Health
Health issues are always a big part of my life. My health has never been good. I’ve probably had lupus all my life. Things I thought were normal are not normal at all. So now I get pegged as a hypochondriac by some doctors because I tell them everything. I let them decide which is normal. I don’t know what is normal any more.
I feel pretty good these days. I was afraid the Philippines would be the worse thing I could do but it hasn’t worked out that way. I’ve been loosing weight and decreasing diabetic medications and my blood sugars have been great.
In high school I had a natural talent for biology and I still love it but I’ve forgotten more than I remember. I think that’s true for just about everything though. Probably the way it is for most of us.
As I find the time, I’ll post more articles about health. I don’t like to distinguish behavioral or normally called mental illness from medicine as a whole but from what I understand that’s what most doctors are trained to do. I think that’s insane. Pun intended. I hope someday that changes. If a liver doesn’t function right it causes the body to behave in a certain way. If the brain doesn’t function as what is considered normal, it behaves in a certain way. I don’t get the difference. Further, it is impossible to separate health from what is going on with the brain. Why are they separate?
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This is a better place to talk about general health issues I think?/
Christine said:
That doctor sounds perfect. I will go see him. If you can find out more on his where abouts that would be helpful, I’m sure other expats would like to see a doctor trained in the US!
As you know, doctors here sometimes leave here to go be nurses in the US as they can make more money there as a nurse than here as a doctor!
Yes Danao to Mandaue is a major pain. It usually takes half the trip just to get through that part of the trip from Cebu to Bogo. The problem is only one highway. the only way to fix it is a second highway.
I’ve checked out Catmon from Bogo. According to the map, You go from Bogo, next town is Borobon, then Sogod, then Catmon, so not that far. From memory, it was only 45 max to Tabogon., but the Doc’s clinic is on the back street closer to the beach, not the main highway. If you have problems locating him, maybe my brother can give you directions better. I’ll give you his no. As I said I just tagged along on that day. I laughed when you mentioned people can buy methotrexate in the Phil. with very little supervision, because I had a patient last year with a moderate case of psoriasis, he was angry with our doctors because he takes methotraxate to reduce the symptoms, and our doctors will not prescribe it because it is classed as a highly controlled and dangerous drug strictly for cancer patients. If you haven’t tried beta-interferon, asked about it. At this stage in your life, what have you got to lose, (except perhaps a few dollars more?) but if it works…? I’ve had patients with Multiple Sclerosis go into remission after being on it. But again there has also been failures. As for the desonate, I just found the website by accident when I was researching info on my anti-hypertensive. I’m sure I can find it again. I’ve never actually tried buying prescriptions online because I can get them cheap here in Oz because of our Federal govt’s Pharmaceutical Benifit Scheme where the Feds subsidise the meds so it is affordable for the Aussies. I don’t think I can contribute any more re-your illness. I can see you are very knowledable about it. Sorry to have spread out your topics all over the place. This is the first time I’ve participated in blogs.
Wow I have missed this message. Its packed with good info but I’m too pooped to really give it my full attention right now. Please don’t let me forget to return to this!
Yes, i was just wondering whether you’ve decided to stick to Chung-Hua hospital? I guess you were having so much fun in Bantayan Island! LOL! Let me know what you’ve decided.
You’ve done nothing wrong, its okay. :)
I’m thinking of going to that doctor and letting him do the complete physical as it will work best with my insurance and get a whole picture.
I may then go to this doctor you’ve recommended. Did you ever give me his name? Please give it to me again if you did. I’m afraid no name and no address would be hard. Yes you did because we tried to find it in the phone book but no luck. He really sounds like a good choice long term.
Interferon with lupus? I’ve always wondered why it was used in MS but not lupus. I’ve seen it do wonders for a friend of mine with MS though the MS finally did seem to come back. They slowed down it progression at least with it. Was said seeing what MS did to him. Yet he seemed so much stronger than I did. Hardly missed any work where I could just barely get there at all. I was missing a lot of work. He seemed so much sicker but perhaps he didn’t have the fatigue I did. That’s hard to measure.
I will look into that the Interferon.
This scaring on my finger might be psoriasis. I had some on an elbow but the desonate cleared that up pronto! This isn’t the same thing, doesn’t look the same. no doctor has seen it yet
In the US, methotrexate is commonly used for long term control of autoimmune disorders but only under the care of a rheumatologist or other specialist. It is a cancer drug but cancer patients get it by IV where lupus patients take a max of 18Mg once a week. I tolerated it very well. Didn’t make me ill, perhaps a little tired. I would take it on a Friday as to cause me less trouble for work.
