The extra dose of gabapentin seems to be going the trick. The nerve pain is significantly reduced, and I think I’ve only taken extra tramadol once since Tuesday. It’s not helped with the sleeping though. I’m struggling to get to sleep, and I wake usually between 4 and 5am, and when I do wake it is usually only a matter of minutes before my bladder forces me out of bed, ruining any chance of getting back to sleep. Work is probably not helping, as it’s been a manic week even compared to my normal standard.
Warning, the following might fall in to the “too much information” category. What can I say, this is a medical journal!
At least my bladder has the decency to actually make trips to the loo productive when it forces me there at short notice. My bowels on the other hand still give me the same “you’ve got to go, and you’ve got to go now” feeling, but then usually nothing happens. Surely 18 months of senna and laxido every night should have a more consistent affect eventually. Not even last night’s relatively hot curry added to the laxatives has made a difference yet. The fact the GP has increased my repeat laxido prescription from 30 sachets per request (so effectively per month) to 90 sachets is a sad state of affairs. The trouble is, I’m generally loathed to take much extra in case it actually has its desired effect at an inopportune time, like at work. I’m sure one of the things that makes me particularly nervous is the fact that an indicator that things have deteriorated in my spinal cord, is the loss of control of bladder and/or bowel. So basically what they are saying is I should take more laxatives to try to get me back to being regular, but at some point laxatives are going to be the last thing I need!