about a job. He gave me a number to call. I did, never heard back. But I let my friend know that he can give my number out to anyone looking for help because I need the work, so hopefully something will come up soon. I have been cleaning my apartment, trying to be productive during my downtime. But these constant headaches have been bringing me down. I’m afraid to do stuff because I don’t want the headaches to get worse, I need to overcome that fear. I was doing well a month ago, riding my stationary bike, walking and losing weight. I guess the whole dizzy-vertigo thing has spooked me because yesterday is the first time in two weeks that I got on that bike. And I spent all 15 minutes, yeah that’s all I could bring myself to do, being paranoid of having that feeling again! I would like to ride again today, after lunch because right now I am started to get that weird feeling I get when its time for food. I am not hungry but I need to eat something to get rid of this feeling. Maybe I am starting to get a little hungry.
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Not Feeling Right…
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I am not feeling very well, and I am not sure why. My headache is still present and I was feeling a little nauseous just a couple minutes ago I got a chill. I don’t have a fever, but my throat is a little scratchy and I am a bit achy. I am going to try to get to sleep early tonight, hopefully I will feel better tomorrow. I think I will go out for a walk tomorrow. I also feel sluggish, I want to get up and do stuff, but my headache is keeping me from doing so, I haven’t even played Rock Band in several days because I know it will make my headache worse! I have gained back any weight that I may have loss and I feel horrible in that way too. I liked that I was losing weight! I am also feeling a bit sad. Not depressed, just sad. I want to get up and do stuff, I am tired of feeling sick or having a headache or not having energy or having ankle pain! I wasn’t on the computer much today so I know it is not the only sourse of my headaches. And now the smoke smell is back, great, always makes it easier to sleep when I feel like I am smelling smoke! Oh good, the smoke smell is gone, its weird like that just goes as quickly as it comes! Well, I am going to bed. Wish me luck!
