Monday, August 15, 2005

Seeing my neuro on Wednesday.

At this point, I'm seeing my neurologist every four months. I like him a lot, although I sometimes think he feels that I'm a whiner, that I'm overly sensitive to minor stuff. Which I am. To be fair, one of the ways my moderate depression sometimes plays out is that I use my infirmities as way of getting attention and affection. I can trace this tendency all the way back to my childhood, actually. But I would rather give him too much information than not enough.

A visit to the neuro always begins with some version of the quetion, "So, how are you feeling?" Let's see. Since April, my emotional health has certainly improved. My workload has evened out, my marriage is humming along nicely, and blogging has provided me with a creative outlet. Physically, though, not as good. There have been a number of heat-related discombobulations, but even under more favorable conditions, I'm definitely weaker and wobblier. I'm also becoming more conscious of physical tremors (I think you'd call them intention tremors) in just about every muscle in my body. In particular, I'm starting to notice subtle tremors in the muscles that control speech. I sometimes feel a little wobble in my throat or larynx when making certain sounds.

I've also seen the pain doctor, and started cymbalta. I've been up to the full 60mg dose for a couple weeks now, and haven't really noticed an effect on the leg pain that prompted the visit. It's possible, tho, that it's had a positive effect on my mood.

Oh, and even before I see the doc, there's the inevitable "Are you taking any medications?" from the nurse. Let's see: Rebif, Cymbalta, Provigil, Baclofen, Oxytrol, Neurontin, Papaverine, and Serzone. Oh yeah, and Flomax.

God help me, I never remember all the dosages. Actually, the National MS Society makes a medication review form available for just this purpose. I should fill one out. So should you.

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