They're back...!

Last night and a bit of today on and off was like a rerun of months ago when I had needed an increase in my Gabapentin, used in my case for my Multiple Sclerosis’s very bad spasms, but I am still determined to wean myself off of it altogether!

You see, I had insomnia last night, an old, not friend but enemy of mine due to having over-thinking and a bit of a nightmare, sadly I can’t remember it the nightmare that is, (It might have made a fascinating short story.). Any-who, I was up at 1:31 A.M., but I forced myself to return to bed and sleep by 3:05 A.M. telling myself that I had nothing to do, which at that point I had turned this techno marvel back on and checked my email and my Facebook page and even Googled to find out if this was a side effect of the withdrawal … and the crazy part is I had even had a cup of coffee that I instinctively have whenever I awake!

Being stern with me, in my silent inner self-talk within my mind; and you know what?

It worked!

Next thing I knew, it was 7:50 A.M.!

Self control is a wonderful thing!

In the article that I found, in those wee hours, was beneficial in the respect that I found out what I might expect with doing diligently step down from a major medication that it called addictive, although not a narcotic. I also was able to glean from it in some ways it is used as an anti-anxiety medication for people returning from war zones, it did not say PTSD but it did seem that was implied, as well as of its usual uses for neuropathic pain as well as spasms, as for my use, and of course its original use for epileptic seizures. The problem was it made its point with insightful fear of your involvement with this ‘drug’, and the side effects were plentiful!

At least now I know why my sinus issue seemed to be enhanced and congestion was rampant too; in spite of the fact that I am still taking the Singulair!

Today was another apparition from my past as well, my spasms were gyrating me as if they never lost a step from my old nasty dance routine called MS needs to remind you its there, but sadly this one was not from my old dancing school days as a child, but from my days before the Gabapentin was added into my mix of too many meds!

It is true, my insomnia had lessened to once in a blue moon and my spasms although still around their violence had relented and; instead of being loudly bombastic in nature they were becoming quieter, subtle like gentle blips of a memory… until today!

Dejevu in a terrible way, but I am trying to be strong, stronger…I need alternatives, ideas. I NEED TO NOT GO BACKWARDS AND CONTINUE FORWARDS ON MY DIMINISHING OF MEDICATION RELIANCE!

My left side appears to be the one that was talking the most today; from that side of my back down to my leg and toes were all doing a one sided tarantella as well as my spilling of my V8 beverage that I enhance with lemon juice and hot sauce bounced by my hand letting go... all over the white tile kitchen floors and white cabinets… who needs murder mysteries every-time I spill its usually bloody red! That's why I try to drink water or club soda more often...Hubby kindly, as usual, cleaned it up, but not before Skipper seemed to lick up one area nearby the fridge where it was seeping under! Yep, Hubby cleaned under there too as well as the grate there and vacuumed the dust too, so not all bad after all, KIDDING!

Sure I still spill a few times a week, but that is not that often as previously, and when I try to enter my pin number for a sale with my debit card, my fingers jump those additional little staccatos causing foreign numbers that I have to cancel and begin again a few times…

But isn’t that the way with MS?

At least I no longer walk as if I am drunk; thanks to using a wheelchair, no one can tell! That was an odd statement, but true too…

Being half blind I don’t use my scooter out for the last several months, since I was dangerous bumping into too many things perception is off and then sometimes my good eye lefty misbehaves like yesterday and gave me double the fun. Since I am not doing Double-mint gum commercials it was not a welcomed concept that is seeing double like in duplicity, my sight that is.

Oh well, MS may never go away, until ‘they’ find a cure, ya know I have been waiting since I was diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting in 2006, that is waiting for that remitting thingy that hasn’t surfaced since then…oh well…

On that self indulgent note of who knows what (I do, I do, a cry for help! Damn that self-talk, did I say that out loud, again? LOL!) allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and let me kindly ask you also to count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who and we will too!

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

Happy and sad...

Our day’s journeys took us to only a few places.

The first stop was to complete my trice weekly exercise programming.

Than onward and upward to acquire our monthly allotment of fuel for our hungry auto; although, it may have been bi-monthly this month.

