PDA

View Full Version : Headaches



onatreetop
11-08-2009, 07:24 AM
Did you get the last post from "mom of 18year old". Sorry again for rambling I dont stay on one track of anything. I always have muitple things going on. Again Sorry.Thanks for th info. I can sleep better at night having questions answered. I listed all supplements and am meds.

Sangye
11-08-2009, 09:15 AM
No worries about rambling--living with Wegs is complicated! And we all like to help each other as much as possible, so ask whatever you want. Anything to help another Weggie sleep better!! :D

Those morning supplements should be okay. I'm concerned about the daily aspirin, though. Pred is hard on the stomach and so is aspirin. The combination could be very bad.

Headache is one of the most common side effects (http://www.crestor.com/c/explore-crestor/side-effects.aspx) of Crestor.

snooz23
11-08-2009, 01:40 PM
I wanted to add some info here because I am taking a lot of supplements and hadn't really thought about the effects it would make on the overall disease and the interactions w/ the meds. My nutrition doctor does work w/ WG patients but I am tempted to reconsider. I thought I was on a good path but this information plus my up and down days have me thinking. Here's what I currently take:
40mg pred.
20mg metho. (once/week)
Bactrim 800 (3x/week)
1mg folic acid daily
centrum silver multi-vit daily
1360mg omega 3 fish oil (7 x daily)
time release b-100 (5 x daily)
500mg cinnamon (7x daily)
Cal/Mag/w/ D (7x daily) Cal=1000mg Mag=500mg and D=400iu

In this process I was also diag. w/ celiac disease and have changed my eating habits considerably. Of course, my main goal is to do whatever it takes to feel "better". I know the old self is not coming back but I am hoping to find some kind of balance. However, I am wondering if I am doing too much, too soon and actually causing more issues.

onatreetop
11-08-2009, 03:59 PM
The PM

50mg Cyt.
1000 mg c
50mg elavil
60mg cymbalta
lisapril
calicum + d
more fiber

That is it for know that I can remember.
I started taking the crestor and lisapril after I was released from the ER and my first TIA. My mom has a big history it all happened so fast. She is 63 and trapped in a 85 year olds body. Can't work and has limited moblilty after two caroded art. bi passes. 6 fusion lower back. hip surgery both, skin cancer, oslen weber rendu syndrom, diabetic, thats with out me looking at her list. Those are the magors that I have been looking out for myself too. So when I had the mini stroke I told my primary that I needed to do something about these levels before I end up in her shoes earlier. The headaches I had got better when my blood pressure got better. But the first couple weeks of WG treatment I knew my pressure was up and it was bad. The headache. The tell tail sign that my pressure was sky high. I havent had that begin again til recently.

Thanks again and if I didnt require sleep I'd be fine. Wouldn't we all?

Sangye
11-08-2009, 04:12 PM
Here's what I currently take:
40mg pred.
20mg metho. (once/week)
Bactrim 800 (3x/week)
1mg folic acid daily
centrum silver multi-vit daily
1360mg omega 3 fish oil (7 x daily)
time release b-100 (5 x daily)
500mg cinnamon (7x daily)
Cal/Mag/w/ D (7x daily) Cal=1000mg Mag=500mg and D=400iu

In this process I was also diag. w/ celiac disease and have changed my eating habits considerably. Of course, my main goal is to do whatever it takes to feel "better". I know the old self is not coming back but I am hoping to find some kind of balance. However, I am wondering if I am doing too much, too soon and actually causing more issues.
You should be taking a better quality multivitamin than Centrum. It's awful. Almost anything in a health food store is better, though I really don't like to recommend health food store supplements. (I prefer people go to a holistic physician who knows clinical nutrition) Don't get anything fancy that has huge amounts of nutrients or added things like blue-green algae, etc... and take the recommended dosage.

That's a huge amount of fish oil. You don't need that much to obtain the anti-inflammatory effects. Take the dosage recommended on the bottle.

Cinnamon? There are many reasons for taking it. I'm not sure what yours is. The dose seems awfully high. Both cinnamon and fish oil have blood-thinning properties in high doses. It can be dangerous to take too much of a good thing! :)

Sangye
11-08-2009, 04:16 PM
Onatreetop,
Pred can raise blood pressure. Please get that checked asap.

Your supplements look fine. Just take the fiber at a different time than your supplements and drugs so you don't interfere with their absorption. Take the fiber 1 hour before them or 2-3 hours after. Or at lunch!

onatreetop
11-08-2009, 04:34 PM
Okay I will. I will corner the prim. when I visit for the allergy meds and Itwill talk to him about the pressure again. Thank you so much.

