Muscles, joints, sleeping issues...went to Rhematologist today

Hello and hope you are all doing well as can be expected.

I went to the Rhematologist today and it felt like I had my 7 dr's at the hospital trying to figure out what was going on. Several things came up...foremost was the tx I got off of a month ago. I don't have imflamatory artritis, which is a Hep C problem. He is giving me lots of blood tests to see about (another) autoimune disease. That made me cry. I hope it is just getting off of the tx drugs. He says it could be that my body is confused and is going through lots of changes getting off the drugs. I hope this is it, as Chronic Fatigue is not something I want to live with. He said my sleeping 18 hours a day could be because I am not resting well. I do feel stiff and anxious a lot... So he gave me Neurotin. Said it may help me sleep better (like a muscle relaxer) and in a few weeks the pain may subside. In the meantime we are ruling out stuff through blood tests. He wonders why my platelets are still so low.  They are about 110, but were 140 before the blood thinners kicked in. I am moving back in to my house tomorrow...at least some of the stuff will start coming. This is good and bad as I am really not ready to do all of this.I'm not looking forward to being the ONLY person who knows where everything goes, but am happy to be moving home.

I will let you know as tests about these muscle, joint pains and constant sleeping continue. Let's just hope it was from the tx drugs!  

Linda

[cruelworld]

i beleive that when are finished meds you should pretend you are lance armstrong.
go on a religious crusade to rebuild you endurance. even lance armstrong couldnt ride his bike much when he first started to rehab. do it religiously and build up.
he got it all back and more, you can too.
i beleive this exercise will solve many other problems like magic. the interferon has shut your body down for a long time, and you have to sweat profusely and regularly to build it back up. moving back to your home is definately a great start, but remember, you are not really acheving what i refer to until you are soaking wet with sweat. onward we march. go get em!

[Forseegood]

positive post from Cruelworld, his name doesn't match his attitude! he he...anyway, I hope you really feel better soon, and I know you will...

[rosebud57]

my computer froze on original comment so this is my condensed version..

oh... i hope its nothing serious..
good news that its not RA,  i bet you will appreciate being back at home and when you begin to feel better -- you probably won't even care if you're the only person who knows where everything is..

hope you feel better soon,
keep us posted
rose

[wyntre9]

Linda,

So glad you're FINALLY getting to move back to your house but sorry that you're having so many post tx issues.

i sure hope they find out what it is, fast.

Did you ever try celebrex for the aches and pains?  I had to take it a couple of years ago when i came down with sciatica and it was amazing.

Hang in there.  I'm sure the 18-hours-of-sleep days won't last.

heck, I've done that a couple of times and I'm only at month 5!

What CW says about sweating, i have to share that I go to the steam room once a week and I always feel so much better after.  I can practically FEEL the toxins leaving my body.

And if I don't make it to the steam room, my week is usually worse.

Take care and stay in touch.

Wyntre

PS - there must be something about TX and MOVING!  I'm leaving June 1 after 13 years in the same place!  At least you get to Move back to a place you love.  hope all goes well with that, but I know how exhausting it is.

[wyntre9]

Just had to pipe up and say I thought your helmet joke on the other side was very funny!  :)

wyntre

[GrandmaA]

I'm sorry to hear about all the post tx sides. Hope they will go away soon. But so glad to hear you are moving back into your home. Did they put all the books back? How are the kitties? Must have missed you terribly. You know how cats are, if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you are with.

[Myown]

Linda you have been thru alot between tx and so many personal issues, court, fire, moving.... I think that all that has taken a toll on your body in addition to the meds and I pray that once the meds leave your system and you get settled in the house, your health will improve until you are feeling just fine. I really hope and pray this happens.

Try not to put the house back in order all at once. I know I can't stand things out of place, but your health is more important. Do a little at a time and try not to stress. It will get finished in due time.

