General Medical issues thread

[Cossie]

What sort of eye surgery? Does not sound good.

 

[love_the_life]

While MrsRK didn’t have to wear a boot she was on crutches for 3 of her 8 weeks off work. She used to travel around the kitchen/pantry on an office chair and I chauffeured her around.
Next week she can chauffeur me for my eye surgery.

Cataracts?

 

[rogerkambah]

What sort of eye surgery? Does not sound good.

Should be no problem - its the cataract on the second eye.

 

[suze2000]

Good news! Joint pain subsiding after two and a half weeks of Plaquenil. Not sure I need to up the dose after three weeks as the rheumatologist suggested - mainly because it's made my tinnitus much worse and I already had it really bad. And because of the tinnitus, I'm wondering if I should stop taking it and go back and ask for something else.

 

[Pushka]

Good news! Joint pain subsiding after two and a half weeks of Plaquenil. Not sure I need to up the dose after three weeks as the rheumatologist suggested - mainly because it's made my tinnitus much worse and I already had it really bad. And because of the tinnitus, I'm wondering if I should stop taking it and go back and ask for something else.

Excellent. It’s unlikely they would change drugs as other meds are much stronger and have other side effects that are more significant.

 

[suze2000]

Excellent. It’s unlikely they would change drugs as other meds are much stronger and have other side effects that are more significant.

More significant than tinnitus so bad it's like I spent the night at a rock concert - ALL the time?

I've had it a long time, but I can't remember it ever being this bad.

ETA: the other options are methotrexate (not on your life) and humira (possibly expensive?)

 

[Pushka]

More significant than tinnitus so bad it's like I spent the night at a rock concert - ALL the time?

I've had it a long time, but I can't remember it ever being this bad.

ETA: the other options are methotrexate (not on your life) and humira (possibly expensive?)

Methotrexate worked for my niece but she had significant lupus issues. Humira is usually reserved after long term trials of all other treatments as there are restrictions on it being prescribed I think due to costs. It takes a while for the body to adjust to plaquenil so my bet is that the specialist won’t do anything else yet. I get tinnitus too - sometimes a lot of buzzing but I didn’t think of association with plaquenil.

 

[drron]

And I've neverbeen on Plaquenil but have tinnitus all the time.Usually I pay no attention to it but the mention of the subject has now turned up the volume.

 

[suze2000]

And I've neverbeen on Plaquenil but have tinnitus all the time.Usually I pay no attention to it but the mention of the subject has now turned up the volume.

Apologies. I know it doesn't take much.

Sometimes I think the increase in volume is all in my head. But then I listen again and realise that no, it is actually louder. I get used to it, forget about it, then get put on a new drug, or spend a week clenching my jaw, and it gets worse again. I dunno.

 

[tgh]

I don't have tinnitus, but a thousand cicada's in F#minor.. yep..whenever I choose to listen
I also have severe industrial deafness that cutting edge hearing aid technology assists only a little.
The never ending cicada chorus is there or it is not.. for me it is only there when I choose to listen

 

[Katie]

Saw the dermatologist a few weeks ago. I decided to stop taking Erethromycin (sp?) back in May, as I couldn't tell what was being the most effective in treating the rosacea. Well, that medication was helping!
Dermatologist has now given me a script for roaccutane, so I feel like a teenager. Took it under dermatologist instructions around 20 years ago, because my first step-mother said I should try to do something about the cystic acne for my wedding. Sigh. (I was not a teenager when I got married! )
Apparently the dosage he's prescribed shouldn't have the side effects of the dosage I was on back then, so we'll see. If I don't like it, it will be back to the E-mycin stuff I guess. Also contemplating seeing a naturopath to see what can be done from the gut out to the skin. My new GP recommended the naturopath, but was very non-pushy about it.

Meanwhile, FIL has been in hospital since last Weds. Not due to rosacea.
He's been complaining of being short of breath for ages, and just wasn't feeling right. Went to his GP every day for about three days in a row, only to be told he was fine, it was all in his head, and he's just getting old (80 later in the year). So, after the last visit, he walks to meet up with MIL and the grandkids at the local swimming pool, almost 2km away. Then spends the afternoon in bed recovering. Next day, he still looked awful, so MIL called the ambulance, and gathered family to help with babysitting the grandkids.

Long story short, atrial fibrillation, fluids in lung, fluids and swelling in the legs (not just "getting old"). FIL having an MRI today, and we don't really know much more than the hospital is waiting for him to expel the fluids and see what the MRI says … his overall demeanour is a lot better than a week and a half ago, but still some niggles. The family is strongly suggesting FIL finds a new GP.
(I don't want to bash any GPs, I don't know the intricacies of their relationship, but this GP has been the family GP for 30+ years. FIL has been getting a lot of "you're just old" for the past few years, including the times he fainted. One faint occurred at the gym, and ended up with him getting a pacemaker! I also don't know how often he's been seeing his cardiologist … the ILs are normally pretty good with appointments and not letting them lapse).

