No not a new sofa, but more of that later…
As I’ve started getting out and about a bit more and going to visit people further afield, the impact more than an hour or so in the car has on my pain has been highlighted. I drove to Cornwall a couple of weeks ago and having driven down on the Friday evening, stopping at Exeter for a walk and coffee, I was in significant pain for the whole weekend, right through to the Tuesday when I drove back. I contacted Dr Gutteridge to see if there was anything I could take on occasions when I have these bad spells. I was a little concerned that the same thing would happen last weekend when I drove to Wales for a holiday, and didn’t want to spend the first part of my holiday just trying to recover from the drive. I also don’t want my options limited because of the effect the drive has. Suspecting Dr Gutteridge might not be able to reply straight away, I rang the pain team, who suggested I speak to the GP as they can message the pain consultants directly and then organise a prescription. I eventually got a message back from the GP on Friday afternoon to say I could take tramadol when really needed, and a prescription was sent to the local pharmacy just in time for me to pick it up before they closed that evening. I also got an email back from Dr Gutteridge that afternoon to say that I could take some Ibuprofen or Naproxen on top of the etoricoxib, provided I don’t do it often. Of course, having got all this info back, the drive to Wales was fine and I didn’t need anything.
I mentioned last time that showers before I go to bed cause the nerve problems in my right foot to be exacerbated, presumably due to the skin being softened. I found that particularly the early part of this week when I’d been in the hot tub in the evening. The first couple of nights it was really bad and I got very little sleep. I then decided to try using the CBD lotion that I sometimes apply to my back on my foot and ankle, and it worked a treat. It didn’t stop the burning sensation completely, but it took it down to a level I could cope with and I’ve slept pretty well since.
The other thing that has happened recently is that I had a follow up from Dr Gutteridge from our previous appointment. It seems an email he had tried to send me earlier in the year had not been delivered, but he confirmed that he has referred me to Girish Vajramani, Consultant Functional Neurosurgeon at UHS, for a discussion about spinal cord stimulation, and sent me a link to some information about it.
https://www.britishpainsociety.org/static/uploads/resources/files/book_scs_patient.pdf
Dr Gutteridge works alongside Mr Vajramani as his anaesthetist when he inserts the stimulators, and has spoken to him about my case and the amount of pain self-management I have already undertaken through the pain service, as this is important in combination with the stimulator therapy.
In the meantime, I will continue to make the most of having this hydrotherapy available to me whilst I’m still here. The jets on my back definitely help relieve the accumulation of pain throughout the day. Any chance I can one of these hot-tubs prescribed? 😎
