Taking a break

The Joint Journal is taking a break. However it'll be back in the Spring.

Dr Chapman again

Tuesday 19^th July 2011

Once again Dr Chapman rang back about my painkillers. I told her that my ankles were still badly swollen, I still wasn’t sleeping and that I was still pretty low.

“Ok. Lets reduce them down to one a night for a week then stop altogether. I think we need to get you into the surgery”, she said.

I could hear her tapping away on her computer.

“I’m afraid that I’m not available during the times you came come to the surgery”, she said, “however Dr Blake is. How does 6.30pm on Wednesday 3^rd August sound”.

“That’s fine with me”, I replied.

“Good”, she said, typing away, “your appointment is made. I’ll fill Dr Blake in with everything that’s happened. Hopefully once your body is clear of the Nortripaline, you should be feeling a little better”.

“I hope so”, I replied….

Feeling low

Monday 20th June 2011

Had an appointment to see Dr Chapman that evening about my painkillers. She’d like to review them so asked if I could come and see her.

I’d been feeling really low for a while – couldn’t be bothered to do anything, no energy, not sleeping, being tearful a lot, that kind of thing.

I suspected the problem was the big ‘D’….. I did a quick questionnaire on one of the medical websites and put in my symptoms. It came up with the answer ‘you are suffering from depression’. I bust into tears !!!

I burst into tears when I was in Dr Chapman’s surgery too. She’d been asking how I had been feeling and it just all came out. I felt such a idiot crying in front of her.

“Don’t worry yourself Marie. That’s what I’m here for”, she said.

That made cry even more !!!!

She thought it was either a side effect of my medication as they can cause depression and low moods, or it was simply everything catching up with me.

I was offered counselling but said no. I knew what the cause of my low moods were, and talking about them wouldn’t help. It wasn’t like I was feeling low because I hate my job and the solution was to change it. No amount of talking to a counsellor was going to make things better for me…

Dr Chapman suggested I came off the Nortripaline gradually as although they are a painkiller/antidepressant, they could cause low moods. She also suggested reducing my Gabapentin just to see if that made a difference.

“I’ll give you a ring in two weeks”, she said, “and hopefully by then you are feeling a little better”.

I hope so…