I'm Back!!!

I started having problems with steak in particular as well I am on Nexium twice a day. No more problems I would also bring up milk as well it wouldn't even make it my stomach. I had a scope put in my nose and then it went into my throat. I was told I have a specific type of acid reflux that had something to do with sleeping and acid building up? All I know is the Nexium helped within 2 weeks the problem went away. I stopped taking it a month ago and the problem hasn't returned. I'm only 50 and I am amazed at thee number of drugs I am still on. I was on Oxycotin 80mgs 4 times a day for 5 years. I have been off of it and instead doing PT, use Aleve, muscle relaxers and sometimes super 800mg Motrims. The 1st 2 weeks were the worst nightmare I have ever had to endure. I wouldn't go back to narcotics if you paid me to, however I am not anti narcotic they have their place. I had to have a root canal and the dentist to hold me over the 2 weeks because the endodontist had a waiting list offered me 5/325 which I refused, I hope I never have to go through what I did ever again in my life to get off basically cold turkey. I started with my doctor tappering me down but decided I would never get off them that way so I did cold turkey at home it has been 6 months since I touched a narcotic. I have very serious back problems but because of the nature of my business and family maters I have been putting off surgery and will as long as I can. I have Stenosis, bulging disks at C2,3,5 that cause intense cervogenical headache at times and L5-L6 disks are degenrating as well as adult progressive Scoliosis with a 75 degree lower curve and a 55 degree offsetting upper Cervical curve all the way to C2, degenerative hip disease and nerve damage in my legs especially the left leg which causes Neuropothy. The docs on here please excuse my spelling. In spite of all that I actually feel better now than I have in the last 5 years if I remain mobile and sleep in the correct position I am ok and can deal with the pain. Vic again if it's the Gall Bladder get it out don't suffer like my wife did for 5 years. It was great talking to you on the phone today about the new head!

Take care. Bill
 
Geeze Bill, glad to hear your getting better and off the oxycontin. Good for you! I guess it's ok to talk about this stuff here as it is the "sanitation and plumbing forum"!
 
quote:

Originally posted by Gregory Saracco

You don't have sludge or stones, so what you describe may be possible or could even be a placebo effect. You don't know if it's the nexium or the Actigal helping your symptoms. I would suspect it's the nexium. Hopefully , your Gastroenterologist took a look at your stomach and esophagus. Cholesterol gall stones have no relationship to serum cholesterol levels. If your physician was convinced that your gall bladder was causing your trouble, he would have recommended removal instead of lifelong ursodeoxycholic acid. There are only 2 indications for Actigal: Dissolution of cholesterol gall stones in pts who are poor operative risks, or refuse surgery and prevention of cholesterol gall stones in morbidly obese pts who are undergoing rapid wt loss. Also, the safety of Actigal has not been established in treatment longer than 2 years. You need to be very careful here, you made a recommendation to Vic to "ask his Dr. to put him on Actigal". What may be working for you for whatever reason, may be of no benefit or even dangerous to somebody else. Heck, if this was easy, everybody would be doing it. By the way, I probably talk as many pts out of gall bladder surgery as those That I operate on. I'm not going to agree to perform this operation unless I'm very confident it's the right thing to do. Many pts referred to me for surgery are surprised when I don't recommend it. If you sit and listen to these pts and do a thorough physical exam you often find the real problem and then can avoid any invasive procedures. Helps me sleep well at night!






Maybe my prior post was misleading but what I meant to say to Vic was ask your doctor if Urso is right for you.

And yes, my GI doc was not convinced it was my gall bladder so they opted for the Urso first. I was on Nexium prior to the Urso and I still had the adomenal pain. Once I took the Urso, the pain disappeared. Who knows. Either way, I had a followup last week with my GI doc and I'm weaning off both meds now. She did mention (just like you have) that you don't want to stay on either one of these drugs if you don't have to.

Doug
 
Well I was following Vic's condition and went off on a tangent. I was prescribed the medication for years. Your body gets used to it over the years it's called tolerance. It worked like a charm for a long time but I wasn't always clear and I need to be at the business I own. I started off when I switched to it from percocet with 20mgs 3 times a day. I am completely off it and it did work very well but I kept needing higher and higher doses in the last year. I finally got to the point of hyperglazia thats were the pain killers start to make you more sensitive to pain so it no longer helped me. It was a bad cycle towards the end. My doctors were great in helping me. I have no inclination to ever go on it again unless I was to have the surgery and then only until I healed. Life throws you curves its all about recognizing a problem and dealing with it. Take care Bill
 
Well guys, thanks for all the good wishes and kind words - however I didn't know I was going to start a war among a few of you.

