Tales from the Trenches: Pharmacologically Funky

I tried to ignore it.

I figured that it would go away.

It didn't.

Y'all, my body has ached for weeks. First, I figured it was a PMS problem. That came and went and the problem didn't get resolved. I had picked K- up, all 55 pounds of her, and figured that perhaps I pulled something. But, things kept getting worse.

My rib cage ached.

My back ached.

My hips ached.

My thighs ached.

Then, I started getting weird muscle spasms in odd places-- my jaw, my hip and my ribs. Hmmm. My soft, not yet flappy area between my neck and chin felt weird-- not numb, not tingly, but weird. Understandably, I started to get concerned. Long gone were my plausible excuses of PMS and muscle pulls.

I looked up Lipitor, as I recall hearing that "if you have muscle pain or weakness" statement on the commercials on TV. After looking the Lipitor site up, I decided to give the doctor a call. I made an appointment to see him Monday AM, but in the meantime, I was to stop taking it to see if I felt better.

Thank the Lord in heaven, I feel a lot better.

I went in to speak to Dr. W-. Hubs went with me, since he was at the office for his nurse visit shot anyhow. Turns out that it can be the Lipitor. It could also be a virus that just made everything funky. The general cholesterol blood work was done, as well as blood work testing muscle enzymes. He expects nothing grand to come from the results of the muscle enzyme blood work, but at least he'll have it so he knows. The plan is to take me off of Lipitor and to take nothing until my muscles are fully back to their old selves again. Then, to confirm it was the Lipitor, I have to go back on it again. He said that the 5 or 6 pills that I have left will tell us whether or not the Lipitor was to blame.

Knowing what the answer was going to be prior to asking it, I asked Dr. W- what he thought about non-medicative ways of lowering cholesterol. "FANTASTIC! I'm all for it! However, . . . " He said that "pharmacologically, you can't deny genetics." He said that my LDL is sitting at about 173. Apparently, that's not good. He said that if it was 120, he could consider telling me to give it a shot, but he said that it is of the very smallest chance that it would even work for me. I've tried diet and exercise before to try to lower my cholesterol. I couldn't get the total number down under 220, and I have no idea what my LDL number was. I've always gone by the total number.

Better living through chemistry, right?!

Prayers in my day:
- I have a friend, C-, who confided in me about a lump that she found in her breast this weekend. She found one in her other breast about a year ago, which turned out as nothing. This one feels "completely different. Hard and seems like it is anchored to something." She goes in the morning for an appointment to her doctor.

Smiles in my weekend:
- A borrowed laptop is taking me where I need to go right now. The neighbor upgraded the internet connection that we share and it booted us. Apparently, the fix is just another antennae. So, he and his computer friends are online searching for the best deal for us right now. In the meantime, I'm on a laptop, not used to a laptop and feel like I'm back on roller skates for the first time in 20 some odd years. It is great to finally post, though.
- K-'s seat was moved in class to keep the M- situation a little more controlled. I suspect that K- was moved over M- because of his behavioral problems. It is easier to move K- because I think that it would disrupt the delicate balance that M- might have in the class. K- was fine with it and K- and M- had a good day.
- It is RIF book day at school on Tuesday and I love helping to hand out 550 books to kids. They really get excited about being able to pick a book to take home, read and keep for themselves. It is a fantastic program that I'm so glad we've been able to offer as a school.
- Rachael and Lily got their snow!

Have a great day!