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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Sorting out my prescriptions after a stroke.

twatnopjkarna

twatnopjkarna

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Messages
64
Location
Arkansas
So I goto my Dr. today for my follow up. Been seeing her since I had a stroke in December. (Fell asleep as computer on Ativan, Suboxone, Clonidine, Soma) woke up with the right side of my body exhibiting classic stroke symtpoms. Goto ER, diagnosed as mild stroke and sent home with a blood thinner, xanax and instructions for bed rest etc. Quite the horrific experience at 21. Goes to show you what IV drug use may eventually lead to. Be safe guys, micron filters are worth every cent. Luckily I have regained most of my mobility and use of the right side of my body. So now I see a regular doctor (PCP) and it has been a rather odd experience thus far. So I goto her and have been following up w/ her, doing phys rehab etc. Anyways the first visit she sent me home with Klonopin, Flexeril, Hydroxyzine. So I have my visit with her today and she messed around with my arm/shoulder etc and we spent some time doing some range of motion exercises... Now that the feeling in my hand and forearm are coming back I am experiencing moderate (sometimes severe) pain. More like an electric shock... Can anyone relate to that feeeling? Today she switched me to Soma, gabapentin, Clonodine, Klonopin,Ambien CR, tramadol and xanax and told me to call her next week if the pain isnt being managed as she said we'd explore the opiate alone (not opiate/combo) path next.l

So now im sitting here with bottles of Klonopin, Xanax, Clonodine, Soma, Gabapentin, Tramadol, Ambien, left over Flexeril and Hydroxyzine....

I am supposed to take the gabapentin at night, anyone have extensive experience with gabapentin and what to expect from it?

During the day I am on some sort of high powered benzo, soma, clonodine, tramadol to control the pain in the arm. So far it is all working surprising well. My only concern is the amount of drugs I am taking every 4-5hrs and the interactions between my prescriptions. Can anyone offer any advice or forwarning regarding harm reduction in the use of these prescriptions?

I also want to add she spends very little time with my, shes more of a paper pusher (script dispenser.....


(I am also an IV Bupe user although it isnt RX'd)

Any advice, help would be highly appreciated. (Thanks Amapola)

Anyways, can someone give me a general idea of gabapentin?
 
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i would be speaking to your PCP about it. after all they are the person prescribing you the drugs and regime. don't you think that would be a wise idea?

if you're not happy with her you have the right to seek out another doctor as well. perhaps try booking a longer session with her in order to try and straighten out some of these issues.
 
Well she has work miracles in my stroke recovery. As you can see I can type with my right hand rather well! I aim just worried about the CNS depressents all at once. I am unfamiliar with gabapentin and was hoping someone could explain it's effects and how it synergizes into my other rxs.
 
your doctor should be explaining all this to you as she's handing over the prescription. if not i'd be very concerned if she's throwing all these CNS depressants and not explaining how they're going to interact together, the risks, etc. enough of each of those medications taken together and you could very well OD.

why don't you read the leaflet that would have come with the box of gabapentin. here is the wiki

i use neurontin (gabapentin) for neurological pain and it is a god send to me. a good anti-anxiety med too though tolerance grows rapidly.
 
Thanks LeftWing, just the personal experience story I was looking for. I really appreciate that.

And I have no leaflets :(

mod note: please just edit your previous post for adding a bit more information instead of making a new one.
 
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I don't think benzos and neurontin are a good choice for stroke recovery and as you said they might be responsible for you getting fucked anyway. I'd like to take a crap on your PCP. The reason she doesn't explain anything to you is probably because she is a complete moron when it comes to pharms. What do these doctors do in 8 years of med school? I know more about shit from reading wiki than they do about meds. I've yet to find a truly knowledgable doctor. The BLers that post in ADD know much more than any doctor it seems. You have some serious problems, and maybe some long-term damage. All I can say is think about getting off nerve-meds they won't be much use in the long run. Just do what is necesessary to prevent another stroke.

Check out a study posted by cane2theleft in the OD lyrica megathread if you can find it. It was posted a few weeks ago and it mentions some things about neurontin and synapse growth and I think it mentions something speciafically about stroke I think.
Good luck and thanks amapola for letting the OP get this out, he can use all the help he can get.

Basically neurontin is not something that interacts with the GABA receptor itself, but attaches to calcium channels (glutamate receptors govern these I think) and prevents over excititation by shutting down these channels when it things get going too much in the cell. Neurontin can cause drowsiness and a dull slowed down feeling (morontin) or I've heard that some people take it and get hyped up. Although Lyrica has the same pharmalogical action it seems I find lyrica to be a superior and more enjoyable drug to have been on.
 
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A good place to look up your meds and find info about them is drugs.com. It also has an interaction checker where you type in ur meds and tells you how they interact with each other. Its the perfect place to find out what each med is used for bc each drug has many uses. It will also tell you the side effects and exactly how they work. Go take a look. The site is easy to get around. Good luck!
 
^^ Thanks guys, I truly appreciate your genuine responses. My doctor is oddly enough extremely 'thorough' but not some much in the RX part, eh? She's fresh out of med school.... 29 tops.
 
i suggest to engage her with questions about the meds if she's not giving you the information. you should be showing interest in how the drugs are going to work and if there is anything contradictory you've got to worry about.
 
Fresh out is better than these docs that have been without any updated education for the last 30 years. Maybe she's not so bad but really, docs must understand the pharms well. I don't see how they can do their jobs without knowing. Keep us updated if your can.

