Small Talk: The Prayer Closet

[lookeyloo]

Whoop! We are at the Fox waiting for Hamilton to start!!  

[Love2dance]

33 minutes ago, lookeyloo said:

Whoop! We are at the Fox waiting for Hamilton to start!!  

Soooo jealous. Enjoy!

[Rabbittron]

Yesterday I had field day at my soon-to-be 4th graders School today I had the 8th grade ceremony I feel so old I'm only 34 I now have a high schooler?

[Mindthinkr]

1 hour ago, Rabbittron said:

Yesterday I had field day at my soon-to-be 4th graders School today I had the 8th grade ceremony I feel so old I'm only 34 I now have a high schooler?

The bright side is that when they graduate school you will still be young enough to travel and enjoy your life. 

[Catfin]

On 5/18/2018 at 8:40 PM, Jeeves said:

I'll chip in here. I've had hearing aids for a year or so. Started having more or less annual hearing tests (by an audiologist at my HMO) nearly 10 years ago. Lots of hearing loss among my older relatives. I'm glad I got tested, and I learned a lot from the first audiologist. I was told then, that I had some loss in some frequencies but really didn't need hearing aids quite yet. I was "borderline" for a few more years as to whether I needed hearing aids. Finally last year my tests showed enough loss that I was in the range of "recommended" for hearing aids.

One thing I learned at my firs hearing test (and I'm probably not saying this with great accuracy), is that it's better to get hearing aids "early", meaning not wait until your hearing's gotten definitely bad. That's why so many people hate their hearing aids and aren't helped by them. The problem is not just that you're no longer hearing certain sounds/frequencies, it's also that your brain hasn't processed those sounds lately. And when you suddenly start hearing them again, your brain has to learn how to process them again. Plus, you may need some adjustments to the hearing aids early on. And some people just don't deal well with that period of adjustment, get frustrated and give up.

That said, hearing aid technology has advanced by leaps and bounds just in the last few years. My hearing aids are from Costco (seriously, they have hearing centers with licensed and salaried audiologists who do NOT work on commission) and they are tiny little marvels of technology. I'm sure I could have gone another year or more without them, but watching what some of my older relatives went through, I set aside a hearing aid fund a long time ago. And once I learned that it's best not to wait too long, I decided to give my brain a break and not put it through too much readjustment to processing sounds because I'd waited too long. 

There are different styles and types of hearing aids, and I'd beware of anyone who claims that type X is right for you, unless they are a licensed audiologist who has examined you. Anyway, I'm not an expert, just someone who's paid attention to the subject out of self interest.

I wish I could ❤️This many times over. I've had my hearing aids six years, also through Costco. They "white label" the spendy brands. Super value, great provider. I was 47 when I got mine and was amazed at how I had been compensating. Sitting strategically, modified lip reading, watching for non-verbal cues.  Seriously, get checked sooner rather than later.

[bigskygirl]

Looks like I was be going in for therapy for my anxiety. I have days where my anxiety kicks into overdrive, and days it is mild. I am also going back to the allergist for shots *yikes* because my allergies are bad at times, then they go away for a few days then they come back making me sick and miserable and not fun to be around. Not fun especially when my other medical issues kick in around the same time along with being hypo or hyperthyroid at the same time.

[Mindthinkr]

@bigskygirl I hope everything helps. Wishing you a restful day and some cheer. 

[EVS]

15 minutes ago, bigskygirl said:

Looks like I was be going in for therapy for my anxiety. I have days where my anxiety kicks into overdrive, and days it is mild. I am also going back to the allergist for shots *yikes* because my allergies are bad at times, then they go away for a few days then they come back making me sick and miserable and not fun to be around. Not fun especially when my other medical issues kick in around the same time along with being hypo or hyperthyroid at the same time.

I’m sorry you are going through all this. 

[bigskygirl]

It could be worse.  I could be making strange and bizarre posts on twitter pissing people off and being in denial about what really happen, and blocking people with my husband posting pictures of me telling the world what a wonderful wife I am and making poor Sassy cite bible verses.

