Wednesday, January 6, 2010

I am a (mostly accidental) Genius

I just went to visit my hormone guru, Dr. Foster to consult about my fertility woes. Things should be looking up from here.

Anywho, I told her all about my Body Project. She cringed when I said Lyrica and Cymbalta, but I explained about the ascending and descending pain pathway theory, and that my goal was to interrupt the pain cycle. She later said that L and C are fine-- she just saves them for people in really desperate situations, and she agreed that they were a good idea. She said, "I bet the doctor you went to is giving that combination to other patients now." I said probably not, since he refuses to treat Fibromyalgia.

Dr. Foster said that by flooding my brain with neurotransmitters and then going off the drugs and plunging into withdrawal, I essentially hit the reset button on my central nervous system. While I feel better than I can ever remember, I hesitate in recommending this strategy to the faint of heart. I was highly motivated to get off the drugs so that I could get pregnant again. Otherwise, I think it would have been much more tempting to go back on the pills, just to bring the awful withdrawal symptoms to an end. I read many posts online from other people trying to beat a Cymbalta addiction, and they were all very disturbing.

I also told Dr. Foster about the supplements I took, (mainly Fibro Response by Source Naturals, Glucosamine/Chondroitin, Omega Mom, and Vitex) and she commended me for approaching my pain with an inquisitive, open mind, and for doing my "homework." She said I did a good job helping my body heal itself (even if I used scary pills to do it.)

It was a lovely visit, and hopefully my hormones will get back under control soon. A little boost of Progesterone will also help ease inflammation, so I'm looking forward to feeling even better!

5 comments:

Tough Cookie said...

Glad you are feeling better! I had an easy time going off of cymbalta and lyrica/neurontin, but am back on neurontin at my pain docs request. I honestly don't think it helps that much or at all (not sure) but I gave it another go. I'd hate to be on something that I don't really need... raw vegan and all ;-) Just goes to show that everyone reacts differently to these medications.

Lissa said...

I'm glad you didn't have a hard withdrawal. Did Lyrica help? They say those type of drugs all work differently for different people. I have taken Neurontin at least three separate times, and it never did a thing for me. But I know other people who experience complete relief on it.

However, the Lyrica and Cymbalta had very little effect on my RSD pain. I only have RSD/CRPS in my left foot, and that's relatively unchanged. My Sensitivity is much better though-- I'm definitely in an ebb phase of the whole ebb and flow that is RSD. Or else I'm more able to deal with it, because my overall pain level is so much lower.

I thought for a long time that the rest of the pain in my body was also RSD. But I never had the physical symptoms like the tendon shortening, color and temp changes etc in my other limbs. Now I think it is caused by the stress the injury had on my whole system.

Since I was able to be almost pain free on the drugs it gave me time to repair my sleep patterns and give my body a rest.

Did you have any luck with the drug that stops the glial response? I'm anxious to know how that worked out. Congratulations on being such a great for advocate for people in pain! Keep it up :)

Somer Love said...

Cmon hormones get under control.... :)

(hopefully that will work)

Tough Cookie said...

Hi, Lissa! Thank you for the sweet compliments! I really appreciate it! I had a strange reaction to the drug. It's an antibiotic essentially, and it had me feeling soooo strange. My dad said that is the way an allergy to an antibiotic feels -- you know on the first day. Oh well. There are many more being approved as we speak! Lyrica didn't help AT ALL. I mean, zero change, zero side effects. It was as if I was taking nothing. The neurontin I think helps a little, but not nearly enough as I have heard it helps some people :-( That's the nature of the beast, I guess! I am enjoying my new naturopath, so we'll see what happens.

Good luck with your hormones!

Lissa said...

It is so odd how drugs affect people differently. From almost the first moment I swallowed the Lyrica, it was as if my head was detached from my body.