Paring knife: 1, Me: 0

August 17, 2011

I still don’t know how it happened.  Ok, I admit it, I’m not exactly an expert chef.  But I do know how to chop garlic.

Yeah, I don’t know how it happened, but I know why it happened.  Meds.  Those darn meds.  I got used to the lack of sleep from the steroids.  I’ve adjusted to that over the months.  But several weeks of crazy dreams on Plaquenil has me at a new level of brain fog.

I know how to chop garlic, really, I do, but somehow my thumb got under the knife.  There was the initial, “Huh, I seem to have cut myself.”  A couple seconds later I realized it hurt.  Hmmm.  Brain fog.  Oh look, some skin is hanging off.  And there’s some blood.  I considered continuing to prepare dinner, then realized I might get blood in my food.  More brain fog.  Better clean up.  Ok, clean.  Now what?  Oh, right, back to chopping garlic.  Then I almost did it again.  If the skin had still been there, I probably would have cut it.  Good thing it was already missing.

It’s just a tiny cut.  The bleeding stopped almost immediately.  It’ll heal in no time.  But this brain fog better go away soon.  It’s getting annoying.

Meds have all sorts of warnings about handling heavy machinery.  They should add kitchen knives to the list.

1 Comment | Limitations, Medication, Rants, Symptoms, Unpredictable | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

Shutting off the "good" switch

August 16, 2011

Almost every night it’s the same thing: I start to feel better as the hours pass.  My body naturally does better in the evenings, and having some time at home (away from work) helps too.  I start to feel better and even less tired, so I want to make good use of the time, I want to enjoy it, even by doing something simple like reading a book or watching a movie.  So what’s the problem?  The problem is that I still work in a 9-5 world, and that means waking up much earlier than my body would like.  It means that if I go to bed at a “natural” time then I’ll feel horrible in the morning and through much of the next day.  On the other hand, it’s hard to consciously choose to go to bed early when I’m finally enjoying my day (well, night.)

So now it’s not too late, and I’m feeling good.  I want to stay awake and continue to feel good, but what I should really do is take a pill so that I’ll fall asleep in an hour.  That means I’ll wake up feeling less bad.  But is it worth giving up “good now” for “less bad” tomorrow?  I just don’t know.  I better hurry up and decide, though, if I’m going to take that little pill right now.

Leave a Comment » | Frustration, Limitations, Medication, Rants, Symptoms, Unpredictable | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

What world are the insurers in?

August 8, 2011

I can understand that if insurers think that a narcotic is dangerous, they won’t want to cover a 6-month supply for someone up front.  I get that.  Really.  But for a relatively harmless drug, which has no black market value whatsoever, what is the purpose in preventing early refills?  I’m not talking about filling it twice in a week, but something reasonable, like 22 days into the month.  Sometimes, it’s hard to predict when I’ll feel up to getting to the store.  Or I’ll be out of town.  Or it’s just too inconvenient to be constantly going to the drugstore.  Yes, there’s an option to get a 3-month supply, but only by mail order and only for certain drugs.  This is great if the drug is covered and the dose never changes.  For everything else, what’s the problem with letting me get a refill 22 days into the month instead of 29?  Are you really so worried that I’ll sell my birth control pills or thyroid drugs for some extra cash?  You think they’re good for getting high?  What possible reason could there be?!?

Leave a Comment » | Frustration, Medication, Rants | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

Being right is over-rated

July 28, 2011

I wish I was wrong yesterday, but I wasn’t.  Today sucked, and still sucks.  Waking up early for an unpleasant medical appointment is never fun.  Coming home late isn’t so great either.  Working at a boring, mindless job in the middle makes it all worse, especially when the boring, mindless job involves a lot of computer work, which only makes the pain worse.  The bright spot was that the pharmacy was really quick in filling the prescription that I don’t want to have to take.  And the boring, mindless job has good health insurance benefits, so I guess that’s a positive.  But no, I feel like crap, so I prefer to stay in a lousy mood for a bit longer.  Tomorrow I’ll be back to my happy, cheerful self.  Well, more or less.  Now, I’m just hoping to stay awake long enough to do some dishes and then go to bed at a reasonable hour.  Going to bed too early and throwing off the already-precarious sleep schedule will definitely not help things.  Ok, must stay awake, must stay awake, must stay awake……

Leave a Comment » | Job, Medication, Rants | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

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