[CherryMalotte]

To bigskygirl - that's the right thing to do for sure, my daughter has been seeing a therapist now for a couple of months for her anxiety and it's working wonders.  Just for someone different to listen to and give her some coping exercises, it's really worked.  She's on some mild anti anxiety meds as well.  She's had a hard row to hoe the last six months, one job never came thru, then another did and it was awful and she put in her notice.  It's hard, she goes online constantly looking and filing out applications but there's always something that interferes or the position was filled, or whatever.  She's trying to finish her associates in science as well so she can get into a medical program and that's been a real bite in the ass, having to take ONE stupid summer school class and hoping the transcripts go thru and I don't know what all.  Even with all the stressed out bullshit going on at least now she can now see that there's an end to the road that she's on though with the therapists help.  

Edited May 24, 2018 by CherryMalotte

[EVS]

Both my sons saw therapists for severe anxiety when they were in high school. They had different issues/circumstances that caused the anxiety,  but in both cases the therapy made a dramatic difference. I hope things get better for you soon, @bigskygirl  

[Love2dance]

Thinking about you @bigskygirl and really hoping the therapy will help you cope. You should be proud of yourself for admitting you need this help. I wish my daughter would seek help for her overwhelming anxiety, but she just won’t.

Edited May 25, 2018 by Love2dance
Add word

[Barb23]

Hey everyone. My lung fungus removal  Surgery went well. Will give you updates when I can. 

[bigskygirl]

21 minutes ago, Barb23 said:

Hey everyone. My lung fungus removal  Surgery went well. Will give you updates when I can. 

@Barb23 good to hear.

[GeeGolly]

Great to hear @Barb23.

I'm a believer in therapy, cuz, well I'm a therapist. I also live with anxiety. Hang in there @bigskygirl therapy really helps! Just one word of advice - I tell folks to 'try on' therapists like they try on shoes and if they don't fit after a few sessions, advocate for yourself and see if you and your therapist can change the content of your sessions or if he/she could recommend a better fit.

[ChiCricket]

      I just got home from the hospital after my second knee replacement.

The first one seemed to go so much better. I'll be glad later that I did it, but right now I.am.not.

[bigskygirl]

Hope you feel better soon @ChiCricket

[Sew Sumi]

@Barb23, glad to hear of your successful surgery. 

@ChiCricket, hang in there. It'll get better. 

To both of you, continued healing and restoration of full health. ☺

[lookeyloo]

Sending healing thoughts to @Barb23 and @ChiCricket - looking forward to you posting that all is well!!

[ChiCricket]

Thanks everyone. I feel a little bit better, even though I'm scared to death to take the meds they finally got the pain to stop with so I could be released. (Oxycontin.)

  Same surgeon, same hospital, different knee and nerves I guess.

 I just hope I can easily be weaned off of the stuff (it was hard enough to find a pharmacy that even carried it.)

  Tomorrow a home health nurse and physical therapy comes. Anything's gotta be better than to try to sleep in a hospital, and having to a ring a a bell everytime I needed to pee. :)

Bless all nurses..I couldn't do that job!

[Absolom]

13 minutes ago, ChiCricket said:

Anything's gotta be better than to try to sleep in a hospital, and having to a ring a a bell everytime I needed to pee. :)

That was me last week.  Being home never looked and felt so good.  I hope tomorrow is a much better day.

[Rabbittron]

I was just reading the local news web page and it was a story about a firefighter who died in a fall. They described him as having a servant's heart I had to double-check the name to make sure it wasnt Duggar.

Edited May 26, 2018 by Rabbittron

[Love2dance]

@ChiCricket and @Barb23, hope you both continue to feel better each day. Thanks for checking in with us. You are in my thoughts!

[andromeda331]

@Barb23, I'm glad the surgery went well. @ChiCricket I hope your feeling better soon. 

[Temperance]

@ChiCricket I know someone who got their knee replaced  and the first week they felt like hell.  But within two months later they were as good as new. I hope you have as a good recovery as they did.

Best wishes and Good Health to everyone else! 

[Mindthinkr]

15 hours ago, Barb23 said:

Hey everyone. My lung fungus removal  Surgery went well. Will give you updates when I can. 

I’m so glad for you. Wishing you a speedy recovery. 

[Mindthinkr]

8 hours ago, ChiCricket said:

Thanks everyone. I feel a little bit better, even though I'm scared to death to take the meds they finally got the pain to stop with so I could be released. (Oxycontin.)