I hope your cocktail of meds works out for you soon. Sleep well:)

elephant
11-09-2009, 10:59 AM
I have a drug reference book at home, and alot of the drugs for wegeners disease have alot of drug reactions/side effects. Plus if you take a certain drug it can increase or decrease one of the meds for wegs. Cyclosporine and cellcept are two drugs I take and I have to be very careful what the doctor orders and make sure there are no drug reactions. I usually ask them to look it up right there. I check my blood pressure everyday ( it is up and down). I've had my blood pressure as high as 250/117! It's a balancing act. :)

Sangye
11-09-2009, 11:51 AM
Wow, that is really high bp! I'm relieved to know you check it every day. Especially with kidney involvement, bp must be kept well within the limits. (I'm sure you know that already!)

I get all my prescriptions filled at the same pharmacy. That helps cut down on drug interaction problems, since the computer will flag them automatically.

snooz23
11-09-2009, 12:17 PM
Maybe I need to pick up a book that talks about drug interactions in regards to supplements. It is so difficult because I take so many things and some don't want you to take them near each other, etc. and there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the days. Does anyone have a good drug/supplement interaction book? Thanks!

onatreetop
11-09-2009, 01:04 PM
I have to mail order all maintainace drugs after the first thirty days. Oh joy! Found the oops in that when you don't need it that long!!! I was mad. The cycl. is temp controlled so it has to be shipped special in a cooler. And only certain days of the week. Someone was to be there to sign or they wont live it either. Pain in the butt. My first refill took a month, they had to give me a month temp, 7 days at a time. until the shipment actually left! I will have to do that this month with the Bractrim. Got to love the perscrip companies!!

onatreetop
11-09-2009, 01:17 PM
I think you can look them up online? Or at least the warnings like don't take if you take.............................................. .? I either get them through the mail or at the same phar. with the same insurance. that seems to be the best I can consolidate. I am trying to prevent , like all of us, any future ills that are in our family history.

So....The asprin and oils are for blood thining. The other is to keep me moving without joint probs hopefully.

My mom is finally had something good to say about my RA, and hers now. She said the infusions are really helping the arth. that she has . Better than injectable that was thousands a month.

Sangye
11-10-2009, 02:24 AM
Great news about your mom!

You can look up most drug-supplement or drug-herb interactions online. I have some good websites for it, just have to find them.....

onatreetop
11-10-2009, 02:58 PM
Went to the prim. Doc today. She said yes you need allergy meds. I told her that buying them wasn't an option and she said all I had to do was ask for samples. I did that with the girls up front and got nowhere. So making the appt. and getting in there was the key. I left with samples for two months of Singular, crestor and nasacort. A script for floricet and Vicadin. Good bye headaches and good bye pain. I feel like a walking pharmacy. I can make it through the day now. I talked about the Wg doc in Baltimore and she said keep that appointment! She said the turn our health care is taking everyone will be messed up and in line for spec. docs if they are permitted to see them at all.
my mother and I went to the lab together today and got stabbed. What a fun Mother and daughter outing. We both complained about our weight and decided to walk the boardwalk. Then had pizza!! oh well it was good. It was a very unseasonel day. Got a bit of sun too. It is November right??

Jack
11-10-2009, 05:54 PM
She said the turn our health care is taking everyone will be messed up and in line for spec. docs if they are permitted to see them at all.
I would not worry too much about that. Here in Britain, I can see any specialist I need on the NHS system within a very short time if I need them and all for free. My local GP and also the Renal specialists who treat me will see me the same day.

onatreetop
11-10-2009, 10:52 PM
She seemed really upset. I dont know about you but when I go to the doc I am usually expecting an upbeat kind of person in a better mood than me, not always but most times. But the woman was raving for about 15 minutes. She was truely not happy and very uncertian about her future when she has to take on people that she is not specialized for like me. She said there will be a lot more mis- dx's and improper care because of lack of knowledge in those special areas.
I am releived to here that it is still possible to get in to the spec docs. asap. I have a friend in New Zealand that is having one hell of a time. Dx'd finally with lukimia. And waiting on bone test results. He is older and the docs dont seem to be in a hurry because now they say he is stage 4. If they had dx'd it a year ago it wouldn't have come this far and he could have been treated better with less symtoms. Sad really he is a good man who worked hard all his life and to trusted the doc's to figure it all out and by the time they did he is so far into it. i know that misdx'd people get the muddy end of the stick all the time but when you know them it is even muddier.

