LIVING WITH CHRONIC PAIN WITH ANNA AND MAX

Tag: health

  • CHEESE OMELET 🧀 AND WHAT I “DID”AND “DIDNT LEARN IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM LAST WEEK

    Letter to Max

    Dear Max,

    Being in the emergency room last week sure was not fun 😕 especially when it appears I came out worse than when I went in 😪

    My initial reasons for going were not for my facial pain (because I knew there was nothing they could do for that) or for my stomach issues, something that I have also dealt with for most of my life (severe Ibs with constipation) They were for weight loss, fatigue and some female issues

    After being home now for three days since  being under observation for two days and admitted for two days, I only discovered a few things 

    One, I can become hypoglycemic quite quickly, after my very first low blood sugar attack, in which my sugar was 57, and I felt as though I was going out of my body. 😪  and through the ceiling (extremely new and frightening feeling) 🫣

    Two,  the “new pain pills the doctor gave me (more opiates) morphine and oxytocin have made me so constipated that I still can not eat at all. They also do not relieve the facial pain 😪

    Three, take heed when the staff says you have an ileus ( the intestines stop working properly leading to a blockage in the digestive tract) vs having severe constipation because having a tube put down your throat and into your stomach while awake is quite excruciating as well as, in my case, quite. unnecessary.

    Four, I  did consume my first actual “meal” in likely years. It was a creamy and gooey CHEESE OMELET with some breakfast potatoes 🥔  I don’t remember when I have tasted something, so yummy 😋

    I  also consumed my first real sugar in some dannon yogurt 😋 and some fruit 😋 it tasted like heaven 😋

    Five, Unfortunately, however, in doing so, I was reminded how much these foods trigger pain flare-ups and was again reminded that these things should never be consumed again. 😢

    Now, I have been home for three days, and my stomach is much worse (i.e., I am unable to eat a bite), and the reasons I initially went in, the unexplained weight loss, the extreme fatigue, and the female issues are no different. 

    I have not been able been able to to cleanse my stomach of any waste products whatsoever since I left the hospital 😪

    Laxatives and fiber  do not work for me. and I am beginning to fear having to go back and developing an actual ileus (for which you need surgery, and that was the reason for the stomach tube)😪

    Why couldn’t they have corrected this when I was there? It’s been a really rough two weeks. I just pray things might get better 🙏

    Meowmmy ❤️

  • Health restoration and talking animals

    Describe your life in an alternate universe.

    My answer isn’t very interesting or imaginative, but in my alternate universe, my health would be completely restored,  The entire new universe would be covered with flowers, gardens  butterflies, and trees 🌳 always  beautiful, peaceful and calming  😊 

    Here, there is only one human who is surrounded and all kinds of talking animals 😀 and we would spend our days running, playing, laughing, and cuddling together ❤️

  • Quite Disappointed in effects of newly prescribed B- 12 SHOTS

    CASEY JONES OLD COUNTRY STORE AND MUSEUM IN JACKSON, TENNESSEE

    Perhaps some of my readers have been prescribed B-12 shots for their vitamin deficiency’s If so, I am curious 🤔 if they helped?

    On a personal note, I was prescribed a weeks worth of B-12 injections 💉 to administer here at home by my neurologist two days ago.

    I was very concerned 😟 about side effects, especially ones that might affect my chronic pain 😢  but I decided to try a  shot yesterday.

    Luckily, the side effects weren’t too bad. I was desperate for something, anything that wouldn’t cause me to be so tired all the time. I was definitely happy when I seemed to get about a 15 – to 20-minute burst of energy that allowed me to do a few things 😌 around the house 🏠 except for most of the rest of the day I was still worn out.

    I woke up this morning 🌄 horribly fatigued as I always do, and I am hoping for the same effect (a tiny bit of energy), so I gave myself another injection 💉

    Unfortunately, today’s shot 😕 has had  terrible effects. I feel more fatigued and in pain than I ever have. I have no energy whatsoever. I read online that the shots sometimes have a melatonin effect in which they make people horribly sleepy.

    I had such high hopes for the shots! I really hoped they were going to help me with my extreme fatigue 😩 

    If any of my readers have ever taken B-12 supplements or injections, 🤔 how 🤔 did they make you feel?

  • Second appointment with Dr. El-Said (neurologist today) (birthday today).

    Dear Max,

    In short, the appointment did not go well at all. Exactly what I expected to happen, unfortunately, did.

    I don’t suppose it is not necessary to write a long letter about what happened 😕 at the office, because it was quite simple and something that has happened to me with every doctor I have seen for my facial pain.