  Same surgeon, same hospital, different knee and nerves I guess.

 I just hope I can easily be weaned off of the stuff (it was hard enough to find a pharmacy that even carried it.)

  Tomorrow a home health nurse and physical therapy comes. Anything's gotta be better than to try to sleep in a hospital, and having to a ring a a bell everytime I needed to pee. :)

Bless all nurses..I couldn't do that job!

Welcome home

Rest well and do everything that you can so this replacement gives you the mobility to have activity. Umm after being away for any reason your own bed sure feels good. Enjoy it but not too much. 

Yes! Please be careful with that med; you can always split the pills in half when you are weaning. 

[McManda]

2 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

Yes! Please be careful with that med; you can always split the pills in half when you are weaning. 

Oxycontin is an extended release form of oxycodone. It is not meant to be split; it messes with the release mechanism and could actually give you more medication than intended. Please don't split Oxycontin @ChiCricket! 

A proper taper would include taking more tablets of a smaller dosage and increasing the time between doses and fewer tablets.

I'm interested to hear it was hard to find a pharmacy that had it. Mine carries it (but we don't carry Dilauded). Did you call around to try and find it? A lot of pharmacies will just tell you they don't if you call because they figure there's more of a reason you're calling around for controlled substances than actually just to see if you can just make one trip. They'll want to see you to make sure you don't look like you're an abuser, look at the script to make sure it's not forged, and I think it's a requirement (in my state at least) for pharmacies to run a controlled substance report on you to make sure you're not collecting controlled medications from different doctors before dispensing. (All prescribers will have to do this too, starting 6/1). It's judgey but true.

[Mindthinkr]

1 minute ago, McManda said:

Oxycontin is an extended release form of oxycodone. It is not meant to be split; it messes with the release mechanism and could actually give you more medication than intended. Please don't split Oxycontin @ChiCricket! 

Pardon my mistake. I thought that I read the drugs name as Oxycodone. (Like Percocet or Percodan). Not Contin. @McManda is correct. That is not a drug that is scored for splitting. Do not attempt to halve it. 

Frankly I'm surprised that your Dr sent you home with such a strong narcotic. After most surgeries the Drs in my area use hydrocodone or oxycodone. Please be very careful @ChiCricket. 

I’m very sorry and apologize for any confusion. Good luck with this. 

[Nysha]

On 5/19/2018 at 8:03 PM, doodlebug said:

**I don't know why this is here. Nysha**

 

I'm surprised there are still doctors prescribing oxycontin, oxycodone, or even hydrocodone these days. I had a tooth extraction recently that involved drills, saws, industrial clamps, and hammers and the dentist sent me home with a prescription for Advil 800s. Which I didn't fill because I had a full bottle of Advil in the cupboard and am capable of swallowing four 200mg pills at once. 

[bigskygirl]

11 minutes ago, Nysha said:

I'm surprised there are still doctors prescribing oxycontin, oxycodone, or even hydrocodone these days. I had a tooth extraction recently that involved drills, saws, industrial clamps, and hammers and the dentist sent me home with a prescription for Advil 800s. Which I didn't fill because I had a full bottle of Advil in the cupboard and am capable of swallowing four 200mg pills at once. 

When I had a fractured tooth, the dentist decided to pull it out. He put me on a pain med, and I ended up having a bad reaction to it. I ended up throwing the bottle out and took Advil and Tylenol instead. The weird thing is when I take over the counter pain meds like Advil or Tylenol it makes me sleepy. My physician assistant wanted me to try another med for the anxiety and not sleeping well, but I told her I would try therapy instead because I hate the blasted side effects to the two meds I tried before. I was not able to sleep, bothered my eyes more, bad headaches, more anxious and probably did not help my thyroid levels.

[Jynnan tonnix]

4 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

[Pardon my mistake. I thought that I read the drugs name as Oxycodone. (Like Percocet or Percodan). Not Contin. @McManda is correct. That is not a drug that is scored for splitting. Do not attempt to halve it. 

Frankly I'm surprised that your Dr sent you home with such a strong narcotic. After most surgeries the Drs in my area use hydrocodone or oxycodone. Please be very careful @ChiCricket. 

