med withdrawal

Was on 20 mg amitrip at night for 18 months then 25 for a while then 30. I developed myokemia. Muscle tics/flicks/spasm and overheating. I thought this was a development of the MS as well as early menopause.   Specialist advised possibly serotonin overdose so 10 weeks ago swapped the amitrip for nortrip. Have withdrawn amitrip successfully and gone onto nortrip as well as reduced fluox down to 40 from  50mg. Success in that there no more muscle flicks and overheating. I have also came off the contraceptive pill to help with weight loss stuff.
And now - it looks like nortrtip+fluox (tricyclic + an SSRI) has contributed to the development of tachycardia. And if it hasn’t then it now can contribute to risk of future attacks.

So I am coming off the nortrip. will decrease by 5 mg a week until gone. I wonder if the MS symptoms (pins and needles, eye blurring, neuralgia, headache, dizziness) will stay controlled, increase or not be there as all along its been side effects???? Oh I so look forward to pain. NOT.

The fluox is there to manage depression I have had since age 8 or so and not picked up till 18 and not correctly dx and treated till age 29. This is my second time on this drug. To success. First time 96-98 and withdrew slowly over 6 weeks while using st Johns wart which I then tapered off for 8 months. Stayed free of drug assistance with managing depression until 2006. A friend was dying as was my brother. I agreed to taking them knowing this would be years again. I started at 20mg but 6 months in went up slowly to 50mg. I was on the fluox on its own for 3 years before amitrip was introduced to help manage MS neurological symptoms of pins and needles etc. pain.
I tried to decrease by 10 mgs 2 year ago and symptoms returned quickly so did some more research and took note of the idea that to stay on them for 2 years from the time of feeling well which was Sept 2009.
I had a successful knee operation in April 2009 and came off 4 different types of pain relief and no longer needed a cane or walking stick to hobble with. I pinned that date for the time to wait two years to see how I manage and the depression is stable
So Sep 2011 was the date for first Prozac decrease. I have managed that decrease. Apart from the tachycardia event that has thrown me completely which is being treated as an event, not a depression relapse, my mood is stable still.
I am meant to be decreasing another 10mg of fluox but decided against that while this heart stuff is looked at.

its so tiring... what causes what, what meds interact with what, what condition takes priority... tired tired tired.
And now we have to play either keep the nortrip in and risk tachycardia or take nortrip out, replace the fluox with something that helps with depression and MS, or take nortrip out and leave the fluox is and risk the return of MS pain......

I’ve started the nortrip decrease tonight. Down to 15 mg from 20mg and will do that for one week then....

Watch this space...

todays word confuddle and Health update

 

Mary and I would like to thank everyone who has helped find information, sent messages of support and been there in last 10 days since Lord Tachycardia joined forces with Sir Multiple Sclersois to incite the Earl of Depression into an uprising. We are getting to the bottom of some things. We have got the cardiologist referal under way that has been overlooked for a week. Ive met with other SVT (superventricular tachycardia) people and got support. I managed parts of two music rehearsals this week, did some paper work,  seen my work supervisor, been loved by some v wise kuia, got an onto it Priest, touched based with beloved therapist, seen GP, and been visited by v onto it MS field officer. And very importantly I made contact tonight with the med rehab specialist I paid privately in August for second opinion on all conditions. Even if the MS med hasnt caused the tachycarida (and it prob has), I cant continue with it as it now increases the risk of future tachycardia episodes. So tomorrow I start weaning form the drug that controls the MS pain and wait while he investigates alteranatives. Im glad I know this now as god knows how long till see cardiologist to hear this. OK. So the MS pain(s) will be back but that is at least better than bringing on things that involve the heart. Love, connection, faith and hope have taking care of the revolt by patriarchal Lords etc. Love to all. AMS and MM

 

oh yes PS. Todays word thingy.... I was reorganising my jacket rack and told Mary it was my 'jacket racket'. Gotta laff.

IM BACK from wherever Ive just been

IM BACK. Landed. Yay. Geez. lets not do tachycardia again, the post "I survived a a heart event" euphoria is great. The whump at the end was equivalent to that I experienced on on Friday 28 March 2003 at 5.05pm when a consultant and registrar said to me. "You arent stupid Ann-Marie so we will be straight up, we believe we have found a secondary brain tumour. We want to start looking for the primary site". That day they sent me home over the weekend to think and gave me 2 zopilcone to sleep. I didnt take them. I wanted to live every moment. I watched the sun come up and the light on my black cat on the deck. I went back to the hospital that morning and we waited. After three weeks they sent me home with " we will know in three weeks if its cancer, as it will grow". It didnt. It was a few months haul back to living as Id gone there with liiving those days as potentially my last. Thats what happened this time. I went to that place again of being peacefully reconciled to death and it takes a bit for me to come back. I havent slept in two nights. A third night sometimes bring psychosis so GP has given me sleep stuff to tie me over till tomrrows consult. I can proudly say I havent had to use PRN sleep meds for two years. Tonight I will use it to get the sleep back into rhthym and then I rejig my life again for this term to accomdate what I actually can do while we work out a new health management plan. xo

MS (Multiple sclerosis), SVT (supraventricular Tachycardia) and Depression plus other things

People w MS have higher rates of depression than those who dont.

Depression is both a precursor and a result of Ventricular Tachycardia.  And depression of the clinical  kind means 4 times more likley to be have a tachycardia event than if not clinically depressed.

I cant help feeling Im F^^&ked.!!??

