the Aleve works!!!

[mmegaera]

At least so far. Apparently it's not good for migraines, which was what made me think it didn't work at all several years ago, but it's *excellent* on cramps. And it lasts *12 hours*!!!!!

Also, the Prilosec I've started taking to protect my stomach lining from the NSAIDs per the nurse is also helping with the nausea, without the loopiness side effect the anti-nausea med gave me. That and eating less at a time but more frequently.

Here's hoping this state of things lasts longer than the last round of "making Meg comfortable" meds did. It's been very hard emotionally to realize that hospice's concept of comfortable is a lot more realistic and pragmatic than mine was.

Oh, and morphine (for breakthrough back pain) *must* be taken with a Miralax chaser. 'Nuff said.

Comments

[dfledermaus]

Yay! Glad to hear you've got some workable options for relief.

[mmegaera]

So far it's sort of like playing whack-a-mole, but I seem to have clocked the mole in question for the time being, anyway [g].

[castiron]

Hurrah! I hope it continues to work well for a very very long time.

On a complete tangent, while working on my dad's genealogy recently, I found one whole branch of his distant cousins that moved from North Carolina to the area around Bend, Oregon around the turn of the 19th/20th century. Not quite your part of the northwest, but it made me think of you anyway.

[mmegaera]

Thank you.

Bend is a gorgeous area. I went through there on my Long Trip last year. It's grown an amazing amount in the last 15 years or so.

[archangelbeth]

Hooray for workable painmed stuff!! And less nausea! And oh dear on the morphine...

[mmegaera]

Yeah, if it weren't for the interminable hot flashes and the rather more frequent insomnia and the constant tiredness, I'd almost feel normal. It's a *vast* improvement, even though it doesn't sound like it.

When my sister is here over the weekend (*not* the one who tried to take over my life in August) one of the things I'm going to get her to do for me is buy me a little fan.

And, yeah, morphine. Ugh. But at least it doesn't hit me over the head with a sledgehammer when I take it. And the Miralax makes it possible for me to take it at all.

[archangelbeth]

Lack of cramps is a vast improvement! Not to say there couldn't be more, but.

...I could probably ship you a little fan. Got one you're interested in? O:>

[mmegaera]

Yeah, because the nausea is back [sigh], in spite of the Prilosec, but the Prilosec's main job is to protect my stomach lining from the Aleve. So we'll try something else, I guess.

No, not particularly (about the fan), but thanks. I think we'll just see what we can find at Walmart or wherever.

[archangelbeth]

Boo, nausea.

Ginger capsules?

[mmegaera]

None of the home remedies (ginger, peppermint) or the OTC remedies (tums, etc.) do much at all. I'm on a different med for it now, that I can take at night but not in the daytime because it makes me loopy (when I first used this word to people to describe this, I was astonished that they didn't understand what I meant! -- isn't it obvious???). It's worse at night than in the daytime, so that's something, anyway. I also have something to take in the daytime, but it only lasts an hour or two, which is why I have the two different meds. They're trying to figure something better out, but it's taking time and experimentation. Joy.

It's whack a mole. I swear it is.

[archangelbeth]

(People not knowing what "loopy" means??? That's... weird.)

Here's hoping that the experimentation proceeds swiftly to a Good Solution!

*sends mole-whacking thoughts*

[mmegaera]

Seriously. Don't they read Calvin and Hobbes?

A metaphorical sledgehammer might be more useful than the stick you mentioned elsewhere...

[archangelbeth]

Oh, my mom was using "loopy" for aaaaages before Calvin and Hobbes ever graced a newspaper! It be old, at least in some areas of the universe...

*attempts to will a mole-whackhammer into existence*

[mmegaera]

I know, I heard it used as a kid, so at least 50+ years old.

Let me know when it materializes [g].

[archangelbeth]

They are clearly... out of the loop.

*ducks, runs*

(no darn molewhacker yet, *grumble*)

[mmegaera]

ROFL

[mmegaera]

Oh, and I have a fan now. Yay!

[archangelbeth]

Yay fan!! If you tie a tiny stick to it, it is a Fan Club? O;>

[mmegaera]

Snort.

[archangelbeth]

O-:>

[ndrosen]

Here's to making Meg comfortable.

[mmegaera]

[g] That's hospice's word, not mine.