I’m very sorry and apologize for any confusion. Good luck with this. 

Now I'm curious...I don't know much about these medications, but are you saying that Oxycodone is the same as Percocet or Percodan? Because when I had surgery some 10 years ago, I got what I assumed was a generic Percocet (it was called Roxicet), and that worked really well for me, but a few months later I got a nasty infection in my leg after some sort of bug bite went bad, and they gave me Oxycodone, which made me really nauseous and gave me a horrible sort of hangover migraine.. I had them change the prescription back to the "roxicet" again, and it took care of the pain without any side effects.

[doodlebug]

2 minutes ago, Jynnan tonnix said:

Now I'm curious...I don't know much about these medications, but are you saying that Oxycodone is the same as Percocet or Percodan? Because when I had surgery some 10 years ago, I got what I assumed was a generic Percocet (it was called Roxicet), and that worked really well for me, but a few months later I got a nasty infection in my leg after some sort of bug bite went bad, and they gave me Oxycodone, which made me really nauseous and gave me a horrible sort of hangover migraine.. I had them change the prescription back to the "roxicet" again, and it took care of the pain without any side effects.

Roxicet and Percocet are compound medications containing both oxycodone and acetaminophen (Tylenol).  Percodan is oxycodone with aspirin.  As noted earlier, Oxycontin also contains oxycodone, but in a special formulation that causes it to be released over time.  The brand name Oxycontin is actually derived from Oxycodone Continuous.

The Roxicet may have worked better for you because of the Tylenol. It's also possible that the stuff used to bind the medication into pill form was different in the generic you got and that's what made you sick. One thing that has come to light in the current opioid crisis is that the tried and true over the counter medications like acetaminophen and ibuprofen work pretty well when given for pain and can decrease the amount of narcotics a patient needs to take.

[lookeyloo]

@doodlebug - good info. I've read on Mr. Google that one can take acetaminophen and ibuprofen at the same time because one works through the liver and one works through the kidneys and together they are quite effective.  It has worked for me on my back, which the MRI showed "degeneration".  Which I'm assuming is arthritis.  Always appreciate your info.

[latetotheparty]

23 minutes ago, doodlebug said:

One thing that has come to light in the current opioid crisis is that the tried and true over the counter medications like acetaminophen and ibuprofen work pretty well when given for pain and can decrease the amount of narcotics a patient needs to take.

I wish that were true. Tylenol does nothing for me and nsaids are off the list since going on blood thinners after my embolism. So I have serious pain virtually all the time. And doctors pretty much say suck it up. I guess this is the rest of my life. 

[doodlebug]

Just now, latetotheparty said:

I wish that were true. Tylenol does nothing for me and nsaids are off the list since going on blood thinners after my embolism. So I have serious pain virtually all the time. And doctors pretty much say suck it up. I guess this is the rest of my life. 

If you haven't been seen by a specialist in pain management, please consider it.  There are a lot of non-pharmaceutical options for pain relief out there that work very well for people who cannot take various pain medications.

[louannems]

I had big toe fusion/ bunionectomy 12 days ago and I was sent home with 30 pills of oxycodone and zofran for nausea. I  used the oxycodone every 4 hours around the clock, but quit after 48 hours.

[GeeGolly]

Sometimes you need the strong pain meds to stay in front of the pain. Then switching it up to over the counter meds when the pain decreases. Pain in and of itself is debilitating and there's no shame in needing narcotics to manage pain when needed.

[latetotheparty]

49 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

Sometimes you need the strong pain meds to stay in front of the pain. Then switching it up to over the counter meds when the pain decreases. Pain in and of itself is debilitating and there's no shame in needing narcotics to manage pain when needed.

It’s exhausting. And I haven’t had a full night of sleep in forever. 

[doodlebug]

3 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Sometimes you need the strong pain meds to stay in front of the pain. Then switching it up to over the counter meds when the pain decreases. Pain in and of itself is debilitating and there's no shame in needing narcotics to manage pain when needed.