For the present time, I'm not taking anything for the gall bladder, and am feeling pretty good - and I don't have any immediate plans for its removal. I do get occasional heartburn/acid reflux, maybe once a month and take one of the wife's Nexiums for it, as needed. Dr. wanted to prescribe one a day for me, but I don't think it'll be necessary.

In my opinion, I'm taking enough stuff already: Coreg, Crestor, Monopril, Plavix, Lodine, Actos, Niacin 500 mg., Aspirin 81 mg., something for the prostate - name escapes me at the moment, Uraxatrol or something like that, plus Travatan eyedrops for Glaucoma. Even with a prescription plan, all this stuff is costing me a fortune in co-pay; I don't need to add any more to it. And as far as fortunes in co-pay go, we won't even begin discussing my wife and all of her meds...
 
Glad to hear you're doing better. No war amongst us... just friendly conversation :)

Doug
 
Doug and Greg: [:-jump][:-jump2][:-jump][:-jump2]

Bill, I've been through the disc problems with my lower back in the past, and I know it's no fun! Fortunately, the Good Lord has deemed to smile on me, and I haven't had any major back problems in over 25 years. But when I was in my 30's and 40's, I spent a good deal of time in the hospital, in hip traction with a tube of IV Robaxin stuck in my arm. Don't know if Robaxin is still being used, but it used to work pretty well for me. I also took it in tablet form at times.

At the present time, I have cervical spondulosis (sp?) where my neck and skull join, and I take the Lodine for that (my "magic" pills) to keep the inflammation down. Without the Lodine, the headaches from the pressure on the nerves just about incapacitate me. I've been taking the Lodine for about 15 years now, and it works very well for me, and it hasn't eaten any holes in my stomach - so far.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Vic Willman

Doug and Greg: [:-jump][:-jump2][:-jump][:-jump2]

Bill, I've been through the disc problems with my lower back in the past, and I know it's no fun! Fortunately, the Good Lord has deemed to smile on me, and I haven't had any major back problems in over 25 years. But when I was in my 30's and 40's, I spent a good deal of time in the hospital, in hip traction with a tube of IV Robaxin stuck in my arm. Don't know if Robaxin is still being used, but it used to work pretty well for me. I also took it in tablet form at times.

At the present time, I have cervical spondulosis (sp?) where my neck and skull join, and I take the Lodine for that (my "magic" pills) to keep the inflammation down. Without the Lodine, the headaches from the pressure on the nerves just about incapacitate me. I've been taking the Lodine for about 15 years now, and it works very well for me, and it hasn't eaten any holes in my stomach - so far.




I will ask my doctor about it I have Sponylosis as well as the Stenosis. I do us Lidoderm patches and your right the headaches are completely incapacitating. I have also had Epidural's as well and once the local wore off they didn't last long. They were done under Floroscopy. You have to be careful with them I believe 3 Spinal Epidurals are really the safe limit perhaps it's changed. I went as far as seeing the top adult progressive Scoliosis doctor at Jefferson in Phila about 4 years ago he recommended I tough it out and would only recommend surgery if the pain could not be controlled using conventional pain management and PT. Thats it for me on this topic, again welcome back. My wife's Gall Bladder attacks started as very intermittant and got to the point where she was having 3 to 5 episodes a week before she got it removed. Good luck Vic.
Take care Bill
Bill
 
Yeah, I just couldn't pass it up when asked "where I got my information". Too funny.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Gregory Saracco

Yeah, I just couldn't pass it up when asked "where I got my information". Too funny.






I laughed myself! lol

Doug
 
Vic,

I see you are taking Crestor. I worked on that drug from the beginning.
 
Seems to be working Craig; when the cardiologist called my primary physician from my hospital room, just before discharging me, I heard him say that my cholesterol was "awesome" - and he meant it in a good way!
 
I have heard many similar results from people taking it too.
Glad to hear things are looking good for you.
 
I have always had rather high col.. 220-235 range. This was all until this year when I had to take a contract out of town for a few months. A couple month go by and I got my blood work done. Col down to 150.. So my recomendation is "the new working guy live in bars diet". It invloves lots of scotch and chicken wings.. The occasional steak and lots of wine. Little to no fruit or veggies.. Do this for a couple weeks and see how good the blood looks. Worked for me... Now I dont know how much research wass done on crestor, but I pretty sure my way is cheaper.
 
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