OK, so halfway through my running around yesterday (my 2nd day taking Provigil), I realized that my PT exercises had reallllllly aggravated my lower back, hip, lateral femoral cutaneous nerve, and my knees. I spent time with an ice pack after my trip to Costco.
The good news there was that gas was $2.07 a gallon. The bad news was that I had to sit in line a lonnnnnnnggggg time. I stayed in a good mood, even though my back and leg (radiculopathy) were starting to hurt pretty badly.
After icing, I took my Provigil Rx to my pharmacy, and my (great) pharmacist dropped what he was doing and ran it to see if my insurance would cover it. Not without trying something less expensive (generic Ritalin) first. The pharmacist faxed the info. to Dr. S. I hope she is able to inform them that I had tried a similar medication and it gave me a resting heart rate of 150 (true story, my one and only ambulance ride) and let me skip the Ritalin trial, since I know that the Provigil isn't raising my heartrate, BP, or causing palpitations.
The soccer last night was great, though I had to get up several times (despite my expensive Relax-the-Back cushion) to try and ease the pain in my back, leg, and hip. Things improved as it got colder; kind of a giant ice-pack to the body! Oh, the cold did seem to aggravate my right arm pain, so I took my nighttime Lyrica a little early.
We didn't get home until 11:30, and it took me an hour or so to get to sleep. I woke at 4 am with Fluffy throwing up all over my bed. I jumped up to grab stuff to clean up with, and he jumped on the floor and threw up some more, then in the bathroom. I had to strip my bed after cleaning the piles of yuck up (no hairballs), my back complaining the whole time.
Fluffy headed downstairs, so I followed. I cleaned up his throw-up from the entry rug. He wanted to use his litter box in the garage, so I turned off the alarm, let him out, and tried to use newspapers to catch it when he threw up twice more, then used his litter box. I tried to sleep on the couch with an ice pack, but it hurt my back. I went upstairs and finished stripping the bed, remade it with clean sheets, took the soiled bedding downstairs and treated the spots.
I had no blankets, so I had to wake my roommate, who was very sympathetic and said that I could start the laundry; she could sleep through anything. I got some blankets, remade my bed with a sheet over the covers incase of Fluffy having more problems, started some laundry, and carried Fluffy back upstairs. He settled down, leaning his full body against my leg instead of kneeding his little blanket, poor guy!
I slept in somewhat, so I figured I shouldn't take Provigil in late morning, so I'm low and slow again today. My roommate was kind enough to take my car in for a much needed oil change, and told me she was going to visit her mom, and told me to get some more sleep. So I did.
I called Fluffy's vet, and he had no real answers. No need to go through that conversation.
This is the first day in years that I haven't taken a shower ! Too much trouble.
I'll have to talk to my physical therapist about needing to make sure my back and hip issues aren't aggravated. I told her about them, and she started small, but this shows just how slow I need to go. Weak muscles can't be strengthened quickly; my left quad is quite atrophied, apparently. Also, my lumbar issues are really nasty!
Sigh! Oh well, hopefully I'll sleep well tonight, take my Provigil early tomorrow morning, ice my back, and go have a wonderful time at the soccer game. I wanted to bake some cookies today to take to my soccer pals, but I don't think my back will take kindly to standing in the kitchen. I took some Naprosyn (I rarely take NSAIDS because of stomach issues) and Vicodin, but still hurt like heck. Maybe it'll ease up in a while. I have these Heath bar bits with milk chocolate that I wanted to try in cookies.
Oh, I did manage to put more than 8000 steps on my pedometer again yesterday, even with a sore back. Think maybe I should have taken it easier? I didn't do any of the PT exercises accept for a few quad sets, afraid they would make things worse.
Take it easy, my friends, and remember your limits, even when you feel good and want to forget them!
really gentle hugs,
Kathy