Absolutely.  And research has also shown that postop patients who receive non-narcotic pain meds on a schedule for the first few days and fill in as needed with the narcotic will overall experience less pain and use less narcotic.  I tell all my patients who are postop from major surgery to plan to take 3 ibuprofen every 6 hours for the first few days no matter how they are feeling.  I got Tylenol around the clock ordered by my surgeon after my knee replacement.  Sure, I needed the stronger stuff, too, but it helped keep things manageable.

[Jynnan tonnix]

44 minutes ago, doodlebug said:

Roxicet and Percocet are compound medications containing both oxycodone and acetaminophen (Tylenol).  Percodan is oxycodone with aspirin.  As noted earlier, Oxycontin also contains oxycodone, but in a special formulation that causes it to be released over time.  The brand name Oxycontin is actually derived from Oxycodone Continuous.

The Roxicet may have worked better for you because of the Tylenol. It's also possible that the stuff used to bind the medication into pill form was different in the generic you got and that's what made you sick. One thing that has come to light in the current opioid crisis is that the tried and true over the counter medications like acetaminophen and ibuprofen work pretty well when given for pain and can decrease the amount of narcotics a patient needs to take.

Thanks for the info! Yeah, most of the time acetominophen and/or Ibuprofen work well enough for any sort of pain I might have. That surgery was killer, though, because I had a really resistant infection throughout my whole pelvic area. I had been scheduled for a hysterectomy, then this thing hit me a couple of days beforehand, and after none of the antibiotics they tried were helping, they decided to go forward with the surgery even though I had the active infection. From what was originally anticipated to be a simple procedure, I ended up in the hospital for two weeks, and it took the doctor about four days before he told me, "I think you are going to make it", which startled me because I'd never considered otherwise. Apparently they were scooping pus pockets out of me right and left, plus there were a number of adhesions between some of my organs, so it was evidently something chronic which chose that moment to really flare up. To say nothing of the fact that I was severely anemic from years of heavy periods which had started creeping closer and closer together, and were generally coming not much more than a couple of weeks apart at that point. But, yeah, the pain after the surgery was excruciating. I remember thinking, at the time, that if I ever needed a similar procedure again to save my life, I wasn't sure going through that sort of pain was going to be worth it. But it's odd, in retrospect, that while I remember that thought, I don't particularly remember the pain. Kinda like you never really remember the pain of childbirth once it's over

[Mindthinkr]

Ouch @Jynnan tonnix  Glad that’s behind you. 

[Nysha]

I had a hysterectomy in 2012 and my doctor gave me a prescription for Vicodin and told me to take one every 4 hours and 3 Advil 2 hours after the Vicodin for the first 48 hours after I was released from the hospital to keep on top of the pain. After that, it was every 6 hours for each. Since I had my 18-month-old grandson and the pain meds made me sleepy, I ended up just taking regular Advil & Tylenol during the day and doing every 4 hours for both Vicodin & Advil twice during the night after my grandson went to bed because the pain was so bad I couldn't sleep. It didn't help that I wasn't supposed to lift anything weighing more than 2-3 lbs and my boy was 20 lbs and had to be picked up all the time. Thankfully, we both survived that miserable month of recovery.

[latetotheparty]

2 hours ago, Jynnan tonnix said:

Thanks for the info! Yeah, most of the time acetominophen and/or Ibuprofen work well enough for any sort of pain I might have. That surgery was killer, though, because I had a really resistant infection throughout my whole pelvic area. I had been scheduled for a hysterectomy, then this thing hit me a couple of days beforehand, and after none of the antibiotics they tried were helping, they decided to go forward with the surgery even though I had the active infection. From what was originally anticipated to be a simple procedure, I ended up in the hospital for two weeks, and it took the doctor about four days before he told me, "I think you are going to make it", which startled me because I'd never considered otherwise. Apparently they were scooping pus pockets out of me right and left, plus there were a number of adhesions between some of my organs, so it was evidently something chronic which chose that moment to really flare up. To say nothing of the fact that I was severely anemic from years of heavy periods which had started creeping closer and closer together, and were generally coming not much more than a couple of weeks apart at that point. But, yeah, the pain after the surgery was excruciating. I remember thinking, at the time, that if I ever needed a similar procedure again to save my life, I wasn't sure going through that sort of pain was going to be worth it. But it's odd, in retrospect, that while I remember that thought, I don't particularly remember the pain. Kinda like you never really remember the pain of childbirth once it's over

I’m so glad you’re okay. My sister went through something similar with her bladder and I have never been so scared.

i don’t remember the pain from my hysterectomy but I do remember the pain from the Foley catheter. That’s a pain I can never forget. 