All I know is that going brought up our rewards for our credit card enough to get our additional 10% from our 2% grocery and 3% gasoline purchases for the month to over the $25 minimal of increments to have it placed into our account!

From there we stopped at a new for us restaurant Bocca Lupo, translated it is the Wolf’s Mouth, a coal fired pizza pizzeria; thus the appearance of the wolf's mouth.

We had wanted to try it over the last few years, but somehow had forgotten to stop, even though it is adjacent to our Lowe’s home store in Port Charlotte Florida, which we have been known to frequent fairly regularly, but not recently.

Hubby tried their calzone and I decided on the small Greek salad and a short order of wings, citrus chipotle barbecue. Lately we have been ordering iced water with lemons when we go out and saving a small bundle in the process; never mind the healthier concept of no caffeine for either of us.

We have more than enough at home.

The calzone, $7, was large enough to take up two zip codes, it hung over the plate, a dinner one, on both sides, and Hubby ordered the personal sized one, the small Greek salad that I had was $5, and it looked as if it had been super sized and was brought out with two bowls for sharing purposes, Hubby wasn’t interested at first, but I cajoled him into it and even than much of it came home!

Those wings for the small portion were ten strong at $8 for the bunch, and somehow between the two of us we only were able to consume three and yes, you got it; the rest came home for a repeat performance!

Oh I almost forgot and yes, a side order of blue cheese dressing for the wings, two cups full, for a mere 75 cents!

And on the full moon pizzas are sold for half price and so we marked our calendar, since the table behind us had an example of aromatic marvel of the big city thin crust kind that we oh so have missed for years and years and yearned for and we vowed to come back!

The last stop was home for me, but Hubby had less than an hour to get ready to go out again. This time to the viewing of Sergeant Mike Wilson, he was murdered in the line of duty at the scene of a domestic dispute. Hubby and he had been co-workers while in the district two office of the sheriff's office, all those years ago. I did not go due to the fact I only met him once, and I am sometimes more trouble than I am worth, maneuvering me and needing a handicap spot for the car, with that crowd would have been impossible. And it was more important for Hubby to go for his own personal solace and to be with people who he knew that they could all commiserate with fond memories of this fine young man who was a husband and father of three and sadly who had been cut down in his prime, at just forty-two years old.

Before Hubby left we noticed that number one son had called on our caller I.D. and so I called him back when Hubby left and we talked until Hubby came back from the very sad occasion.

That’s it for tonight, some days are just that happy and sad…

On that note of much note, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and kindly ask you to count all those blessings and share all those overages with you know who and we will too!

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

PROOF!

Tonight’s blog is taking my desire to lose weight in a definite direction, not by assumption, but by facts as stated below. Not only do all these prescribed medications cause weight gain, but a few cause higher glucose levels in some, and stomach disorders in others, as well as sinus and thyroid problems…Here’s a question to any of you, is the feel good simulated sedation of an ill better than the ill itself?

Oh, the testing results numbers may make you wonder why I think they affected me in that way, when some percentages are so low…well, on the two medications that were administered to me by injection in the hospital back in 1983 that nearly killed me, I later found out in a PDR book, Physician’s Desk Reference that ONLY 1% were affected as I was by Stadol and Talwin that both are in the opiate family that were injected into me by medical personnel in a hospital setting while I was in neck and lower back traction, basically at their mercy. Thus me not wanting narcotics of any type, even given by pain doctors, but into my neck this time!

The last medication is my newest the generic of Singulair and so far at three weeks yesterday nothing has changed, my nose still runs and I sneeze and have by any and all means still have all my symptoms, nothing has changed, but the doctor said it could take a month and next Wednesday it will be just that, but I don’t give it much hope, since I still have congestion and still have had to use my Simply Saline too! Plus the fact that my other medicine is causing this reaction and I don’t suppose anything will help!

