Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

Wow, yesterday was rough. Fortunately I'm moving better today. Not sure I'll make it to the nail salon and the grocery, but I'll be able to walk to the pharmacy.

My sleep cycle is all turned around. Crashed during primetime last night, woke up around the time the late night talk shows started, wasn't really in the mood to watch television (otherwise I would've watched the shows I'd just taped), tried to get back to sleep after dinner, and never quite got there. I'm finally feeling like maybe I could nap now, but I've got stuff I need to get done.

I'm still looking for a ride to Crownsville tomorrow morning, so if anyone's headed thataway from Baltimore, gimme a shout. (I've lined up a ride home. I just need to get there.)

I had to call my doctor for a new tramadol (Ultram) prescription, and she gave me a hard time about it, like I was asking for something unusual and sketchy and dangerous, or like she was afraid to write it. She said "it really shouldn't be taken long-term, it should only be used for a little while and then you should switch to something else." Uh, okay, but why have none of the doctors I'd seen between getting diagnosed with fibromyalgia and coming to this clinic (the doctor I saw just once, who was filling in for my doctor the first day I went there, also didn't want to write a tramadol prescription) ever mention potential problems or act like taking tramadol over a period of several years was anything unusual? I can see some of them being careless or considering it someone else's problem, but I'd think that at least one would have said something before now -- maybe one of the ones who actually bothered to order liver tests when they prescribed me drugs with potential liver side effects.

And what am I supposed to switch to? She suggested maybe Naprosen ... Uh, I already take 800mg of ibuprofen at the same time as the Ultram; I know that there are stronger NSAIDs but I don't think an NSAID alone is going to cut it. And it won't be Vicodin -- the doctors at this clinic, like the ones at the previous clinic, have prescription pads that say "Not for controlled substances"; and I thought a major part of the reason for taking tramadol in the first place (certainly one of the reasons I want it) was so that I wouldn't need the more-scary, more potentially addictive drugs as often.

Has there been recent(-ish) news about tramadol's safety that I didn't catch, or are the folks at this clinic just really, really skittish about any and all pain meds? Urk. I hope this doesn't become a tug-o'-war over this issue. She did say I should be seeing a pain-mamagement specialist, and I'm supposed to be referred to one (and I do want the better (I expect) advice that such a specialist can give me), but that's not covered by the state medical plan I'm on, so it'll be a big out-of-pocket expense when I manage to get there.

Thanks to everyone who filled out my poll regarding which icons y'all like/hate. Some of the results rather surprised me, but they were also even more helpful than I'd expected. A difficult decision became a lot easier (not utterly painless, but a lot clearer) with the addition of other folks' perpectives. Interestingly, when I tried weighting the responses several different ways, the same six icons kept coming out on top in all but one weighting (and in that one, #6 and #7 switched places). I'm going to keep one that didn't make the poll top six because I like it a lot and had been using it for particular subjects that I wanted to keep using it for. But two others in the "I really don't want to let go" category became a little easier to drop once I realized that they weren't having the same effect on others as they had on me. (And I can still use them at IJ and GJ and CJ regardless.) So, again, thanks.

Yesterday I got an idea for a photo manipulation that I decided I really Had To Create ... and which is a bit beyond my current GIMP/Photoshop skill level. Let's see how long it takes me to level up.