It also requires specialized blood test especially related to liver function. And the specialist one refill it if you don’t keep your appointments. I had one specialist chew out my internist as he had been refilling it for me for about a year. After that, he wouldn’t refill it for me any more. :(
Here is something you can help me with perhaps. I started taking Norgesic Forte which has 650mg of aspirin in each one. I take three of those day. I started taking this because I can’t get cyclobenzaprine in the Philippines. I have found out that’s its a great drug for killing yourself and wonder if that is why. It must have been abused in the 60 and 70′s as it was referred to as mellow yellow. Man I can’t figure out why anyone would take that drug for fun. it leaves you like a zombie. I hated taking it but the muscle pain I had was SEVERE if I didn’t take it. Shoulders and calves of my legs were the worst. Even with the cyclo I had a lot of pain in my calves all the time.
I’m worried about all this aspirin I’m taking. But the drug is a God send. I don’t hurt any more. Now, the muscles are still sore if I rub them but they don’t hurt all the time like they use to and it is soooooo nice.
Because I’ve had TIA’s I was taking a full aspirin a day, 325Mg. I have stopped that since I’m on this Norgesic Forte. Wikipedia says up to four tablets per day. I did speak to a doctor about it but only via text. I really don’t want to hear I can’t keep on taking it. I really don’t want to hurt all the time. I would need pain medication if I couldn’t get the cyclo or something. I don’t want pain meds.
Hope you have some input on this one.
Hi Russ, you didn’t specify what you want to know? Do you want to know the max dose? I looked it up and it says 1/2 to 1 tablet every 6-8 hours. The aspirin is not the problem here because you can take 300-900mg every 6-8 hrs. So it must be the muscle relaxant they are restricting you? Are you able to buy Norgesic forte in PI? I’ve never heard of Norgesic forte here in Oz, must look up if it is under a different name. No wonder you feel good with it. It’s got anti-inflammatory, muscle relaxant and caffeine. I take doxylamine succinate + 500 mg of paracetamol for very bad headaches. Works each time. Doxylamine is a muscle relaxant and available over the counter here. Just make sure you have food in yur stomach when you take this med. The aspirin can skin you gut lining. The Doc’s name is Dr. Horado. My brother said if you get off Catmon and ask, everbody knows him so you shouldn’t have problems locating him. I’ll have to post some more tomorrow. It is midnight here now, had a hard day at the hospital. Caught one of our patient smoking marijuana. Had to do so many paperwork because of that. I might ask my brother in a.m so I can put in more info. on this doc.
The drug is wonderful. Restrict me? I confused you I think.
I’m worried about taking that much aspirin all the time. What I read on it said there were no studies on the long term effects.
Yes I can get it here.
Some people report euphoria from taking the drug. That concerned me. I tend to be on the anxious side and caffeine and I don’t get along all that well as a result. I’ve had no problems with the drug at all, if it has picked my spirits up, it has done so in a good way.
Well, other than aspirin, that is a power anti-inflammatory. I thought it basically blocked the muscles from contracting too much. It does nothing for my rather severe, at times, hip pain. I keep trying to cut back on my NSAID, naproxen (sp?) but every time I do it makes it hard to walk for more than 30 yards.