Suddenly feeling old for a moment - 80yo FIL not well, 80yo step-father not well, 93yo grandma making comments about celebrating my Mum's birthday "in case it's the last one she's at". Last time I knew so many ill older people, I was much younger, and they were much older than me.
I'll focus on the positives and that we still have them all in our lives.

 

[suze2000]

Yes I defintely think it's time to see a different GP. Is there another one at that clinic he can "accidentally" see because the other one is busy that day?

 

[Pushka]

Saw the dermatologist a few weeks ago. I decided to stop taking Erethromycin (sp?) back in May, as I couldn't tell what was being the most effective in treating the rosacea. Well, that medication was helping!
Dermatologist has now given me a script for roaccutane, so I feel like a teenager. Took it under dermatologist instructions around 20 years ago, because my first step-mother said I should try to do something about the cystic acne for my wedding. Sigh. (I was not a teenager when I got married! )
Apparently the dosage he's prescribed shouldn't have the side effects of the dosage I was on back then, so we'll see. If I don't like it, it will be back to the E-mycin stuff I guess. Also contemplating seeing a naturopath to see what can be done from the gut out to the skin. My new GP recommended the naturopath, but was very non-pushy about it.

Meanwhile, FIL has been in hospital since last Weds. Not due to rosacea.
He's been complaining of being short of breath for ages, and just wasn't feeling right. Went to his GP every day for about three days in a row, only to be told he was fine, it was all in his head, and he's just getting old (80 later in the year). So, after the last visit, he walks to meet up with MIL and the grandkids at the local swimming pool, almost 2km away. Then spends the afternoon in bed recovering. Next day, he still looked awful, so MIL called the ambulance, and gathered family to help with babysitting the grandkids.

Long story short, atrial fibrillation, fluids in lung, fluids and swelling in the legs (not just "getting old"). FIL having an MRI today, and we don't really know much more than the hospital is waiting for him to expel the fluids and see what the MRI says … his overall demeanour is a lot better than a week and a half ago, but still some niggles. The family is strongly suggesting FIL finds a new GP.
(I don't want to bash any GPs, I don't know the intricacies of their relationship, but this GP has been the family GP for 30+ years. FIL has been getting a lot of "you're just old" for the past few years, including the times he fainted. One faint occurred at the gym, and ended up with him getting a pacemaker! I also don't know how often he's been seeing his cardiologist … the ILs are normally pretty good with appointments and not letting them lapse).

Suddenly feeling old for a moment - 80yo FIL not well, 80yo step-father not well, 93yo grandma making comments about celebrating my Mum's birthday "in case it's the last one she's at". Last time I knew so many ill older people, I was much younger, and they were much older than me.
I'll focus on the positives and that we still have them all in our lives.

You are getting old when all family members of the previous generation are gone.

 

[Flying mermaid]

You are getting old when all family members of the previous generation are gone.

Yes Mr FM and I have been orphans for awhile we were fortunate though that they went over a number of years so we weren’t dealing with multiple ill people. It’s a hard but inevitable process.

 

[cove]

I share my orphanage with Mrscove. Works ok so far.

 

[wandering_fred]

You are getting old when all family members of the previous generation are gone.

And in the course of human nature, in 19 days it will be the 101st anniversary of the death (in the Spanish flu epidemic) of my half brother....

You age in years, getting old is a state of mind.....

Always wandering
Fred

 

[Katie]

Yes I defintely think it's time to see a different GP. Is there another one at that clinic he can "accidentally" see because the other one is busy that day?

It’s a lone GP clinic, so FIL will have to try another clinic if he wants to find a new GP.
Happily, he was discharged from hospital earlier today.

 

[JohnK]

ETA: the other options are methotrexate (not on your life) and humira (possibly expensive?)

I was on methotrexate for 12 years. Not good for long term use and there's a chance it can cause cirrhosis of the liver. If you do go with Methotrexate make sure you get the prescription of 50 x 5mg or 10mg as it's cheaper and you can break up the medication for the dose as needed.

If you can get Humira then do so. It's fortnightly and costs the maximum PBS charge so not cheap but it was effective on my joint pains.

Currently joint pain out of control. Mobic ineffective. Back to drawing board.

 

[cove]

I use a pill cutter to cut two of my prescription medications in half. Spending about 5 minutes every 4 weeks cuts those medication costs in half that is caused by the wrong pricing of the two sizes of the medications. What I don’t get is how the smaller size is the same price as the larger size. Then AlphaPharm ran out when they were slow getting TGA testing approval of their latest batch.

 

[wandering_fred]

Consult with the GP as not all meds can be safely "cut in half" , as enteric coating is compromised in the process.

But yes I do it with two on mine, not due to pricing but dosage..... Ideally you get one which will "snap" in two without a "cutting device"

Happy wandering
Fred