01-24-05  09:49, Wayne Chirnside told James Bradley about Tap tap tap...

 Well, how do, Wayne?


 ->  WC> Trazodone, take two at night and out for the first 3 hours unless
 ->  WC> something loud disturbs otherwise I get 7 hours.
 ->  WC> Once awake there's no gettinbg back to sleep.
 
 -> Well, that sounds like a step up! At first, I thought my Amitryp was also
 -> intended to KO me at night. It did, but I had to wake up 
 -> twenty time to drink
 -> water. Right now, they are trying me on Nortriptyline. 
 -> It too is a "crossover"
 -> drug, that tends to work on nerves.

 WC> Well some cautions. 

No... I wasn't trying to promote any pharmaceuticals. I do not work for,
nor is anyone in my proximity employed with... <-;
 WC> For me when first put on the drug there were unpleasant side effects.
 WC> I'd wake up in the middle of the night with a raviaging thirst and
 WC> shortness of breath.

 WC> I suppose I could have worked up to the present dose and avoided this.
 WC> After a month on the drug all side effects disappeared.
 WC> Also when first put on it it was like getting drunk.
 WC> Take the trazadone and 20 minutes later you felt totally drung, 5
 WC> minutes later you were asleep.
 WC> Now it's 30 minutes to lights out and it comes on gently.

You should see the weight problem I'm working on from these! I think it was
Amitrityline that Jerry... (That comedian, Jerry... With the telethon?) was
on.
 WC> Priaprizom is the other known side effect and if you get a hard on
 WC> that won't go away you must seek medical treatment, this has never
 WC> happened to me.

That always perturbed me when a comedian would joke about that, with that
Physer drug, Viagra. Necrosis, and gangrene... Real funny!
 WC> So all in all this drug has been ideal for my getting a good nights
 WC> sleep with no side effects or blood tests required.
 
Trazodone... Think I'll ask about that one. Right now, I'm ramping up on
the Nortrityline, but it seems no different than the Amitrip.
 ->  -> Are you mobile?
 
 ->  WC> Barely, I get 2 hours or less daily standing and - sitting combined,
 ->  WC> after that falls and embarrassing _accidents_ happen.
 
 ->  WC> I can walk about 6 blocks on a good day.
 ->  WC> Were it not for my dog needing walked I doubt I'd have ANY
 ->  WC> remaining mobility.
 
 -> They've immobilized your damage, no? 

 WC> No they have not.
 WC> That is PRECISELY the surgery I wanted, I had an orthopedic surgeon
 WC> I knew and trusted but he wasn't on the _list_ of approved surgeons
 WC> Vocational Rehabilitation would pay for :-(
 WC> I wanted a spinal fusion, Charles Finn declined citing a 5 percent
 WC> morbidity rate.
 WC> I'd have gone for it at 40 percent for a chance to return to work.

That's a good question. How much face to lose to spite the nose. They can
shoot me up with a nerve deadener, (Basically getting it so drunk, it loses
the will to live.) but I'd never feel my leg again if it was freezing, or
scalding...
 WC> I've since heard from a large number of people with less than
 WC> desirable results from the surgeon I got stuck with.
 
Somewhat like that here. We get a surgeon appointed to us, and that's it.
It is a public health care system which is nice, but there seems little
incentive to excel. (READ: Same money if you're a hack, or an artist.)
 -> You might want to ask if something called
 -> a neural glide might be a good therapy for you. My pain 
 -> was a slow progression
 -> - I suppose while the nerve bundle was massing - and my 
 -> self induce therapy was
 -> to try to stretch it as I would a muscle. Turns out, quite the opposite was
 -> required.

 WC> Problem is getting someone to PAY for it.
 WC> I've got Medicare but the copays would kill me as I wouldn't be able
 WC> to afford meds or eat.

That can be a sticky wicket! I squeaked by on a federal government's
pension. I'm not sure if I would have been better off earning less when I
was working, then I would have qualified for all sorts of provincial (What
you call a state.) support. I'm just lucky that I knew how to sock enough
away to pay off the mortgage, and leave enough to fund my early retirement.
 WC> What's a neural glide anyway and does it help you?

Only something to ask your neurologist next time you see them. It might
have NO pertinence to your situation.

Because my hamstring seemed tight, I would try to stretch it like a muscle.
The stretch involves moving to tension, then trying to move further to
tension, ad-noseum. This had the net affect to cram my hip joint into the
socket to the point that I couldn't walk. With the neural glide, one pulls
on the hamstring until the nerve sings, then you back off. Then you pull
the stretch until the nerve sings again. The key I believe is not to pull
the stretch until the tension is reached. I can do that until the cows come
home, but it is very counter-productive as my nerve only sings in certain
positions.

As your nerve is not immobilized, and the pain is originating in the back,
I wouldn't recommend it to you unless you get a MD's approval. PLEASE!!!
Don't try to do this yourself!


... I'll TTYL, Wayne.                                James

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