Gastroparesis Frogs 'Pain, Nausea, Fatigue'

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http://melissagpfight.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/gastroparesis-pain-nausea-fatigue-frogs-2/

Gastroparesis 'Pain, Nausea & Fatigue' Frogs

"Hanging On For The Fight Of Our Life". This is dedicated to all those that suffer from a chronic illness.

Photo is property of Melissa (GP Fight) McElfresh as of it's creation date of July 1, 2013.

Amitriptylin and Me

Yesterday I as ill from symptoms related to gastroparesis that decided to become worse than my 'normal' days.   All of us that suffer from a chronic illness know our 'normal' day is not that of a 'regular' person.  We have to tolerate so much more on a typical day.

For some reason mine decided to continue to get worse last night until I head my head in the toilet.  I know I always flare around the 20th of each month, so now (6th) was very odd.  Nothing changed in my life or what I was eating, even the environment (inside and out) seemed the same.  One day I would love to know what my other triggers are!  That's where my journal comes in handy, if I write enough in it (like a detective)!  Link is here if you want to find out more:  http://melissagpfight.wordpress.com/2013/05/23/chronic-illness-journal-blog-1-of-2/

My husband had the next day off and I wanted to be well, so I could enjoy the little time we do get to have together.   Since the nausea was not going away and I didn't want to be up all night I did the only thing I could.... take 5mg of Amitriptylin.   This is the ONLY prescription drug that worked for me for and I could handle the side effects, if I only took it once during a flare.  The problem for me is it makes me sleepy.  Let me rephrase that!  I took it at 9pm and didn't wake up until 11am and still wanted to sleep.   Like I said my husband was home and I wanted to spend time with him.  Generally I would go back to bed and be awake when he got home at 6pm.  That is 21+ hours of constant sleep because of 5mg of Amitriptylin.   I can not order anything smaller.  I tried cutting mine further, but it wasn't effective.

So I was up, sort of.  Groggy with a huge headache and very thirsty.  Yes, I get cotton mouth with the small dose and a margarine.   But I didn't have my head in the toilet all night.   I had hoped that maybe this time my body would react better with the med.  Guess not.

I made it to the kitchen to get something to drink and watch a little tv.  That turned into a nap.  I made a smoothie so I could get some protein in me (egg powder protein... link here:  http://melissagpfight.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/the-importance-of-protein-powder-ideas-for-smoothies/) and decided to go to the store with my husband so I could get some soup and Gatorade.  I felt like I could make myself do it and I did -for the most part.  He drove as I was way too dizzy to do so.  Closed my eyes a few times and wished I had not gone.  But the store was just a few blocks away and we only needed a few things.  However, the dizzy part is a killer when you are walking down isles with different shapes and colors!  I leaned into him and stopped walking.  He knew what was happening and finished the shopping quickly.  

It is hard for me to just 'rest', (I know it is the best thing for me) when my time with my husband is precious to me and I want to 'be normal'.   Which is highly overated!!  LOL

Back home I had some chicken noodle soup and more to drink.  The dizzy spell is under control, now to work on the headache and off to another nap! 

For me, it is a toss up if I really want to take the Amitriptylin or not.  My GI Dr thinks it is good to have on hand, even though it makes me sleep for so long.  I would never want to forget that I took one, or I could end up in a coma!  Scary drug for me.  I make sure that if I ever take anything my husband knows what it is and when I took it.  Never can be too safe.

Non-Prescription Nausea Relief Ideas

Let me first start off by saying that the suggestions that will follow will not completely get rid of your nausea.  At least, they didn't for me.  But my nausea is much less being on some of them.  Also, be sure to consult your doctor before you try any home remedies or herbal supplements.  There can be drug interactions and some supplements as well as no guidelines as to how much you (as your own individual case) should take. 

Okay, with that disclaimer out of the way lets begin!  Follow in is a list of items that should help relieve/limit your nausea.  Also, don't expect the diminished nausea to happen instantly. 

 

Non-Prescription Nausea Relief Ideas:

• Ginger - supplements, candied ginger, ginger ale, ginger cookie/bread, tea
• Saltine Crackers (breads or crackers of any type)
• Water (dehydration causes nausea)
• Mint Tea
• Lemonade
• Black licorice candies
• Altoid peppermint
• Check to see if you are low in B-6
• In-scents: ginger, lemon, lavender and peppermint
• Cool Air / Fan (to bring down your body temp)
• Cold wash cloth or ice pack on the back of the neck
• Acupressure - Link: http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Nausea-With-Acupressure
• peppermint candy (York or Jr Mints)
• Acupuncture
• Message
• Yoga
• Short small sniffs of a medical alcohol sanitizing pad (right before you feel you will vomit)

 

I can happily say that I take ginger supplements every day.  If I miss a few days of them, the nausea comes back strong.  I also notice if I get 'hot' the nausea starts to approach as well.  After every meal (any meal other than soup or smoothie) I drink mint tea (Mint Medley by Bigelow) and it works wonders!   I even carry bags with me when we go anyplace.  My body does not tolerate any of the prescription medications, so this I am very limited.