^leftwing, when I ask questions about drugs I either get blasted for being "anxious" or "drug abuser type" and who is a drug abuser that's anxious about taking pills?
 
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it may have something to do with the manner in how you're asking the questions. or it could come down to the doctor. i don't know why they'd be treating you like that beyond reading that sentence.

i do sympathise with you though because i've had the same problems with doctors before but moved on and found a reliable one
 
Tramadol/Xanax

Well to update everyone, I went ahead and threw down the money to see her today and get this sorted out. Dosing schedule is as follows: Morning (with breakfast) 2mg Xanax, 1mg Klonopin, 700mg soma, 100mg Tramadol, 50mg hydroxyzine (prn for nausea or histamine from the tramadol? LOL.) and .2mg Clonodine. Lunch time: 2mg Xanax, 350mg Soma, 150mg Tramadol, .2mg clonodine. Dinner: 2mg Klonopin, 1mg Xanax, 350mg Soma, 150mg Tramadol, .2mg Clonodine. Bedtime: Ambien CR, Gabapentin, Xanax (prn). She also wrote me a new script today for 15mg IR Oxycodone x 45 to be taken with the tramadol up to 3 times a day.... I am absolutely appualed at how this lady throws controlled substances around like candy. Good God all mighty. I am not even doctor shopping! Sound a little extreme to anyone else?
 
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My question is rather simple... I posted a freakin life story the other day about the crazy amount of prescriptions I am on. Anyways, I understand the seizure threshold is lowered considerably with tramadol when ingesting total amounts of ~400mg. I just took 500mg at once for some nagging rather serious nerve pain from my stroke in December. At the same time I took 5mg Xanax (oh tolerance, how I love thee so). Does the ingestion concurrently of Xanax with the large dose of Tramadol offset the chance of seizure? I have only had one seizure before in my life and that was due to head trauma.
 
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Why didn't you just take the much the more appropriate oxycodone you had prescribed for pain instead of an unsafe amount of tramadol? Risk of seizure on tramadol is increased in stroke patients according to wikipedia. I could see the benzos helping slightly as I've heard of some of them being used as anti-seizure meds before but I'm not sure about alprazolam.

I'm going to merge this in with your previous thread as I think people will benefit from the background info in answering and it still is dealing with your post seizure meds.
 
That does sound a little extreme...I've had to almost beg for Flexeril even when my back was so bad I couldn't walk and needed someone with a wheelchair to get me from the parking lot to the drs office, so it strikes me as odd that this dr is throwing all this stuff at you, especially right after a stroke.

But, did you try asking the pharmacist about this stuff when you pick up the scripts? I've found they often know more about the meds and interactions than drs do, and usually when you pick up a prescription you are asked if you want counsel on it, and when you sign for it you are basically saying either you don't, or you talked to a pharmacist already. They literally ask me every time, even if its for the birth control I've been on forever and a half. Plus, you should REALLY be receiving leaflets with information when you pick up your meds...I know sometimes the printouts are pages and pages long for each prescription, seems weird that you aren't getting these either. I'd definitely try the pharmacist --- plus, you don't have to pay to talk to them, they are there to answer your questions, especially since you are on a good deal of controlled drugs at the same time.
 
I took the Tramadol Amapola because is is much more effective for the nerve pain I have been experiencing as a side effect from the stroke. Traditional opiates like my 15mg Oxy IR do help quite a bit b/c of the euphoria and especially the pain in my shoulder so I can practice my range of motion exercises. Tramadol helps with the nerve zaps and arthritic/fibromyalgia (i assume thats what those conditions feel like) type pain. I took the Xanax as a prophylactic b/c of the seizure issue with Tramadol in stroke pts especially.

Purple Cloud: I got the leaflets but irresonsibly threw them out. I do have the leaflets for a couple of them. The Pharmacist did in fact comment on the amount of medication I have been prescribed but I use two different wal marts, one close to home and one close to work. She instructed me to take them as directed and to avoid Tagamet and Grapefruit especially. I will call the Pharmacy and ask for leaflets for the meds I threw out, surely they'll reprint some for me... right?

I genuinely feel she has my best interest in mind but is more or less experimenting with what is controlling my symptoms the most. When I see her after a few weeks or a month its like taking a survey on how I feel each drug worked, would like to continue trying it and if I noticed any unpleasent side effects. I dont forsee her keeping me on this large regiment of medications but for the time being I have one CII, 5 CIV drugs. Plus two very sedating unscheduled substances with protential for abuse...
 
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Ah very good I did not take that into consideration. I know tramadol works differently than most opiates but didn't know it was indicated more favorably in nerve pain (though I do remember reading about methadone for that I think). It seems like you know the risks and how to mitigate them what is good.
 
Yeah which is why I took such a high dose of a benzodiazepine to hopefully offset the seizure causing potential of tramadol hcl.. anyone with personal experience or advanced chemistry or pharmadynamics etc please respond! :)

Agh I am so confused, seriously need some help lol :(((( SO many views so LITTLE responses.
 
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Don't have time for a lengthy reply at this moment but I will come back. Just for the record Klonopin is much more appropriate and effective for use in seizure patients. Xanax may help slightly, but klonopin is much more effective for treating seizure disorder, and would be better to take in conjunction with tramadol to help keep seizures at bay.
 
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