not a good start to the week

Slosh

Finished my Oxycodone yesterday so I'm back on Meptazinol and don't I know it. One of those long pain filled nights ahead where sleep is elusive and alarm set for 6.45. Not looking forward to work tomorrow especially as I'm adding in an extra hour. Still I refuse to give in and will get through the day somehow. Oh well, I suppose this is the reality of working with arthritis.

hileena111

Hi Slosh
Good Luck today.....with your work and the extra hour.
I hope the pain eases

Love
Hileena

dreamdaisy

It's not a pleasant world at times, is it? Part of Living with Arthritis is learning to adjust to the pain and to carry on regardless. The meds can only do so much - distraction techniques are useful for deflecting our attention from the hurt to something else but we have to find what works for us.

Good luck for today, I will be thinking of you and I hope you successfully manage the day. DD

stickywicket

I hope the day goes better than you fear though you will be tired due to lack of sleep. Was the latter due to the lack of oxycodone or maybe partly due to stress at the prospect of a harder week ahead?

I know you've – wisely – eased yourself in as gently as possible but I do wonder if the lack of oxycodone and the extra hour's work might be better if not combined into one week.

dreamdaisy

How did the day go? I've been thinking of you and I hope it wasn't too bad. DD

Slosh

Thank you all. I feel such a wimp.
Well three people including the head tried to get me to go home but being me I said no and just gave up 15 minutes early at 1.45.
It was tough though and unfortunately it was quite a busy morning. Came home, made a cuppa then got undressed and went to bed for a couple of hours.
I did point out to one colleague that if I took time off every time I was in pain I wouldn't be there very much!

I accept that I can't expect to be pain free and as well as my lovely workchair keep a wheatbag at work and use relaxation etc. The problem is days like this when it gets so,bad I just can't think clearly or put words together so they make sense. The problem really started once I had to stop taking Nazopan. When I last saw my GP he upped my dose of Duloxetine for my neuropathic pain and gave me two more weeks of Oxycodone while that took effect. I did manage to get down to three doses of Oxycodone a day instead of four so was feeling quite hopeful.

It was the pain that kept me awake last night . I have got a GP appointment for Wednesday afternoon and I know there is room to further increase the dose of Duloxetine, as for the other, well it's the only thing that makes me feel anywhere near "normal" and makes a huge difference in terms of work.

I have a shorter day tomorrow as I am on a course, part of me is tempted to cancel but I need to do it as part of a qualification I'm doing this year so my next long day is Wednesday.

Thanks for your understanding. Just feeling pretty down again, think I need to pull my socks up and stop feeling so sorry for myself.

dreamdaisy

I am in the now luxurious position of not remembering pain-free but you are not and probably have some way to go before you can.

It's tough. You are not being a wimp, far from it. Life with any form of arthritis is challenging because the drugs don't do that much to help. We have to learn how to cope both with and without them and that ain't easy. Rest up now, University Challenge plus Only Connect on Beeb2 tonight - bliss! DD

stickywicket

You 'feel such a wimp' but you stayed virtually until the bitter end. That doesn't sound very wimpish in my book, Slosh.

I'm sorry, I can't offer any help on the meds front as I don't know anything about any of them.

Good luck for tonight – and for Wednesday. You'll get there

theresak

Not a wimp at all Slosh - pain & fatigue are so debilitating, and I think that those of us who cope with it on a daily basis try so hard to put a good face on in case we are found wanting. We're naturally inclined not to give in, or be perceived as giving in.

I'm in the fortunate position of being retired - I found teaching elevens to eighteens demanding even before RA clipped my wings.

I hope you get some decent sleep tonight - tomorrow is another day.

Slosh

Thank you all for your encouragement. Usual pattern with sleep when it gets like this is two bad nights followed by a better one due to exhaustion. So not expecting great things tonight but will go up equipped with radio/phone/tablet and kindle. Roll on Wednesday and GP.

rayray

I hope the GP can offer help Slosh. I am so with you on this. I have gone into meltdown on too many occasions in the last month or so all due to pain and overwhelming fatigue. I think working is great in many ways but when you get to the stage where you can't think as the pain invades your thoughts in becomes difficult.
Thinking of you.

Slosh

Thank you Rayray
I was on a course today which was good as it meant a shorter day, not so good in that involved sitting for 3 hours in an unsuitable chair! Plans went awry in that I had permission to park in the schoolmcar park, but wasn't told it was hard to find. At least my BB meant I could park in a residential parking bay but it didn't help that after then making my way to the school, the training room was at the other end of the building.
To add to this, as I slowly made my way along the corridor on Fred and Ginger, a infant aged pupil asked me if I was old! I said "No. Just disabled."

I will have some more training there next year which will be all day training so will ask 1, how to get to the car park, 2, to then be allowed to go straight to the training room and phone the office to say I'm on site and 3, for an office type chair!

Least I can rest up for the afternoon before a longer day tomorrow

stickywicket

Slosh wrote:

I will have some more training there next year which will be all day training so will ask 1, how to get to the car park, 2, to then be allowed to go straight to the training room and phone the office to say I'm on site and 3, for an office type chair!

And, by so doing, you will make them more aware and, hopefully, make life easier for future disabled visitors

Well done on dealing with another tricky imponderable.