Possible side effects of Copaxone:

All medicines may cause side effects, but many people have no, or minor, side effects. Check with your doctor if any of these most COMMON side effects persist or become bothersome:
Anxiety; back pain; flushing; headache; mild redness, pain, itching, or a lump at the injection site; nausea; vomiting; weakness; weight gain.

http://www.drugs.com/cdi/copaxone.html

Gabapentin Side Effects:

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/gabapentin-side-effects.html

·  ·  confusion, nausea and vomiting, swelling, rapid weight gain, urinating less than usual or not at all;

Baclofen:

Other: Instances of rash, pruritus, ankle edema, excessive perspiration, weight gain, nasal congestion. Some of the CNS and genitourinary symptoms may be related to the underlying disease rather than to drug therapy. The following laboratory tests have been found to be abnormal in a few patients receiving Baclofen: increased SGOT, elevated alkaline phosphatase, and elevation of blood sugar.

http://www.drugs.com/pro/baclofen.html

Lisinopril (Prinivil, Zestril) Uses, Dosage, Side Effects ...

www.drugs.com/lisinopril

swelling, rapid weight gain; fever, chills, body aches, flu symptoms; tired feeling, muscle weakness, and pounding or uneven heartbeats;

Hydrochlorothiazide and Weight gain (Weight increased ...

www.ehealthme.com/ds/hydrochlorothiazide/weight+gain

Could Hydrochlorothiazide cause Weight gain? We studied 56,329 Hydrochlorothiazide users from FDA. Among them, 1,471 have weight gain. See who they are, when they ...

Prescription Drugs Causing Weight Gain ? - MedicineNet

www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=56339 

Making matters more complicated is that some drugs, like Prevacid and Nexium, can cause weight gain in some people and weight loss in others.

Singulair and Weight gain (Weight increased) - eHealthMe

www.ehealthme.com/ds/singulair/weight+gain

Could Singulair cause Weight gain? We studied 38,174 Singulair users from FDA. Among them, 787 have weight gain. See who they are, when they have it and more

 Montelukast, or Singulair, is an asthma medication used to ease breathing, chest tightness, wheezing and coughing. It treats breathing difficulties during exercise and allergic rhinitis. Although the pharmaceutical company does not report weight gain as a side effect, anecdotal reports suggest it may be associated with weight gain.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/268433-how-to-lose-weight-after-stopping-singulair/#ixzz2bNSf1HM9

Today was my neuro appointment and I told her my desire to accomplish a decent weight loss, and that I have been going to the gym since April 9, 2013. By now I would think I would have some more significant weight loss, wouldn’t you? I have been doing three days a week since May and only missed three days.

She was amazingly quite receptive to my interest in trying to lessen my dosages on two of her prescribed medications, Baclofen and Gabapentin, the generic of Neurontin. And Dr. Mellor even wrote out the twos step down processes, but felt I should do them separately to see which was causing the bigger problem. The only thing is that especially the Gabapentin has to be done over a three week period. And this is to make sure I don’t have any adverse reactions, such as severe spasms, which is why I was put on it in the first place. My Baclofen is also for spasms and I have been on it for nearly seven years in different milligrams and I have been known to play with it over the years and that is why I felt it would go second and the Gabapentin was the most recent introduced anti-spasmodic.

Tonight, is my first night of cutting back on the Gabapentin from my 1800MG. to 1200MG. I took my dinner time one out and now for the rest of the week I will have one in the morning and one at bedtime, sounds logical to me.

I was also told if I become worse to halt the reducing process, and of course I will; a no brainer in my mind.

I have heard horror stories of people coming off of Gabapentin having seizures so I will surely be cautious.

So that is my story for this evening… I will keep you in my loop and posted as how it is all working.

I can only hope for the best with this first step.

On that note of new hope, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share them with you know who and we will too!

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

PS last night’s fish pictorial was due to a rushed blog with thunder and lightning scaring me terribly! This PC is in the sunroom and last night it was the RAIN THUNDER AND LIGHTENING ROOM! FORGIVE?

FISH THEME! TOO MUCH? IN SUNROOM AND HUBBY'S BATHROOM! STORM COMING IN!

Delayed due to power failure...

The storm has appeared to have passed us by, after its shutting our power down for nearly an hour.

And for a while there, it was really loud and bright, thunder rumbled way too close to home as well as those clashes of lightening that makes you realize having a house with big bright openings, called windows, was that such a good idea after all?