 

Found at a local drug store:

• Sea sickness band
• Pressure band
• diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
• dimenhydrinate (Dramamine)
• meclizine (Bonine)

I tried that last 3 items on this list and they had no effect on me.  My GI Dr told me to give them a try before we went down the prescription route. 

 

LINKS:

• http://www.livestrong.com/article/437870-good-foods-to-eat-while-nauseated/
• http://www.home-remedies-for-you.com/remedy/Nausea.html  <<foods to avoid
• http://www.livestrong.com/article/416161-yoga-poses-for-nausea <<Yoga poses
• http://www.ehow.com/how_6618_shiatsu-nausea.html  << Shiatsu Message

Pain, Pot & Politics

There has been a lot of chatter regarding using marijuana/pot for pain management, that it inspired me to look into it further.  I can see pros/cons to both sides and wanted to dig deeper with on-line research to try to figure it out.  For the record, I am not 'picking a side'.    Did I mention that I live in WA State where they are fighting for it to become legal (the degree is not known, considering how the Feds feel about it).   But the tax money it will generate for wonderful programs, the amount of big brother regulations, was the aspect that I liked.   However, some business's in WA are now putting pot into food and drinks.  This concerns me, as a parent.  They make the products look kid friendly.

I do not encourage nor discourage the use of Marijuana for your pain management.  In watching my mother-in-law suffer in pain due to cancer, I can NOT tell anybody how to live their life.  She was on a morphine pump at home and no amount of it would help her.  And she had a very high tolerance to pain.  It is a heartbreaking experience to witness and I can not imagine going through it!

Cannabis Sativa, aka: Pot, Herb, Mary Jane, Grass, Weed, Marijuana, Dubby, Reefer, Roach, Dope (and the list goes on).  I believe has the most nicknames of any 'drug' we have ever had in our society.   That is just a guess.  The statistics I have found very greatly in the number of people that used and whom are addicted.  For this blog I will say it seems to be about 4% of American Adults have consumed at least once a year and 1 out of 300 Adults are addicts.  Again, each place I read something different.  In all honesty I have never used it, but was around it in my college days.  I never saw the point in doing it, after watching my 'friends' get high and act stupid.  That is a degree that I am not talking about here for 'medical use'.

Medical use pot seems to be about 3 'puffs' a day.  I will leave it up to the consumers in how much you need/want.  That is an area I am not going to get involved in.  What you do is up to you and I have no business being in your business :)   I am just stating what I read for those that are interested in the topic.

Here is a list of my findings for the estimated 76 Million Chronic Pain Americans (again, my stat is not gospel).

What pot can alleviate:

• Relief of chronic pain


• Suppression of nausea


• Increase/restore metabolism


• Relief of muscle spasms

Research has been done in the following areas with great success:

• Glaucoma - pot relieves eye pressure


• Cancer


• Multiple Sclerosis


• Epilepsy


• Chronic Pain


• Anxiety - in the proper dose, pot can elevate your mood and expand the mind


• Depression


• Obsession


• psychologically/spiritually enhancement

Side Effects of Pot (just in case you didn't know):

• Rapid heart rate


• Increased blood pressure and breathing


• Red/Dry eyes


• Slow reaction time


• Increased appetite - aka, munchies


• Short-term memory loss


• Paranoia,  anxiety and depression

From the articles I have read with medical research I can see great benefit from the substance, in moderation.   However,  I was not able to find out too much on how your body adapts to it over time.  If your body would build a tolerance to it and if so, would the higher dose still benefit you?  At this time that would be my only concern, should I decided to go down that road at a later date.

The decision is yours, just make sure you are responsible as a user and respectful of others who do not share your opinion.

Cheers to Germany and Belgium for their legal use of it and a healthy working society.

Links to some of the page I went to for this blog:

• Cannabis Research Center:  http://www.cmcr.ucsd.edu/


• http://www.everydayhealth.com/pain-management/medical-marijuana-for-chronic-pain.aspx


• http://www.michaelshouse.com/marijuana-addiction/street-names-for-marijuana/


• http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/news/20100830/marijuana-relieves-chronic-pain-research-show