[ChiCricket]

14 hours ago, McManda said:

Oxycontin is an extended release form of oxycodone. It is not meant to be split; it messes with the release mechanism and could actually give you more medication than intended. Please don't split Oxycontin @ChiCricket! 

A proper taper would include taking more tablets of a smaller dosage and increasing the time between doses and fewer tablets.

I'm interested to hear it was hard to find a pharmacy that had it. Mine carries it (but we don't carry Dilauded). Did you call around to try and find it? A lot of pharmacies will just tell you they don't if you call because they figure there's more of a reason you're calling around for controlled substances than actually just to see if you can just make one trip. They'll want to see you to make sure you don't look like you're an abuser, look at the script to make sure it's not forged, and I think it's a requirement (in my state at least) for pharmacies to run a controlled substance report on you to make sure you're not collecting controlled medications from different doctors before dispensing. (All prescribers will have to do this too, starting 6/1). It's judgey but true.

I actually knew some of this stuff once upon a time. I was a pharmacy tech for many years, and you do pick some things up. But not for nothing do pharmacists make the big bucks.

 There is a lot of knowledge about medicine stuffed in their heads. My SIL is a doctor and my niece is a pharmacist. She knows way  more about drugs effects than he does. And I know she's constantly updating her knowledge.

Thanks for the heads up. Because I'll be honest,  I thought..Oh..good idea..maybe I'll just take a little more off each day. As you said, time release pills are not made to work that way.

I saw too many addicts at the drugstores I worked in to want to become one myself.

 And now that I am not hurting so much and can think a little bit better, I'm realizing I should have sent one of my (grown)  kids instead of my elderly husband in for that prescription. English is his second language , (but he speaks English just fine) but his accent takes getting used to.

  Oh, and the fact that's he's losing his hearing and won't admit he didn't hear/understand what the other person said..yeah..probably stressed him and the drugstores the hell out. (sorry..if you read this far..it's the drugs, I swear)?

PS doctors also have vast knowledge. Just that my SIL will always just be Nathan to me..kind of a doofus who loves my daughter and their kids, but who became a doctor years after I first knew him (when he was still a mechanical engineer.) So, poor guy will never get that doctor respect from me)

PPS GAH..must stop typing!! 

Edited May 27, 2018 by ChiCricket
should not yell words

[ChiCricket]

13 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

Pardon my mistake. I thought that I read the drugs name as Oxycodone. (Like Percocet or Percodan). Not Contin. @McManda is correct. That is not a drug that is scored for splitting. Do not attempt to halve it. 

Frankly I'm surprised that your Dr sent you home with such a strong narcotic. After most surgeries the Drs in my area use hydrocodone or oxycodone. Please be very careful @ChiCricket. 

I’m very sorry and apologize for any confusion. Good luck with this. 

No worries. In fact, the HUGE red warning it came with should have jogged my memory.

[Marigold]

Hope you are all doing better this weekend.  

My hot flashes are still super hot. Unfortunately.  There are much worse things to deal with so I'm not complaining.  It's just so...hot! 

 

My house is beyond messy and I'm trying to shovel out.  Large family + little time = big mess

We conquered the outside so tomorrow we are focusing on the inside.  Everyone feels that it is not their mess so I anticipate I will be using the "Michelle Voice" a lot tomorrow.  NOT.   ;) 

[ChiCricket]

17 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

our own bed sure feels good. Enjoy it but not too much. 

 I have to wait to enjoy my own bed (whine, whine whine) because MY comfy bed with its expensive mattress is at the top of 16 currently unclimable stairs.

My downstairs spare room bed's mattress is awful. You get what you pay for. I obviously thought way more of my own comfort than any potential visitor's comfort. ?

 SSC (sorry so crabby)

[Love2dance]

Hang in there, @ChiCricket. You’re doing the best you can and entitled to be cranky. Hope you get at least some sleep on the guest bed!

[MargeGunderson]

Swift healing to everyone who is on the mend!