Tuesday, November 14, 2006

it's been two weeks

The doc increased my Methadone dose to 2.5 mg every 8 hours instead of every 12. It took a few days to get my system to accept it. I had to stop after 3 days of it, and then I waited a couple days, and then I tried again. The first time I had a horrible ache behind my eyes almost like I was trying to go blind and my eyes were more sensitive to the light than they've ever been. The second time around it's better. The pain has normalized at about a 4 on a consistent basis. I still have the tinnitus and the photo- and sono- phobia, but I can deal with those if I don't have to deal with the pain, too.

I go back on the 3rd of December and I'm thinking he's going to suggest I up it to 5 mg every 12 hours. I wouldn't mind. I kinda liked the every 12 hour thing. He mentioned something when I was there last time about the psychology of short-acting pain meds and it made perfect sense. First of all, you have the up-down-up-down because they don't maintain your pain level. Secondly, you're tied to that every 4 or every 6 hour thing, and it comes down to your life revolving around that time frame and you get obsessed with taking those meds and forget how to live. Thinking back, I can say I fully agree with what he had to say.

I still don't handle increased activity well. I had my grandsons for a few hours yesterday and all I've done today is sleep, and I've been sleeping hard. The doc wants me to start exercising 3 times a week for 15 minutes a day and I'm going to give it a try, but it wears me out. I'm hoping this drowsiness will wear off.

At least the pain is better...