one of the key treatments for RA is pain management medication, and as you probably know, the name of the game in
pain management is codeine and its derivatives. unfortunately, gabriele experiences one of the more unpleasant side effects when she takes codeine - extreme nausea. (i should probably note that most of the meds she is on also cite nausea/stomach issues as the chief side effect, especially
methotrexate, so there is a compounding effect at work as well.)
we've found that
Percocet is slightly less nauseating than
Lortab, but naturally she has to have a face-to-face w/ the doc in order to get a renewed Rx for Percocet, so she's been stuck w/ Lortab for the last couple of weeks. she takes
Phenergan for the nausea, which usually helps, but it seems to be increasingly ineffective in relation to the Lortab.
so what? so...that means that about 2 hours after each dose, gab starts to get super nauseated, feeling like "someone is stabbing [her] in the stomach repeatedly." this usually lasts about 30 to 40 minutes, during which her joint pain also flares terribly, causing more pain. she typically spends the time sitting on a stool we keep handy in the bathroom (it's tough to stand up, bent over the toliet, and heaving for that long, you know?) and crying. afterwards, she is worn out from the pain.
i feel pretty useless when this is all going on. i can scurry and get her medications, water, rub her back, and pray, but other than that, there's not really any quick fix. obviously we'd love for our prayers to stimulate a divine quick fix, but that mindset is probably a theological
faux pas. we're just trying to keep the faith in spite of what often seems like divine inaction, and trying to stay away from explanations like
this. (ooh...just reading that makes my blood boil a little. i may reserve that topic for a post on my own blog, as its a bit too far of a digression for here.)
and so, we continue struggle with the issue of
theodicy, just like so many great thinkers and believers before us. at least we're in good company. (also, i purposefully chose to link to the wikipedia post for theodicy rather than other sources - the warnings/disclaimers at the top of the entry are probably the most truthy part of the entire thing.)
we've found that Percocet is slightly less nauseating than Lortab, but naturally she has to have a face-to-face w/ the doc in order to get a renewed Rx for Percocet, so she's been stuck w/ Lortab for the last couple of weeks. she takes Phenergan for the nausea, which usually helps, but it seems to be increasingly ineffective in relation to the Lortab.
so what? so...that means that about 2 hours after each dose, gab starts to get super nauseated, feeling like "someone is stabbing [her] in the stomach repeatedly." this usually lasts about 30 to 40 minutes, during which her joint pain also flares terribly, causing more pain. she typically spends the time sitting on a stool we keep handy in the bathroom (it's tough to stand up, bent over the toliet, and heaving for that long, you know?) and crying. afterwards, she is worn out from the pain.
i feel pretty useless when this is all going on. i can scurry and get her medications, water, rub her back, and pray, but other than that, there's not really any quick fix. obviously we'd love for our prayers to stimulate a divine quick fix, but that mindset is probably a theological faux pas. we're just trying to keep the faith in spite of what often seems like divine inaction, and trying to stay away from explanations like this. (ooh...just reading that makes my blood boil a little. i may reserve that topic for a post on my own blog, as its a bit too far of a digression for here.)
and so, we continue struggle with the issue of theodicy, just like so many great thinkers and believers before us. at least we're in good company. (also, i purposefully chose to link to the wikipedia post for theodicy rather than other sources - the warnings/disclaimers at the top of the entry are probably the most truthy part of the entire thing.)