Health Update

[sraun]

Spending the day home - the canker sores are just being too much. How do you people with fibromyalgia, etc., deal with the pain every day?

Saw the oncologist for a leukemia update Tuesday - I'm continuing to improve, so we're continuing the methotrexate.

Comments

[technomom]

Well, we don't have much choice. Good pain meds do make a huge difference.

[firedrake-mor.livejournal.com]

I can't speak to the fibromyalgia, but I agree with technomom about good drugs. I've been afflicted with nasty back pain for ages, which got worse this year. I have pinched nerves between vertebra at L4-L5 and L5-S1, so bad I don't have full function of my legs. I finally got both Ultram and Robaxin a few weeks ago, and have been much happier. I was getting to where I could not stand more than 5 minutes without pain. Now I can at least go to the grocery store.

I never heard what the canker sores were being caused by, but I know they can be painful.

I'm glad to hear the progress with the leukemia. It's amazing what methotrexate can do -- I have a good friend who's taking it for rheumatoid arthritis.

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

{{{{{Much sympathy on the canker sores}}}} - but good news on the improvement.

As for fibromyalgia, well...I took Vioxx for 4 years, then they took it away. So I turned to Celebrex, and now am trying without (family history of heart and stroke, yay). Stiff, sore, stretch, grab Aleve, whine (g)

[pgdudda.livejournal.com]

Canker sores are evil. I get them when I'm stressed, or if I drink too much coffee. In the latter case, once I get them, anything with caffeine will keep the sores going. Imagine going cold turkey on caffeine after weeks of 4 coffees a day...

So, much sympathy from my end. Didn't know about the leukemia? My friend from high school was diagnosed with Hodgkin's about 18-ish months ago. Fortunately, he's expected to make a full recovery, since they caught it unusually early.

May your health continue to improve!

[sraun]

Hmm - yeah, I guess you weren't around when I was telling everyone about it. I found out about it Tuesday after Minicon last year - I was telling people at Minicon that I was going to be learning something, and what I learned was, in broad, pretty much what I expected. Long-term, closer to chronic than acute, nothing terribly urgent, not going to kill me in the next couple of months. I'd been through a lot of tests over the previous three months, and the fact that I didn't get a phone call saying 'come in and see us now' was a big sign-post.

As someone (dd_b?) said at the time, Large Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia is possibly the best phrase with leukemia in it, except for the negative.

[sunlizzard.livejournal.com]

Lifting you in prayer, Scott. I'm so glad to hear that the leukemia is responding to treatment! Sending {{{hugs}}} as you endure the pain of the canker sores--is this a side effect of your chemo?

[sraun]

No, I've had canker sores on and off forever. I may be having more of them because the chemo is - at least somewhat - suppressing my immune system, but I've had them since I was in grade school. They're the indicator of stress in my life - and knowing that your employer is going to be bought by a different company, and not knowing if your job is going to survive (but being nearly - but not absolutely! - certain that it wasn't) is way up there on the life stress causers list!