Happy to be inside and away from all windows in that situation.

One thing that we all have to admit though, temperature wise, you can’t beat a passing storm to bring those too warm temps of 94 degrees down to a manageable more tolerable temperature of 76!

As usual I was first again to call the power company and again they were not aware that we were not the only ones without power and accused of us of having an electrical problem within the house and suggested we check the electrical panel and call a repairman if it wasn’t back on if we reset it and still nothing happened! Eventually, as it turned out that we were one of 230 homes without power with their later assessments all due to the storm!

I gave them our landline once again, although, they knew which line I was on; the one I had called them on, on our old fashioned phone with wires, and they asked if they could call us on that line to give us updates, I said sure.

At six o’clock the phone rang, but it was my doctor’s office, robo call, confirming my neuro appointment for this week.

Around six fifteen the power company called back, but not on the house phone, on my cell!

I was annoyed I had requested many times previously to remove that number from their computer since we reduced our minutes to save money on those two lines that Hubby and I shared, to only 150 minutes a month total, down from the initial of 300, costing us a mere $25 a month now, before taxes from everyone. That was done after the first couple of months we rarely used more than 60 minutes, mostly around 30, to us it saved us a few bucks more a month; so why not?

And with Consumer Cellular you can go up or down with minutes just by

calling, no contracts.

Any-who, the power has been back on since I started writing nearly;

and now Florida Power and Light called the right phone number, our landline, just a few seconds ago, huh? The power has been back on, Gosh, nearly a half hour!

Moving on…

Sadly our county of Charlotte County Florida had a deputy killed in the line of duty last night approaching an apartment complex that had a domestic dispute going on. The ace shooter, without a record of any kind shot this officer just above his vest, which killed this fine young man of forty-two, father of three and husband that I had met only once, but Hubby knew from working with him years ago. Hubby claims this gentleman in the uniform always had a smile on his face and was pleasant to everyone.

Hubby showed this man who came from starting at the jail around at the time Hubby’s community policing district and they served together from that district two office for a few years. Our heart goes out to that family and the services will be held at the end of the week at our Punta Gorda Convention Center for all to attend. Sergeant Mike Wilson will be sorely missed by all.

On that way too sad note, which makes us realize how important it is to count all our blessings and share all our overages with you know who and we will too!

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

Angels of Mercy!

 

 

Today we went out to our normal Monday place, the rehab/gym, for my usual workout beginning of my three alternating days.

Nothing new there, but us even deciding to going out to eat was not that different, since Hubby had chosen the Olympia Greek restaurant once again.

And I acquiesced.

The unusual thing was who our server was, an ER Nurse who was working double duty twelve hours at the hospital and another shift at the restaurant!

Oddly enough it wasn’t even any of our local hospitals, which we have four, and three of those are in a ten mile radius; actually two are less than two miles from our home!

The Olympia restaurant was less than a mile from those two, so close to our home, but this gal worked out of county, way down forty miles away, which meant an eighty mile round trip!

It seems that we are one of the states that does not have reciprocity with her old home state of Kentucky as far as certifications go and so she has to go  to Ft. Myer's to receive her CEU’s and the hours and expense I suppose is playing havoc with her future income ,which according to what I read should eventually make it all worthwhile… meanwhile slinging hash, but not in our case, it was turkey for Hubby and Haddock for me; gets her more income than her day, make that night job, crazy!

As interesting and informative as that short conversation was, and ensued primarily due to the fact that she had misplaced our sale's check and I teased her saying "so I guess we don’t have to pay", but she didn’t get it… Any-who, she found it under a plate that she removed and that’s when she began explaining…,

Talk about coincidences, after we left there Hubby went into Walgreen’s to pick up my Simply Saline and Crest Pro Mouthwash, while I waited in the car with air-conditioning running, radio on and a newspaper, to bide my time… He came back with weird news that the young woman who waited on him had said Good Afternoon to him at the register, but than said it again within a few moments time, and she went into an apology when he called her out on it with a smile that she too had been working all night at the hospital as an ER nurse and was a bit tired!

Does that sound normal?

