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        New Message Board Archives >> 2005 General Board Posts >> RED LETTER DAY!!!!
        
(Message started by: blossom on Aug 22^nd, 2005, 10:00pm)

Title: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by blossom on Aug 22^nd, 2005, 10:00pm

I went to the neuro this morning and that went very well. He is trying me on Neurontin - 300 mgs 2 times a day for the first 3 days then up to 300 mgs 3 times a day after that for the first few weeks then he will up it as needed after that. I don't know much about Neurontin if anyone has had experience with it (NANI!!!) let me know what a "normal" dose is for a Clusterhead. I want to make sure this guy knows what he is doing and since y'all are really the experts here I trust what you have to say. NOW for the even bigger news and what I have been up to for the past week.........

I AM BUYING A HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy Moses is this a nerve wracking experience! I have never bought a house before and I am a wreck! It is the coolest house EVER! It's a bungalow-style with 4 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen and a laundry room (an actual room, not a closet!!). It has brand new carpet in all the rooms except the kitchen, laundry room, bathrooms and hallway downstairs. The kitchen and hallway are hardwood floors (brand spankin' new!), the bathroom downstairs and laundry room are tile, the bathroom upstairs is linoleum and the rest of the house is brand new carpet (extremely nice and expensive!) that was just laid in the last 2 months. New roof put on 2 years ago (huge bonus!), new furnace, wiring and all electric. It also has a basement which is the full length and width of the house which is about unheard of in this area. We don't have dirt in this area - we have rock with a tiny bit of dirt mixed in! It is light sage green with white and darker sage green trim. It is gorgeous! It has a yard but not a huge yard which I didn't want a big yard anyway. It is in a very quiet neighborhood but you know that will change when we move in! [smiley=laugh.gif] Just had to share - I will take some pictures and post as soon as I can!

Kisses all!
Karen

Title: Re: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by nani on Aug 22^nd, 2005, 10:16pm

Buying a house? That's too cool. :D

I was on Neurontin for 5 years. At first it helped a lot. I stayed on 300 mgs 2X a day for about 3 years. Then I started having to increase. It would help for awhile and then stop. By December 2004, I was taking 1800 mgs a day and really couldn't say it was helping anymore. :-/
I had room to go up another 600 mgs a day and just decided against it. Some (including me) experience drowsiness at first. And sometimes, a not at all unpleasant "fuzzy" feeling. I hope it works wells for you, sweetie. hugs, nani

Title: Re: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by cootie on Aug 22^nd, 2005, 10:49pm

Neurontin 'bad' for me.....made me drunk feeling, dazed and abused. Shew that stuff messed me up.......if I had a beer I would not be able to talk or walk. Did that a few times and caught me off gaurd.....how embarrassing !!!! Got red patches on my face too and saggy looking muscles. I'm a supporter so took it for other reasons but not no more.......didn't agree with me but it doesn't do that to most. Special med Pam

Your house sounds so cool.......beats my 1960's gag me gold shag carpeting and teeny bathroom and one and a half bedrooms. Course I do like bein in the woods and it bein private here. Would love extra bedrooms and bathrooms and NEW stuff...........

Title: Re: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by TxBasslady on Aug 22^nd, 2005, 11:39pm

Never taken Neurontin....

But congratulations on the new home! It sounds beautiful.

Jean

Title: Re: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by Lizzie2 on Aug 22^nd, 2005, 11:51pm

Congrats on the house!! That's wonderful!!! You worked hard - now you get to enjoy it!! :)

As far as neurontin - before I had CH, I took it up to a ridiculously high dose before finally getting the heck off of it. It wasn't a good med for me - they say it has almost no side effects - it made me feel like I was doped up on antipsychotics all day long. I was soooooo tired, losing my hair, had no energy...kinda like a hypothyroid type experience.

Then, when my neuro moved away and I started up with the one I have now, he put me on it again but for restless leg syndrome. I told him I didn't want to take it, but he persisted that because I was taking a different dose and for RLS this time, it wouldn't have as many side effects. I took it because this was back in the day when I actually listened and followed directions.... ;)

I took myself off it at either 600 or 900mg because I still had the same side effects (duh...it was still neurontin - doesn't matter what in hell I was taking it for...) - got fed up and wasn't getting anywhere with stating my case for why I shouldn't be on neurontin. Well that started it - I kicked almost all my meds after that because I wanted to be heard and that was the only way to get anyone's attention......kicked my topamax (thank GOD) and about 5 other meds. Of course, wound up being put on a whole other regimen because I was a trainwreck after that, but at least I got my point across - and I showed myself that only *I* control what meds I take - nobody else - so I can say no if I want to. :)

My mom takes neurontin at 300mg twice a day also for RLS. She does fine with it - no side effects at all.

So it affects everyone differently!! I've heard some great stories about neurontin and also some on the other end of the spectrum - so individual. One thing to note is that if you get some nasty side effects, you can always get off it - but I usually feel like I'll try a new med even if the se's don't sound very good - and then just back off it if it doesn't work well for me. However, I wouldn't recommend trashing all meds cold turkey - better to work with a doc on that one. ;)

Congrats again on the house and hope the neurontin kicks the beast's ass for you!!!