But what I want to know how dangerous is this long term. I worry about my liver and kidneys from pouring so much down there. I’ve had periods where my liver enzymes were high and some liver function test a bit low and my skin turned yellow. This was all part of lupus in my case. Well no other reason was found for it. I also have fatty infiltration of the liver. Docs said it was my weight causing that. I don’t know, my skin was turning yellow when I was 18 and hard as a rock. :)
What I meant about “restricting you” was whether the doctors in PI is limiting your supply. Anyway, I’ve looked it up again. You can have maximum 4 tabs a day. So you can spread your dose to every 6 hours, say, 1 at 6:am, 1 at 12 midday, one 6pm and 1 midnight. The aspirin content of Norgesic forte is minimal even if you take 4 tablets over 24 hrs, that only gives you 2600mg of aspirin, whereas you can take 8-9gms/24 hours. Unless you are taking other NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) on top of the aspirin from Norgesic Forte? The Orphenadrine in the Norgesic Forte is your muscle relaxant. It gets rid of the pain by relaxing your painful muscle spasms. Now I can understand why you get relief out of it. I’m just wondering if you are better off taking muscle relaxants and aspirin independently? minus the caffeine? I don’t know why they put the caffeine there because it is a stimulant and Orphenadrine by itself causes insomnia! Are they trying to kill you or what – LOL! Anyhow, it is definitely a good idea to have (I would suggest) 2-3 monthly liver and kidney function tests, as well as full blood counts. Goodness knows what these drugs are doing to your blood cells in general. I’ve got 2 days off. We have MIMS on line at work. I can send you full prescribing info. of any drug you want. It’s comprehensive, usually between 80-100 pages. So probably best to send it as attachments. I find it really useful because it actually tells you how drugs interact with other drugs. Did you know if your anti-hypertensive belonged to the class of ACE inhibitors, aspirin is likely to decrease the effects of your anti-hypertensive if you take them together?
Christine,
Hope you see this.
Try to find Desonate for $20.00 again please.
I found it out of canada and it’s almost. $200 which is what it cost in the US too. They require an RX too.
There are some other things. I use to use a cream in the 90′s but I don’t remember what the name of it was. There was two strengths, one was too strong for one’s face but the docs had me on it for a while. Can cause bad wrinkles on the high does. don’t remember the dosages either.
I need something or its gonna hurt. :) just suggestions if you can think of something. if not I’ll find something.
Doctor here can’t restrict much of anything. Don’t need a prescription to get anything I take, other than Xanax. Hard to find that. I’m going to have to get it from a hospital.
I need to stop taking it every day.
I’m really really happy with the Norgesic forte, I thought I might have a problem with the caffeine but I don’t.
100 pages per drug? WOW. Naw… Merk Manual, is that what your talking about? Or is it Merc. Been a while since I’ve had my hands on one. :) Don’t go out of your way.
I am on one other NSAID, Naproxen is the spelling I think. 500mg twice a day. I keep trying to cut back on it but the pain in my hips gets real bad if I do. Especially when Ii try walking in Flip Flops. Yea Ii know… I would think support hose is what I really need but arn’t those very very hot? My legs swell, well if I don’t have pizza or beer they swell less. I’m cutting way back on the pizza and I don’t drink that much beer.
I had four last night and was close to drunk. So you know I’m not a heavy drinking. See, I like drinking very little, that way it has much more effect when I do. :)
Don’t go our of your way on the drug books, that’s too much information. I just don’t have the time to read it. I was just worried about that much aspirin over the long term. I think Wikipedia explains why the caffeine is in there. Not 100% sure. Very happy with it though. No insomnia here, which is unusual, I usually have a lot of trouble with that but have been sleeping on a human schedule for the last several months.
I’ve not done that since I was a teen. I’ve had fits with insomnia all my adult life. I kind of enjoy being up when others are.
I will find that site again. I will have to get back to you. Our drug information site is MIMS. It’s our “drug bible”. If it’s been manufactured, we can read it even if it’s not available in Oz. It might only be available by subscriptions by hospitals? I work for Queensland Health, Queensland’s biggest public hospital, so I can access all sorts of info from MIMS. We’ve also got another “drug bible” called Microdex, I like it because it is more comprehensive than MIMS, including what foods to avoid. There’s a lot of pages because it also list chemical compositions and how it gets broken down by the body and how it gets excreted and how much stays in the system. If I was going to send it to you, I was going to reduce it down to side-effects (don’t think you’ll really care about that, what the hell, you need the drug!) and how it interacts with the other drugs you’re taking. I hope your doctors are keeping tabs of what you’re taking because some drugs can cancel the benefits of the other, which means you might as well eat sugar candy. Anyway, I just have a favor to ask you (and anyone else whose reading this). I found out today my holiday for June has been approved, but it is only going to be a really short one, about 15 days. Where do you go for dentists? have you tried the one in Bogo? My dentist in Cebu is very very good, the gentlest hand and reasonable costs and good work. His name is Dr. Charles Jorgio. He is behind Cebu doctors hospital. But to get to him, I have to go through the horrendous traffic in Mandaue and then more traffic in Cebu. With the short time that we have in PI, I don’t really want to waste 4 hours travel just to get to a dentist. Any alternatives? Any suggestions will be much appreciated.