Kids. Don't you just love their directness My elder son, aged about 7, writing a Christmas letter to an elderly relative, couldn't understand why he couldn't end with 'I hope you don't die soon.' He thought it was a kind wish

Slosh

It was ironic as it was a SEN/disability course at a supposedly inclusive school! I did say to the coursecleader it wasn't that disability friendly, oh and the one and only disabled toilet, not that I need to use one, was at he other end of the school by the entrance

Starburst

stickywicket wrote:

My elder son, aged about 7, writing a Christmas letter to an elderly relative, couldn't understand why he couldn't end with 'I hope you don't die soon.' He thought it was a kind wish

That is brilliant!

Slosh, I'm sorry it's been a rocky start to the week. Here's to hoping that it slowly improves.

dreamdaisy

Arrangements for the disabled are usually put in place by the able-bodied. Please check your BB booklet, around here we are not allowed to park in resident bays, loading bays, or for longer than the time stated in time-stated bays. DD

hileena111

Hi
In the North East We aren't allowed to park in residents bays, loading bays but we can park in a timed zone for 3 hours. {Even if it says 1 hour}
When I was using a scooter many years ago the things I came across.....disabled toilets, where you have to PULL the door open in M & S and the tiniest little space when you did get in.
I always go to the manager or someone and politely explain to them the problems
Love
Hileena

Slosh

I had checked with Barking and Dagenham and its ok in the borough. I have since bought a guide to London which is useful as it details what the arrangements in each borough are. Unfortunately I can't park in residents parking bays where my daughter lives which is a nuisance for mid week visits as she lives on a hill.
GP tonight, I also want to see if he can suggest anything to ease my throat difficulty as I'm finding being at work and having to talk more is really aggravating it. Probably isn't anything he can do but it's worth asking.

stickywicket

I hope he can help. One of my sons used to do a lot of singing. He used single malts

Slosh

I used to sing but unfortunately due to my post op throat problem have had to give it up. My singing teacher used to reccomend a glass of port but unfortunately much as I'd like that I'm not allowed alcohol with sny of my meds. Basically I'm doing the right things but if I get problems breathing due toma throat infection, cold etc. I need an urgent appointment.
Discussed pain relief, got two more weeks of Oxycodone while the higher dose of Duloxetine really starts to kick in. I already managed to reduce the dose I needed so hopefully this will be the last time I need it. As he said we need to factor in the fact I am back at work and it's why I'm on a phased return. He even told me when he's going away on holiday so I know when I can make a new appointment with him if needed.
And it's the end of big week.

daffy2

Arrangements for the disabled are usually put in place by the able-bodied.

- and not even according to the relevant regulations sometimes. At work, a supposedly accessible new toilet has the door(stiff and heavy) opening outwards into the path of the main entrance door and the cubicle isn't even wide enough to get a wheelchair in due to the position of the washbasin, let alone turn round to actually use the WC. The contractors would have had the relevant DDA info, and whoever signed the project off should have checked as well - even though you didn't have to be an expert to see what was wrong.
At hospital today I noticed that the wheelchair toilet had an ordinary rocker light switch only slightly lower than usual, an ordinary small(and stiff) flush lever on the cistern, and the single lever tap had lost the hot and cold identifiers - not reassuring when there are warnings about the temperature of the hot water! This is a purpose built, state-of-the-art, modern hospital, so there is no excuse.

Slosh

Well the end was better than the start. Good GP appointment, though I thonk he's expecting to see me again soon since he checked the date and told me when he's going to be away on a course then on holiday!

Adding in a couple more hours next week, though Wednesday will be a long one since I have a Child Protection conference in the afternoon and as it's for three chikdren coukd be a long one.

My lovely head told me that as far as he's concerned full-time for me would be 8.30-3.30 and he'll be quite happy with me getting up to that although he knows I won't be. I then mentioned that I was doing my best to complete all my targets by half-term , basically 6 months work in 6 weeks! He pointed out that as I am at the top of my pay range it won't matter in terms of pay and he'll be quite happy to extend them so not to worry too much, then addded that he knew how conscientious I was.

Very nice compliment and it just shows how well he knows me and how much pressure I put on myself. It's very reassuring though that he is so realistic and will be keeping an eye on me to make sure I don't overdo things.

Ready for a good rest tomorrow and then hugs from my Grandsons on Sunday.

Starburst

I'm very pleased to hear your week improved, Slosh. Grandson cuddles sound a perfect end to a long and tiring week, how old are they? You'll get where you need to be. The head obviously thinks you're fabulous, (which you are!) so have some faith in yourself. x

Slosh

Thank you Starburst and how are you getting on? My oldest Grandson (who is Granny's boy and always gets straight on to my lap) is 4 and my younger one will be three in November. Luke, the oldest has just started school and reading so I'm looking forward to hearing him read.

Mind you our poor IT technician has been very patient, I have been given Dragon talk to text software and it's a real case of "computer says no". He even rebuilt it and it's still misbehaving.

stickywicket

A few people on here have tried Dragon. It's supposed to be the best of a bad bunch but I can't think of anyone who has persevered with it.

Slosh

I've been getting on ok with it at home on my laptop. The problem at work is just with getting the programme to work on my computer rather than my working with the software. As part of my Access to work assessment I'm also going to get four half day individual training sessions on using the software so that should help and typing is so painful I have a good incentive to use the software.