Hugz,
Carrie :)

Title: Re: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by blossom on Aug 23^rd, 2005, 12:03am

Thanks for the feedback on the Neurontin everyone. I am going to try it because I just can't keep going like this. I was trying the "no meds" method and the beast is having a wild time in my head so it's time to go after him. I discussed a couple meds with the Dr. and he suggested Topamax - no thank you and Depakote which after hearing his take on it I said no thank you as well. Chris went with me and when the Dr. was talking about Depakote Chris looked horrified. The Dr. said "I don't like to give this to younger women because it causes you to get fat, lose your hair, mood swings and if you were to get pregnant on this it causes birth defects. We can try it if you promise that you won't be trying to get pregnant." There is NO WAY I am going on something like that! I am not having any more kids but good Lord - getting fat and losing my hair doesn't sound like much fun at all. :-/ Now the "fuzzy" or "doped" feeling isn't at all abnormal for me when not on meds so I am not too worried about that. I seem to be getting more and more stupid with each passing day anyway so what the heck - I can be an airhead and in pain or an airhead and pf. I choose the latter! ;;D OH and he went on and on about quitting smoking and NO caffeine.... I think he's a quack. [smiley=laugh.gif] Just kidding, I am going to detox the caffeine and cutting back on the cigs until I am nicotine-free. Can't go cold turkey, doesn't work for me.

Kisses!
Karen

Title: Re: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by Lizzie2 on Aug 23^rd, 2005, 12:16am

LOL believe it or not - depakote was like the 3rd med I ever took when my chronic daily headache type began. It actually did help, but the side effects felt like some mild form of chemo. I did lose lots of my hair, got such horrible acid reflux that I couldn't eat, even though I couldn't eat I seemed to puff out like a balloon - my skin was even peeling and turning very very pale and blotchy - and I could sleep through 4 alarm clocks and my mom calling me to wake me up in time for classes. I still have pages of notes that I can't even read because I was falling asleep taking notes. Then there was the massive anticholinergic crisis when given the IV form (depacon) - I prefer not to think about that,....I pretty much had a break with reality due to how my body processes that drug!

I'm on a waiting list to try Lyirca (generic: pregabalin). Honestly, I forget if he said it works like topamax or depakote - but it's supposed to have almost no side effects. We shall see! Pfizer keeps putting off the release date (been out in parts of Europe for awhile now) because of some FDA/DEA red tape. Until they come out with that, I go to my neuro once a month and we throw random stuff at the CH/NDPH just to see if it'll budge. [smiley=laugh.gif]

Well...I'm with you though - I often try things regardless of what others report back about it just because I need to do SOMEthing or else I'll go nuts from the pain.

And as for the caffeine? I was good about it for a long time - until I realised that it had nothing to do with my headaches......and now they'd have to pry my caffeinated beverages out of my cold, dead hands. LOL

Title: Re: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by Charlie on Aug 23^rd, 2005, 1:56am

Lots of luck with the meds and very cool about your new house. Welcome to lawn care central. Careful though. http://smaylik.by.ru/i/272.gif?SSImageQuality=Full
(I can't read it either. Most of the really good smilies are Russian....go figure)

Charlie

Title: Re: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by Frank_W on Aug 23^rd, 2005, 7:25am

Congrats on the bungalow!

/singing, The Doors', "Roadhouse" ;;D

Title: Re: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by burnt-toast on Aug 23^rd, 2005, 7:40am

Congratulations - just make sure you get a professional home inspection. It can be a great bargaining chip at the least and identifiy potential serious defects at best.

Tom

Title: Re: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by blossom on Aug 23^rd, 2005, 7:44am

The home inspection is being done this week along with the appraisal. It's a great price and so much work has been done on it! We are getting a steal for around here. We know the owner through my best friend and he is a real estate agent here in town, he knows what a big mouth I have and believe me he's not going to screw us on it when he relies on word of mouth for advertisement! ;;D I'm going to take some pictures tonight and I will get them posted. SO EXCITED!

Kisses!
Karen

Title: Re: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by lionsound on Aug 23^rd, 2005, 8:17am

Good luck with the meds and the house!

The house sounds more exciting! :)

Title: Re: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by Bethany1 on Aug 23^rd, 2005, 11:40am

Wow Karen that is fantastic news!!!!
Congratulations girl, no one desearves it more than you. ;;D

Title: Re: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by minnie on Aug 23^rd, 2005, 12:34pm

Congratulations on getting a house.sounds like most of the work and a lot of the expensive maintenance is done.yahoooooo.....
About neurontin first of I'm a supporter my experience is for my back but the side affects are the same.I can only speak my side effects . I wasn't on it long when one night about 5 pm.I started feeling drunk.My words were slurring and I know I wasn't walking straight.I called Billy at work and he said just relax and the side effects would end just let the girls watch tv and relax.needless to say I stopped taking it.the docter wanted mew to try a lower dose ...no thank you.For the record not a drop of alchohol was consumed that night ::) [smiley=ohjez.gif]
Good luck with the house and meds....
MInnie

Title: Re: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by LeLimey on Aug 23^rd, 2005, 12:41pm

Oh congratulations on your new home!! woo hoo!!
room for us to come and visit too LOL!
It sounds lovely and I can't wait to see the pics
We need to talk soon!
lots of love
Helen X X X X X X X

Title: Re: RED LETTER DAY!!!!
Post by blossom on Aug 23^rd, 2005, 10:05pm

You know you are welcome to come visit whenever you want, Helen! Plenty of room for guests for sure! I would think I had died and gone to heaven if I had houseguests! ;;D We definately need to talk - I want to hear all about Jabs big day and what has been going on with you!

Kisses!
Karen