Saturday, June 2, 2018

Doctor conversation, yesterday...

Dr. Liliana Montoya is my neurologist, and she has been trained medically in Columbia South America as well as Connecticut USA for that neurology degree, and has been in practice for over twenty years in the United States.
Friday, when I saw her for my appointment and so I had asked in my concern of why I am no longer on any at all injectable Multiple Sclerosis medication?
My use of Copaxone injectable had served me well for nearly eight years, first in its daily 20 mg. dosage form in July of 2010, and then when the FDA approved its three day a week 40 mg. dosage form, way back in 2014, and even so I did have quite of few times a need for 1000 mg. IV Solu Medrol (steroid) for three days at a time during those years ( and causing a temporary diabetic reaction needing insulin during its use, going up to over 300 glucose then when stopped back to normal!); six times, I do believe for my exacerbations due to Optic Neuritis and just plain darn MS exacerbations as well.
And for the last year or so my MS MRIs lesions have been stable and so due to the injection site reactions of numbness and fat diminishing in those sites, sounds like a good thing but apparently not, the fat not, not the numbness. Anywho, and also the sleeping and itching and other issues all might have something to do with my MS newer symptoms since 2015 and I originally thought it was the Ampyra and that was stopped after two months, so did my last neurologist, and so the Copaxone is now thought to not be any longer beneficial and was stopped being used, that is the medication and I have been off of it now since this April 25, 2018, and aside from major spasms that have been controlled with upping my Baclofen that now I am taking additional amounts as per neuro doc's suggestion regularly, not just when needed. The idea she has said that it should be taken before I need it and so now for the last two days I have included the additional dosage upped from the 40mg. a day to now 60 mg., and so now I will see if that is what will help, at one time I took 160 mg.! Yesterday, it did seem to, and I took two 10 mg. more extra ones today again as I did yesterday, and so I will see if that helps too?
The doctor also mentioned that she usually takes her seventy year olds off of MS medication anyway, since it doesn't seem to have any effect on morbidity after that age anyway. I asked so I am precocious?  I will not be that age for two more years plus a month, bud dump bum, she smiled at my comment, and said yes to why now I think, not to me being precocious, ha. (But I had been told that as a child.)

 We also discussed the fact that with thyroid and kidney diseases none of the other medications are advisable for me that covers all the other injectables and pill forms that have been recently FDA approved. Although, if there are any indications from future MRIs that I still will be getting, that new lesions are appearing, or renewed absolute exacerbations, Copaxone will still be my goto medication due to it having the least harmful side effects, until maybe something new comes along? Okey dokey!
I asked does this mean that I might not have MS anymore, and she said oh no that I still do have Multiple Sclerosis definitely (I of course knew that, but what the heck I thought I would ask hoping I was  perhaps wrong?) and the fact that I am not relapsing anymore, and that my condition has gotten worse that it is progressing as all MS does and no medications are available for SPMS that I can take with my other issues, namely the kidney and thyroid diseases.
So I am between a rock and a hard place far as medication goes.

So each symptom will and can be treated accordingly cautiously with those ills in mind.
The pain clinic can help my additional pain from my DDD, degenerative disc disease, as well as my spinal stenosis, and spondylosis, and those two procedures that I already have had over the last couple of weeks will hopefully deal with those pain issues. Then the pain I am experiencing from the MS, Multiple Sclerosis will be dealt with through most likely the means that I have been, non-narcotic medication wise.

People have asked me whether or not I would use our state approved medical marijuana, and at this point I have been answering no, only because it gives you the munchies and my weight is still an issue for me. And seriously that is my only reason, if I was my old skinny self I would definitely go for it!
Although, ironically, as a teen, in high school and college I was offered the non legal marijuana at that time for fun and the journey it supposedly took you on, and I just said no, due to being a cigarette smoker so I would tell the offerees that I smoked legal cigarettes and that was bad enough, so I would say NO THANK YOU, adamantly!

This was a couple years after 1964 when the United States Federal Government Sergeant General had proclaimed that cigarette smoking is harmful to your health, but no one who was a smoker then was willing to admit that, since we were all hooked! Sadly, I did not listen nor stopped until July 11, 2006, but fortunately without any lasting side effects miraculously!

So now, as I had hoped my intake of medication is diminishing, and only time will tell what will happen to me?

Oh before, anyone thinks I am not taking medication at all, I still take all prescribed medication for my cholesterol, thyroid= levothyroxine, and kidneys= lasix with potassium, as well as two other medications used for MS, Baclofen, a muscle relaxer/antispasmodic now 60 mg. a day, as well as Gabapentin in my much lower dose of only 200 mg. for the day from initially 2100 mg. that I had weaned myself down from, it is also an antispasmodic, but used mostly for pain in MS and that too of course, but used initially for Epileptic seizures, which I do not have thankfully! But some spastic reactions appear that way, thus the use in MS and why I was originally given it for that and pain.
Not to mention all the vitamins, and probiotics, as well as prescribed over the counter stomach and allergy, and asthma medications= Breo prescription, and my emergency inhaler by my pulmonologist, the OTC are by my gastroenterologist and ENT.
 
So even though less, I am on still way too much in my opinion!

TMI, sorry if anyone is offended by this? And to anyone who found it beneficial to compare with their own experiences, you are very welcome!

Happy good night all!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

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