Re:Debz -appetite suppressants

[Guest guest]

Hi Debs,

I just use those Green Tea extract type ones. The brand name

here is Dexatrime Natural. They seem to work fairly well on

me...too well at times. They can knock out the eating desire for

days on end...but then it could be just a coincidence to my

pancreas stuff. I know I have a hard time even wanting to eat

normally which is why that chocolate frenzy was out of character

for me. But it is under control now! LOL I guess I am lucky, I

really haven't put on much weight since I lost the 50lbs when I

first got sick. I have put on a few pounds since my last ERCP

(Dec 2003) but I was told I needed to, although I have to admit, it

was nice to be slim again...but I would rather be a little heavier

and feeling fine, then thin as a rail and sick as a dog. I am

thinking too, after our discussions about neurontin that some of

the weight gain may be due to that. I really don't eat that much,

but I also have cut way back in my activity too so it is hard to tell

cause and effect.

Your tree planting sounds very ambitious! Your area sounds so

beautiful...I envy you your conservatory. My dream is to get a " sun

room " on top of our garage. A walkout greenhouse-like room off

from the master bedroom. Some day I want to have my tropicals

in there, with me sitting in a hot tub, watching a big blizzard

through the glass roof / walls, sipping champagne (If I am

dreaming, I am going all the way!).

As far as fruit trees....we have one apple tree, the other one didn't

make it. I feel bad about it because it was one that my dad

especially bred...I think he patented it (or whatever you do with

plants) and named it after my brother's two kids (Andric is the

name, I think). We also have some blueberry bushes that

actually gave us wonderful berries this year (we are not in

traditional blueberry country here so it is an accomplishment!).

We had raspberries but when I got sick, they got neglected and

now they are no more. Same with the strawberries..and the

drought this year pretty much wiped out the replacements.

Where I grew up, we had an apple orchard, pears, plums...but no

peaches....again we are not in the right climate for them.

Fall is just around the corner so I am keeping my eye out for the

close-out sales on bushes and shrubs and trees. Last week I

bought a weeping juniper and some arbovitae, a purple leaf

sandcherry, russian sage......I am keeping my eye on a yellow

larch and variegated pine as well as some rhodendrons and

azaleas. As soon as the sales go to 50% off or more, I will

snatch these up I think. We have pretty good luck with fall

planting. The big thing is that we still haven't broken the drought

with any certainty yet and I am not willing to plant much without a

reliable source of water. I just hate to see my " babies " shrivel up

and die.

As far as the heavy work is concerned...I have to admit, I cut way

back on that this year. It was hard for me psychologically to do so

but I took the easy way out for a lot of things. I even had other

people do the heavier stuff. It is hard to give up the

independence and the satisfaction of doing things yourself, but it

was worth it as far as pain wise. I think that is one reason why I

have been relatively stable for the last few months. Or it may just

be the natural ebb and flow of things....hard to tell. But it may be

better for you to convince Colin to help you with it.

I am sorry that the Nazi doctor has caused so much friction for

you. I am not sure how you can combat it other than to just do

what you have to do for yourself and hope that he can learn to

understand what this is all about. He has got to realize that you

wouldn't on purpose, come up with an excuse to not do all those

things you love to do. That is how my husband gets an

understanding of what is going on....when he sees that I have

lost my ability to do what is my passion (my gardening) he

realizes that I am going through a bad time and he supports me

as much as he can, I think. Pain is so hard to describe and to

make real for other people until they go through something

similar.....then the realization seems to sink in that it is real and

that it is not something that we want to have.

As far as your oxy dose...I am not sure how to help you with that.

Have you switched to oxy from morphine? I am not sure what the

equivalencies are for that.... Are you on 20 mg a day of the slow

release and then 10mg pills for breakthrough pain? My

understanding is that the slow release pills should be titered up

until you reach a stable level of pain control which is determined

by you not needing very much breakthrough meds (except for

instances that are known to create higher levels of pain like

eating for example). In my case, if I were to go to the oxycontin /

oxycodone route I would imagine that I would take a 20mg

oxycontin a day (or 2, 10mg pills to even out the coverage) and

save my 5mg oxycodone immediate release pills for lunch and

suppertime. That way my background pain would be completely

suppressed and all I would feel, theoretically, is the spike from

eating. To me, that would be the ideal way to handle this. Is this

the way that you are trying to work on? To suppress the

background pain while reacting to the spikes with the

breakthrough meds? I guess, without knowing the

equivalencies, I would go back to my mantra " treat the

symptoms, not the signs " . That is, titer up the slow release

medication until you get to that stable point of pain control and

then you will not need to use so much breakthrough medication.

From all I have read and learned from our board, that seems to

be the best way to manage chronic pain....but I am sure that your

new doctor and you will be able to adjust the meds until things

are working. Have you mentioned it to your new doctor?

Hopefully you will get a system worked out soon!!!

laurie

[Guest guest]

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laurie

It sounds like you are or would be on equivalent doses to me yes i did

swap from morphine to oxycontin

I was on 20 mg twice a day and I am on oxy 10 mg twice a day and its

not cutting ti with 5 mg oxynorm breakthrough. I see some peopel take

it 3 times a day mayeb its to overlap ????I have emaile dhim a few

times, and I wait.... well not much longer I hope... it needs

increasing now.....I am taking more oxynorm BT and its not good.

So I await soon after the next email I will call and page him in the

hospital.

Debs