I saw my rheumatologist yesterday as well as my primary care physician. The rheumatologist didn’t want to do anything with my meds for depression, saying he doesn’t profess to know anything about that. He just said that I should increase my dosage of Neurontin (Gabapentin) from 200mg to 300mg everyday, and that I could call in a couple of weeks and he may even have me go up more. I know some people take a whole lot more than that, but it’s not so much the pain that I’m having trouble with as it is the anxiety and depression. He thought that increasing the dosage would probably help my “sleep architecture” so I wouldn’t be having as fractured sleep as I am (told him I can sleep 13 hours and still be tired), so we’ll see what happens. I took 300mg last night and slept like a log.
My primary care doctor was going to take me off Zyprexa and put me on Pristiq, since I told him that my sister takes Pristiq and is doing very well on it and losing weight even. But it turns out that you can’t take it and Prozac at the same time, so he just left my meds as they are now, saying I could increase the Zyprexa if needed, and that 2.5mg is really not a very big dose. Right now I’m only taking 1/2 a 2.5mg tablet and that knocks me out and makes it hard for me to wake up the next day. I’ll just keep things as they are and hopefully with the changes at work I won’t go out of my mind with worry.
I ordered a theracane from Amazon.com and really like it! It’s great because you can reach trigger points without the aid of another person. It can reach every trigger point in your body! I highly recommend them. I got one for my brother-in-law and he loves it. The other thing I ordered today and am eagerly waiting to receive in the mail is a pain relief neck wrap from www.relaxpack.com. The owner of Relax Pack suffers from Fibromyalgia and created these hot or cold packs out of all organic materials and herbs. It sounds really nice.
On Thursday I meet with my nutritionist who is going to give me meal plans! She had me buy a water distiller (the $99 one that has stainless steel inside) and a nice blender so I can make smoothies, too. Apparently this commercial blender will chop up avocado seeds and other seeds that hold a lot of nutrients. Now I’ll be able to really start getting a handle on my nutrition and stop craving things I don’t need! Hopefully it will help me lose some of this added weight, too, and give me more energy. She said that in time eating the right foods will allow me to go off of some of my medications. That would be wonderful! I’ll post some smoothie recipes later when I get them. Here are some nutrition tips she gave me:
- Water instead of Sodas, Kool Aid, etc.
- Eat at least 4 cups of cooked vegetables – include dark greens
- Eat 2-3 servings of fruit daily – don’t count juice
- Fish – 3 times a week (especially salmon and small fish)
- Good fats – olive, safflower, nuts & seeds, avocado
- Shop around the periphery of the grocery store
- Go natural – minimize salt, sugar, additives, preservatives
- Eat a variety of foods
- Nibble instead of gorge
- Stay away from foods that don’t rot or sprout
- Eat nutrient dense foods
- Choose high fiber foods
- Eat enough protein (100 grams if you weigh 150 lbs)
- Stay away from hard to digest foods
- Avoid grilling
- Keep bowels healthy – at least one bowel movement a day
At my first meeting with her she did say I should drink 2 cups of lukewarm distilled water first thing in the morning, before eating any food. This gently awakens the digestive system. She said to use skim milk instead of 2%, to eat two halves of a walnut everyday, to get Ezekiel bread, to drink water 15 minutes before a meal or 30 minutes after (but don’t drink during a meal!), to use coconut oil for stir frying, and that I should eat dates with grapefruit instead of alone as a snack. Lastly, she said to eat two egg whites and one egg yolk for breakfast and that boiled or poached are best. I didn’t know the protein was in the egg white and not the yolk! I’ve been trying to do these things until I get my real meal plans from her on Thursday.
I hope everyone enjoys their holidays and stays warm and pain free. 