What was the cream used for? Did it come in a tube? Does Aristocort sound familiar? or betamethasone? dexamethasone?If you tell me what the cream was for, I might be able to jog your memory. If you are using it for Lupus related rash, it could only be some form of topical corticosteroid.
Hi Russ, just tried to send you the internet address of pharmacies who will sell you desonate. They’re around 32-33$ for 3 tubes. Plus postage costs (not much). But This site will not let me send it. Stated it’s SPAM. I guess because I cut and paste. Access my e-mail address at Word Press and I will e-mail them to you privately.
It was a steroid cream for the inflammation/rash on my face, the classic lupus butterfly rash. I also have dermatitis which I think is the real problem these days though there may be a little lupus type rash lurking under the dermatitis. I just need a cream with cortisone in it. I think it needs to be no more than .05% or is it .5% One is too strong to use on face, can’t remember. I use it all over, well not all over, a spot here and a spot there. Hopefully I can get the desonate gel for the price your speaking of.
You should have been able to post the link. It should have asked you to confirm you are human. Once I get the link, I’ll try and see if it will do that to me.
Email coming up.
Hi Rusty,
Saw your site when I was researching some info on lupus. I was diagnosed to have one nine years ago (although I suspect I had it most of my life). It’s not that I’m glad that I’m not the only one with lupus, but it sure feels better that I’m not alone in this endeavor. This is one hard battle to fight and I admit I haven’t been able to fully accept my fate. Your blogs inspire me and i’d like to say thank you. Keep on writing and inspiring! God bless!!!
I was first told back around 1988 I might hae lupus. I was scared to death and the biggest feeling I had was that I was going to die and die alone.
That was an over reaction, I’m still here. :) As far as I’m concerned, I’ve lived only half my life. I’m 50. :)
I accepted it too much, I limited myself too much and probably didn’t do my health any good. I don’t now and the doctors don’t know. Some pump me up with meds, others say the meds are killing me. I think they are wrong, if I hadn’t taken such aggressive steps, under the care of a specialist, I don’t think I would be here now. I was a stroke waiting for a place to happen.
But now, I’m just going tot live as best as I can with lupus in the background as much as I can. I don’t think of it as lupus too much any more, I think of it more as, I know I can’t do everything most others can.
I can’t take the heat as well, I can’t take the sun much at all but by dang, I can do it, I’ll just have to rest later. :) I wont have any choice but to rest. LOL
Trying to work with it though, I couldn’t do anything but work and what a waste that turned out to be in my case. For me, I made the right move but I was lucky that I had the choices in front of me, most don’t.
Its okay, don’t fully accept it but I wouldn’t call it fate either!
Rusty: It seems you are well versed with a lot of medical info Seeing yellow spots can be due to diabetic retinopathy, TIA, glaucome, akinotopsia or motion blindness; macular degneration; and even migraine headaches. Spots of light, halos, or zigzag patterns are common symptoms prior to the start of the headache. An ophthalmic migraine is when you have only visual symptoms without a headache. Even certain meds can cause this.
Why don’t you come back to the States; so the root of your multiple health prob can be addressed with highly qualified drs. For God’s sake try to stop smoking.
You’re not even sure of the efficacy of those Phil made meds.
Rosie C, CCRN (Critical Care Registered Nurse)
Hey Rosie!
How about I stop inhaling this cigars? Think that will help enough? I see my weight as my biggest health problem. TIA and yellow spots, those I’ve had some involving the eyes but they were not yellow, they were black and resulted in yet another MRI that found some strangeness such as I’m missing a blood vessel that feeds the eyes. But the one I do have has adapted to feed the other one.
I’ve seen so many American doctors that I couldn’t count them on all my fingers and toes. :) Nearly monthly trips for years. For years seeing more than one a month I had seven of them at one time. Some of them treat me like I’m nuts, some less god-like doctors admit they don’t know..
I’ve thought about going to the Mayo Clinic and whoo knows, maybe I will. I doubt they are particpating providers in my insurance thohugh. I think they missed the scleroderma because I had no skin manifestations. I talk like I’ve diagnosed it already, wonder where I got my MD. LOL
If you have the time, I hope you keep stopping by. I might get back to the US for follow up on this sometime but I have to tell you, after all I’ve been through with doctors, its not way up high on my list of things to do. High on my list is dying like Steve Erwin…. Not very realistic as I can’t do the things he did but I will do what I can.