Jack
11-11-2009, 12:18 AM
There seems to be some sort of idea that treatment is going to be directed by politicians, but there would be an outcry in England if this was the case. The nearest thing we have to political interference is in doctor's pay (they are one of the highest paid professions) and drug approval. The drug approval is made by a committee on the basis of effectiveness v. cost and some very expensive drugs with limited effect have been banned. This always leads to press stories from people who believe their lives could be prolonged by their use, but these cases are rare.
I can choose my own GP and if referred to a specialist will be given a choice of at least four different hospitals, but I usually go with the doctor's recommendation.
I believe there were similar scare stories when the NHS was introduced. Some doctors were used to being a law unto themselves with no scrutiny and a very high income so being introduced to the real world came as a shock.

Sangye
11-11-2009, 12:36 AM
We have so many members on here from countries with nationalized health care and no one ever complains. I've never heard of anyone in other (ie, non-US) countries being denied care the way we routinely are here with our current system.

I was going to Mayo in AZ before I moved to Maryland last year. They didn't take my insurance, so each visit I got stuck with several hundred dollars of bills. That was with just one rheumy appt! It would take me months to pay it off, and I no longer have the resources I did then. If this current flare happened in AZ, I couldn't have afforded a Wegs specialist and there was no one else who would treat me. I have great insurance and couldn't get care!

I wonder what was wrong with that doctor. MY docs at JHU are thrilled with health care reform. Several have even told me they want single payer.

BTW-- lucky you have insurance if you want to see the Wegs specialist at JHU. When I was first trying to get in, there was some confusion over my insurance. They said they didn't take it so I couldn't be a patient there even if I paid myself. They wouldn't even let me make an appt! That's denial of access to specialists. What would I have done?

Many people in this group are suffering because they don't have insurance or the specialist they need doesn't take their insurance. Some are suffering permanent damage because of it. I know of at least one Weggie who died because of it. The thing we fear is already here.

Doug
11-11-2009, 02:15 AM
Exactly. I haven't talked with all of my doctors, but there is a general consensus that anything that reduced the paperwork and increased the amount of time available to examine patients would be good. I'm sure an adequate pay scale could be worked out, leaving only the biggest earners wondering how to pay for fuel for the yacht. Ha!:)

Sangye
11-11-2009, 06:35 AM
It upsets me to hear anyone (I don't care which political party-- people from every side say it) say they're worried all the previously uninsured people are going to clog up services or mess things up for the rest of us once they have coverage. If they hadn't been left without care for so long, maybe they wouldn't be so desperate for help....

Also, if primary care physicians were paid fairly (ie, not less than specialists) we wouldn't have a PCP shortage. We have to correct the supply and demand sides of the equation.

I know a lot of families of kids with cancer and other horrific illnesses. They live in constant fear of losing coverage or being denied services. One of them was just told their child--who's in the middle of chemo-- can't get coverage for pain or nausea meds anymore. They're out of their minds with worry.

Jack
11-11-2009, 07:48 AM
Average income in England is £25,000

Average General Practitioner income is £118,000 with stories of some earning up to £300,000 by providing out of hours and other services.

Hospital consultants earn a little more than GPs but can also take on well paid Private work.

So they all still manage to do OK for themselves. ;)

onatreetop
11-11-2009, 09:32 AM
Today is national Headache Day!!!! November 10th! OMG!! That explains the headache right? Just kidding. Worked out for the first time in a long time today. Hope to keep it up and shed some of the pounds and blood pressure and headaches.

Sangye
11-11-2009, 10:34 AM
Too funny about National Headache Day! Another medical mystery solved.... :D

How awesome that you were able to work out today!:)

coffeelover
11-11-2009, 02:34 PM
No wonder I was so crabby today! National Headache day!

Doug
11-12-2009, 03:07 AM
I thought it was because of what English doctors make. No? Actually, converted out, it looks about consistent with what a GP would make here. I think there is a personal component to how much a doctor makes. Those with high maintenance needs take more patients to bring in the bucks or set up practices where they can make the most money based on demographics, say heart doctors in Miami or reconstructive surgeons in Beverly Hills. Living in a remote area, as I do, I'm always amazed that specialists locate here, both because they make more elsewhere and because they don't have the benefits of easy professional contacts to help keep them up to date on their specialties. Oftentimes, the ones who do locate in this area do because of family ties here, lower costs of business mitigating lower income, or a desire to raise families in this kind of environment.

Sangye
11-12-2009, 05:08 AM
We are losing PCPs in this country at an alarming rate. It's because they only get paid for an office visit, yet have to maintain malpractice insurance, office staff, etc... Very high overheads. Insurance doesn't pay them much. They have to see tons of patients every day just to break even. Specialists do "procedures" and can bill much more for them.

onatreetop
11-13-2009, 12:16 AM
New Jersey has the highist taxes and malpratice and auto insurance still I believe. I know to many docs that have moved out of state or closed shop. It is a bit scary. And I moved here from Calif. because I couldn't afford to live there over twenty years ago.