A lot has happened in the last couple of months, and Cat is quite right in nagging me to write things down more often so that, when I have bad periods like I’ve had in the last week or so, I might be able to see if there are trends (for example she seems to think that me not taking meds some evenings so I can drink alcohol occasionally might be having an impact!). Updating this chronologically is unlikely to be accurate, so I’ll go with grouping things into type of treatment etc.
Physio
The weekly sessions were going well, but I then had to cancel one week because I’d woken in so much pain I could barely get out of bed, let alone consider doing physio. I got myself to work, but excused myself from all non-essential meetings that involved getting around the site. When the accessibility officer rang me the day before to say she had a mobility scooter available for me if I needed it, I really hadn’t considered in saying I wasn’t at that stage yet, that I would be thinking it would be helpful the very next day. I’m still not taking her up on the offer though – probably because I’m a stubborn git!
The following week the physio assistant was ill so that session was cancelled as well, so my next appointment was with the physio herself on Christmas eve. She gave me quite a tortuous workout, but I was pleased to have got through them. There are definitely some things I feel I’ve improved a bit on – walking heal-to-toe for example, just so long as I don’t have to start turning my head or body at the same time. The exercises really highlight the difference in my legs, with the left being so much weaker.
I’ve got some more sessions with the physio assistant booked throughout January, and will then have another assessment at the end of the month.
Pain Team
I’ve heard nothing more about the referral to the clinical psychologist so will give them a nudge when we are a bit more back to normal next week. The increased dose of duloxetine seems to be making a difference. The chronic pain is somewhat reduced overall, and the acute attacks are not quite as severe. The GP has said my dose can be increased further (not that this has been suggested yet), but given how I felt in the mornings after starting to take it, I’m wary of doing this unless I really need to.
GP
I had a medication review with Dr Godwin a couple of weeks ago. I wasn’t due to have this until April, but presumably she wanted to do it in light of the Duloxetine being increased. All she essentially did was confirm I’d be staying on everything, and put the Duloxetine and Pregablin on repeat, which will make it easier to get them as I’ve been having to manually request them.
How I’ve been
I seem to have more frequent bad days, and the odd day has been really bad. I mentioned having to cancel a physio gym session, and rearrange my work schedule – something I do not like having to do. Yesterday was also a bad day. I’d had a few drinks on New Year’s eve, but also had been sat on the floor playing games and probably not particularly paying attention to what I was doing as we enjoyed some family time. Consequently I did very little during the day. By the time we went to bed about 11:30 my back wasn’t too bad, but my foot was burning and the hypersensitivity was also bad. Every time Cat moved it set my leg off, and I couldn’t put my foot down on the bed. I put my headphones in to try to distract myself with some music, which usually works, but it was getting on for 5am before I dosed off, and even then it was for less than an hour. When I woke again I had increased back pain to add to the burning foot. I eventually got back to sleep for about a couple of hours, and when I woke again the pain had subsided a bit, and the burning was significantly lessened.
Trying something new
Cat got me some CBD products at Christmas, so I’m giving that a go. I’ve taken the food supplement a couple of times this week, but with being away, and the days all being rather unusual with the festivities, I’m not really sure I can judge whether it is having any effect. She also got me some CBD massage oil, so will give that try when we are back home.
More nail problems
As an aside to my spinal problems, I have had a problem with the nail on my right thumb again. However, this time, rather than clearing up after a week or so of treating it with inodine etc, this has been going on since mid September. I’ve been seen by the nurse practitioner twice, who prescribed me 7 days of Flucloxacilin twice over about 4 weeks, and told me if it didn’t clear up to go to the minor injuries unit to get it excised. I went to MIU who took a look, told me they wouldn’t do anything with it, and suggested I see the nurse practitioner. I mentioned this to Dr Godwin when I saw her for the meds review, and she suggested that as it wasn’t clearing up, it would need a GP to look at it, but didn’t actually look at it herself. I eventually got an appointment with another GP on Monday, who has prescribed me 10 days of flucloxacilin and taken a swab to check if I might need a different antibiotic. If that doesn’t work then it’s going to need to be excised.