Today, my chest aches, seems my spasm isn't so tight anymore, but I woke to find myself wheezing. Yup, happens every time nice cool weather rolls in. My kids pediatrician could tell how miserable I've been feeling just by looking at me; it was so that he made a call and got a lung specialist to squeeze me into her schedule today.
Instead of dropping my current meds, today I got three more instead.
So now it is not only Flexeril, Amoxicillin, Pseudovent… why it is also Advair, Effexor XR, and Prevacid (the last two being capsules -because more capsules to swallow is so much fun!).
No, don’t even try to diagnose. If there’s anything out there, I’ve got it, and then some.
Effexor… she believes I’m suffering anxiety and depression, that perhaps that might triggering my asthma. Really? You think? How about having bronchitis for three weeks straight? What about a walking pneumonia, like last December, would that do the trick? Or maybe it’s acid reflux? WTF? In any case, I now have all 3 medications and I get to see her in two weeks. Then for sure she will know (by way of elimination?) what I have and do not have.
Anybody else has a prescription you want me to try for you, you know, see if it works?
Oooh be careful with the Effexor. My Dr prescribed it to me because I told her I had trouble sleeping (which she decided must be anxiety and/or depression) so I took a small dose which gave me horrible side effects, then she upped it and when I went off for a few days I had the worst side effects: dizziness, motion sickness, foggy head, more I can't even think of.
When I realized why I was having them I decided I was no longer going to take something that would make me so dependant on it after less than two months. It took days for the symptoms to subside. And if you do a search, you will find many people in worse shape than I was who can't get off it at all.
I guess this sounds horrible, but that was truly my experience and I'd hate to see anyone else go through it.
yikes, girl...that's a LOT of meds.
i had to take that flexeril stuff for a couple of days after i pulled my back out last june, and it made me really feel weird for a few days afterwards.
i'm not good with meds, though - so, maybe it's just me. i hope you feel better soon!
I'm on the Fexeril right now for severe muscle spasms in my back (which I've had for, oh, over a year now and they still don't know what's causing it). Personally, I love it because I have body-wide fibromayalgia as well and can never sleep because of it, but with Flexeril I'm out like a... light, or something.
My mother just added Effexor to her list of 17 different medications. Since she's been on it she's decided to divorce my father for a felon she met in the mental ward, she's hardly spoken with any of her three daughters, she pawns things (which is strange for anyone in my family) and God knows what else.
I'm generally against medications. I took the Flexeril because I couldn't stand to spend another 36 hours doubled-over in pain. I have two side effects with it: it knocks me out cold for at least 8-10 hours and it gives me insane cotton mouth for at least a day. But I'm sleeping again, which is so nice.
Just be careful, girl! There's a lot of things that medicines can do to your body that haven't been "proven" and therefore don't get released to the public until there are enough cases to add yet another warning label. Kind of like the new discovery of Vioxx causing heart disease or something. I took that for my fibromayalgia, but it wasn't strong enough.
Take care!
I used to take Effexor but not the XR. As with any SSRI do not go off of it all at once. Regualr Effexor has a very short 1/2 life (about 4 hours) meaning that if you miss a dose you might see symptoms of withdrawl quite quickly. The XP is probably better than the regular since it is extended release.
You will have to come off of it slowly. If it really is depression or anxiety I can say that meds can help and are not always long term or life long. BUT I would ask your doctor about Lexapro - each person is different but lexapro has so many less side effects for me.
Interesting diagnosis that asthma might be triggered by depresion, anxiety maybe...oh well I am no doctor. I say give it the 3 weeks.
Thanks to all of you for sharing your thoughts, and for the advice on coming off of the meds slowly. I will give it this week, keeping notes on how I feel, maybe ask the doctor she give me the lesser dose for one more week if I think the med has a positive effect worth continuing on.