    Dr. El-said said that he only treated Trigimina Neueolgia, and since the medication he gave me did not work, once  again I heard the dreaded words, there’s nothing more I can do, I will refer you to a headache specialist and a Tmj surgeon 😪

    Quickly on a side note, I did learn from the bloodwork that I got done at Quest Labs not too long ago, indicated a vitamin B-12 deficiency, so I was  prescribed some B-12 shots to give myself at home. I hope that  I will be able to administer those correctly.

    Unfortunately, when I was weighed, my weight was 84 pounds and not 88 (so I have lost 4 pounds within only two months) 😫 I am not dieting. I am only constantly losing, and this has me very concerned 😟  It is unfortunately an indicator of a very serious illness 🤒 for months and months I have been researching other issues that could cause this symptom, unfortunately most all of them lead to one. (But I just keep telling myself it’s because of the pain that I am barely eating because when I do, the pain is excruciating)  so im not getting many calories 😪)

    But that is neither here nor there. Today is my birthday 🎂 and I was hoping and praying for some good news 🙏 for at least some pain medication when it just becomes too unbearable   but unfortunately, it was not to be.

    I am debating whether to completely give up or not. because I am just so tired 😫 because again I have to start all over and I dont know if i really want to do that.

    For three years, I have been going to doctors, having all kinds of tests, everything with no result.

    I am not quite as depressed this time about this as I was with the other doctors because, like I mentioned, it was expected, but it didn’t particularly make for a very good birthday 😪

    Sincerly Meowmmy 😺

  • A deeper dive into loneliness and  chronic pain or illness. 

    Another thing the sufferer might do is grieve

    Lonliness and chronic illnesses can sometimes intertwine themselves with each other.

    If you have ever known someone who might be battling a chronic disease or perhaps you have had one yourself, then you will most likely be able to understand this situation.

    Certainly, one of the things that leads the sufferer to a dark place is that after a period of time ⏲️ people can stop calling 📞 or even coming by for a short visit.

    They may  feel that after so many years they have become overwhelmed 😕 In the beginning, they were happy to offer a listening ear 👂 but as the sufferers illness showed no sign of stopping 😢  possibly it seems to them  that they have given all they are capable of as far as support. In some ways, even though they love you, ❤️ they have their own lives to lead



    In some cases, if the sufferer happens to be a woman 👩 it is a possibility for a husband or boyfriend to leave because they are tired of playing nursemaid. and they want to go on with their lives with someone they can actually do things with.



    Perhaps the sufferers’ parents or grandparents or siblings live way out of state, and therefore, they are most likely left out of many holidays.

    This can drive the sufferer into a deeper depression. Not only having the challenge of their illness to continde with everything but also having the soul crushing feeling that this abandonment is somehow their fault.

    Also.feeling like there is nothing to look forward to anymore 😕

    On a personal note 📝 along with the pain, I have taken strong medication for depression and anxiety for most of my life. At some point, after taking these meds for years and years, they began to stop working. Once that happens, you only take them as a necessity to prevent psychiatric drug withdrawal even though they no longer have any medical benefits.



    A therapist can sometimes be a useful tool. However, in my experience, therapy tended to do more harm than good. The doctor had no empathy for what I was going through because she had never been in the same position.
    Another thing the sufferer can naturally do is grieve and grieve for the things and activities and lives they once had. It can be quite difficult to come to the point of acceptance 😌

  • MY PSYCHIATRIST HAD BEEN VERY NICE PRESCIBING MEDICATION THAT SHE THINKS MIGHT HELP

    As, I mention here in the video. I have done a lot of research on my own. I do take five psychiatric medications. I have read where certain medications are supposed to at least alleviate some of the agony.

    Lamictal was one. Which I am already on a low dose, but I’ve been on it for years and if it was going to work..I think it should have by now.

    Also a low dose of Cymbalta (30) mg However Cymbalta is one of the hardest drugs to come off of.. so I don’t need the medication. I just can’t get off of it. But it is one that is supposed to help also.

    All of these doctors that I have seen over the years well some have pushed gabepentin on me. I have been on it before. But the dose you must take is greater that 700 milligrams and unfortunately everything hurts my face. Every psychiatric medication I take. So it would just be intolerable to try.

    my psychiatrist has been very nice. She keeps wanting to try something that might work..but all I usually end up with is another bottle of pills that we have tried.

    perhaps this isn’t Atypical face pain. Perhaps it’s some type of rare headache. I know there are cluster headaches that are supposed to cause the worst pain known to man. And there is also a rare headache that apparently never goes away.

    if only the neurologist in the hospital could have told me something to try.

    but I’m thinking I don’t know how many more psych meds I want to try. Especially if they aren’t the right medication for me.

    i would like to say.

    i am so sorry if you have chronic pain as well. I can’t even explain how excrusing the pain is. I really didn’t think pain like this could exist. I really didn’t