[mikesimon]

I know my platelet count takes a while to recover from TX meds. My last TX was half dose Pegasys and 200 mg ribavirn and I stopped the end of December and my platelet count is 139,000 as of Tuesday. I think it just takes a while for platelet count to normalize post TX and your count isn't dangerously low anyway so I wouldn't worry about it at this point.
I took Neurontin for chronic pain but it didn't seem to help much and I didn't find that sleep came any easier. I think Trazadone is great for sleep and I had never taken it until after my wreck. They gave it to me when I was in the trauma unit because they felt it was safer than Ambien for a patient with head trauma. Now, that drug works for sleep and apparently is pretty safe. If you got Neurontin for anxiety I can't comment. I don't suffer with anxiety but on the rare occasions when I do feel anxious I take Ativan. It is prescribed for "situational anxiety" like after a rather spirited discussion with a member here.
I wish you luck on the move. It's great to see you posting here.
Good luck, Mike

[sfbaygirl]

First to Missmiss, yes I am cheating by checking the Display thread. LOL Ca;;l me I do love talking to you.

Cruelworld and Forsee;  I agree with you post. I just wish that I the pain and sleeping kept me from doing more exercise stuff. My doc yesterday said I should walk very little and I have been stretching (all Please excuse my horrible spelling and grammar, it is not good at the moment). Thanks for the great coment on movement etc. Has anyone watched Stecth and flex from San mateo PbS. It is great. I really want to do the stetch and metitation tha is so great. I have Tivo'es a few.

Rosebud;  you are funny.  The movers came today, I had a whole schemic set up where I was going to change all the furniture around. When they showed up I felt awful and told all that everything was going back exactly like it was before, as a few know where they went.

I am so glad it is not RA, but this pain is over a 10 at times. Hopefully when the drugs wear off I will be all better. That is my hope and plan. Thanks for your thoughts.

Wytre; Yep, moving home. What a nightmare. The movers were nutzos and we have to unpack. I may be awhile before things are straighted out. The horrible things that have happened today is all the kitchen cabs are still smelling like smoke. The contracter says we need all new custom made cabinets and the granite will have to be replace...we are talking 3-4 months. How can we live with no kitchen? I told John we are doing BBQ and paper plates. It is still good to be coming home. the kitties are VERY happy and we have a few new kittens. We have a feral indoor cat that I can't catch to fix. She had them under the deck and one of the workers went under and got them. They are adorable.

Where are you moving? Close to me I hope! I would love to get together.

Mike; My platelets were great for a while while I was using the injections for the bloodthinner at 140, now on the pills the went down to 110. you are correct they aren't that low to worry about. The Rhemo was concerned though. God, I hope I don't have another autoimune disease. I took my first Neurontin last night, woke up early and felt awful but not due to the joint pain etc. mainly tired. Thanks for the recommendation about Trazodone. Tonite I took two Neurontin(Sorry about my horrible spelling tonite_  they did NOT give the Neurontin for anxiety. The doc said it may help for sleep and in a week or so it should help for the pain. Sure hope so, but rather that all this goes away when the tx drugs leave my body. This is what he thinks is going on. I hope so. Ativan works for me too. Haven't had it for over a year, but I do know what you are talking about on occasion. Thanks Mike, love seeing you post here too.

[sfbaygirl]

Thanks for you thought. I am trying not to do much of the moving in. Inc co. is and should pay for the people to do this. It's hard not to jump in though and I did today. Hope I don't sleep 20 hours tomorrow. All the boxes of books are sitting about..hundreds and hundreds of them. the Cleaner people are going to put them away...I told them to put the travel books on one shelf, the art books on another etc. Should be easy huh? I doubt it unless you have the brains. Trina seems to,it just her helpers who don't. I have 3 appts. tomorrow, so won't be here much. Maybe good. The art and expensive stuff come week. Every day some new thing is soming. Yep, this has been a hell of a year. I have made it so far and am happy that my attitude has gotten me though.