I am having more trouble accepting this SVT dx and follow up than I did with being told in 2003 that I had a suspected brain tumour that turned out 4 months later to be an MS lesion. The change from incorrect pysch dx, incorrect migraine dx to possible brain tumour, to intial MS dx, to a provisional to a probable to actual after rediagnosis between 1995-2006-was gruelling but at least it was over time. This event? Whacked hard and quickly. And Ive had it for a while but put the dizziness, eye blurring, headache, tight throat down to MS. Just like Id put the sharp jabbing in the rib area to intercostal spasm common in MS just to find its gall stones.

Im trying to get my head around the fact everything is so connected.
MS for me means lowered immue system which means constantly below par with a myriad of MS symptoms (ranging from numbness to extreme pins and needles, balance issues, eyes blurring, swallowing probs, referred pain and chronic fatigue)
plus colds, viruses, chronic sinus infection, gastroentrinitis, skin infections.

 I struggle with obesity because of meds and   mobility thanks to MS  in the left side of my body and ostearthritis in my right leg. (For which I have had a very successful knee replacement but there is no such thing as an ankle replacement).  I have no resistance. Im having to fight physicially and emotionally to keep head above waters.  Every day. It seems it all comes back to atttitude, diet, choices of friends and connection, good family and friend support, community involvement, stress reduction (meditation, excercise for me, music), hobbies (stamp collecting, photography, genealogy), sleep, having meaning in life, postivity...

F&()(k. Im going to bed. Hope sleep comes.

I am incredibly prvileged with my life. I work for myself, I have an amazing partner of 16 years, I live in my otaki haven, I have the most amazing community, my heath care providers are top notch, I have oodles of friends, my siblings have become my friends, I am professionally repsected, I am musically talented, I have a spiritual faith and..........

I am completely and utterly overwhelmed.

not everything can be put down to MS

a heavy chest numb sensation going up into the oesophagus, pins and needles in face and hand, eye blurring, dizziness, off balance, headache are all part of the MS but they are also symptoms of SVT (supraventricular tachycardia). Well gee , now aint that fun.?!
And intercostal muscles spasms which can be the MS could also be the gall stones. gee, thats fun too.!?
Sometimes I am in serious dislike with my body.

word confuddle and heart problem 11 Oct 2011

Tried to say Not only. Said Notly. laff. guess that can be excused in a day where I was in an ambulance contemplating heart failure, by pass, pacemaker and death options. The moment in time where I felt most at peace was when the ambo was in shannon and I was completely at peace with the idea of this being it. I haad no regrets, the personal work had been worth it and all was in order.

The second momnent of peace,  injecting the drug to stop the heart to revert it back to normal rhythm.

Apprently I suffered a SVT attack,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supraventricular_tachycardia
This explains 3 other episodes in last 4 years including one this birthday. It is not life threatening and manageble but I  didnt know that until 6pm tonight.

Started when I notice the struggle and breathlessness in the pool yesterday. Unable to swallow at dinner time. Couldnt stand at choir prac last night. Eye blurring at 10pm. Indigestion feeling at 12midnight. Rapid heart beat at 1am.  Woke at 8am drenched. Fainted 4 times between 9 and 12pm. Drove to a friends and lay on their deck while others made decsion ffor me to not drive. Taken to med centre at 12.45.

Pules rate 185bpm. Ambo called.  The intensive care speciliast ambo called. Transported at 2pm to pn hosptial. picked up specialst ambo on route.  Meds in ambulance didnt bring heart rate down further than 170.

So emergency dept gave med to stop heart and revert it to normal ryhthm. Apprently I had been running a marathon for 28 hours at the pace of a sprint.  Mary said the heart monitor stopped and when it came back on I had dropped from 170 to 110 in a course of 8 seconds.

Had oxygen mask on, 2 lines in and resuc cart near by.

So, I am home, Happy to be alive and cancelling rest of my week.

next time I have a technique to use to get it to revert otherwise I am calling an ambo 27 hours earlier.

Love you all
AMS

MS and exercise

First time at pool in 18 months; first time in pool in 25 years without my prescription lens goggles.  Im not a swimmer. And Im not a keen exerciser. I have MS. The heat of the pool complex gets me. 6 laps in 35 mins. Lap one had break half way. Lap two made it 2/3s before stopping. Lap three, 3/4s of way. Lap four, no stops. Bursting lungs with 10 meters to go. lap 5 walked. Lap 6 made it halfway.  Lots of stops each end.  My 10am Monday morning commitment with the Otaki MS group for the rest of the year. Todays aftermath. Blurring eyesight and fatigue earlier in day. mmm. Exercise. needs to be done. Isnt enjoyable and it brings on pain. 

Managing fatigue

Doing only what one wants to do, with expectation of reciprocity, that leaves me fatigued but happy and soon ready to go again. Otherwise known as fun.  I can live with the eye blurring I now have because my weekend energy went into being around good people, supporting me to do what I do best and checking with me how they could help so I didnt fatigue as fast.  how cool is that. More please. TIA.

music camp with wellingtons LGBTI quire

Today I took 2 one and half hour sessions of music at camp. I am so thrilled to have been invited and also to have been able to do it- both in music ability and physical capacity.   I am very tired with MS fatigue but I way prefer being fatigued from doing something so edifying than doing something that takes and fails to be reciprocal. More music tomorrow.

Today

.. is managable pain levels

todays MS word confuddle

I have enormose empathy for Spooner.

Went to say "hold on a min til I sort my nose out" and said "snort my nose out". sigh