My fear is going to an ER and getting one of those way too overworked nurses!

Moving on…

Are Hubby and I appear to be the only ones that saw the Jeopardy show where that child complained about losing because he spelled his final Jeopardy word wrong for the answer of Emancipation Proclamation?

The child that was winning all the way through the game and bet $30,000, added to his already over $36,000 was the winner fair and square!

The child complaining only accumulated $9,600 and bet an additional $3,000 for the final question, but as in all Jeopardy games, second place only receives $2,000 and third receives 

$1, 000 just like all the other children who played the rest of the one week they had the children playing! Not even that $12,600 would have changed a thing!

PS it is the same for the adults, the winner wins whatever he accumulated during the course of the game and of course final Jeopardy and the second place gets $2,000 and the third gets $1,000!

In my opinion it was like playing telephone with how misinterpreted this whole thing has gotten… Why even our local news stated that the child lost due to the misspelling, which is NOT TRUE at all!

What happened to checking your facts NBC Fort Myers!

On that annoyed note of incompetence, sorry, but true, in my humble opinion, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who and we will too!

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

Frequency

Yes, that can mean many things such as: frequency: incidence, occurrence, rate, rate of recurrence is it in a nutshell pertaining to anything that your mind may wrap around it, from sex to urination, and everything in between, which is much too personal for me to discuss with all of you! How odd for me to say that, hmm?

Although, this use of the word is not that provocative for it has to do with radio frequency or in this case, more specifically a Ham radio: “The term "ham operator" was commonly applied by 19th century landline telegraphers to an operator with poor skills. ("Ham" was also in more general use as a slang word meaning "incompetent", as in the phrases "ham handed" and "ham actor".),”  Therefore an amateur radio operator. “Amateur radio (also called ham radio) is the use of designated radio frequency spectra for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication. The term "amateur" is used to specify persons interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without direct pecuniary interest, and to differentiate it from commercial broadcasting, public safety (such as police and fire), or professional two-way radio services (such as maritime, aviation, taxis, etc.).”

Thanks to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_radio

And http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_ham_radio

We had watched a movie that we were definitely happy we hadn’t missed a second time, since it originally came out in 2000, yep, over thirteen years ago! I heard about it while watching some show and when they gave us a short synopsis it whet our interest to the point of looking for it on our movie rental site and within days we received it. The cast is quite remarkable too with Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel, if anyone watches Person of Interest on CBS, he plays John on that and oddly enough that is the name of the character in the movie too… Most all know Dennis Quaid and his bodies of work. Oddly enough, Mr. Caviezel played Jesus Christ in a little known movie called the Passion of Christ, which was filmed four years after this was 2004. And due to all that controversy I never was interested in seeing it, if the truth be told, sorry to anyone who may be offended by that!

He has come a long way since then, but he was extremely noteworthy in the film Frequency where the premise is that John is in a bad place with his girlfriend walking out on him, nah why argue with the professionals so here’s their synopsis…

“A tale of time travel in which a father and a son reach out to one another across parallel universes to stop a terrible crime: For John Sullivan, there is no question. He would undo the events of October 12, 1969, when the out-of-control Bruxton fire took the life of his father, a heroic firefighter. Ever since he was a kid, John has dreamed of being able to stop the tragedy of that fateful day, which set into motion the anger and loneliness that have haunted his adult life as a cop in the 1990s. Now John may get exactly what he wished for... and much more than he bargained for.”

Thanks to: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/frequency/

I hope I don’t ruin it with interjecting here but it does take many a turn in many directions that causes you to hope … well, let’s leave it that!

In my opinion though it had the feel of an Alfred Hitchcock direction/production, seriously! For the kiddies who have no idea who that is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_hitchcock

Any-who, Hubby and I highly recommend it if you haven’t already seen it, it is definitely the kind of old fashioned movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat with it’s need to know what’s next and of course the superb acting, definitely worth another look if it’s been a while since you last saw it.

On that note of a shameless plug that we had nothing financial to do with, and both gave it two thumbs up, allow me on that note of plagiarizing from two much beloved critics terminologies to be the first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share those overages with you know who and we will too!

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