nicholaix's Journal, 23 October 2015

Absolutely keep going to the gym - drink extra water and green tea, and try to keep the carb o looza for ONLY the holiday itslef...so really only three days the whole time. 

Yea, they tried that on me for peripheral neuropathy and fibromyalgia and it didn't work. It gave me blurred vision. 

i am on gabapentin for the similar reasons.  

Those types of meds can really mess with your weight.  

Neurontin not a nice drug. Be careful with it that it is not over prescribed. Many docs get carried away with it. Too much is dang dangerous. Just be careful. Not saying it is not good for you just be aware.  

In the past I've done well restricting myself from all the holiday goodies between Thanksgiving and Christmas, would lose some weight in that time so I could enjoy when Christmas came. So I guess that'll be my plan. Wishing you the best dealing with the meds. 

The biggest problem I face with holidays is at work where everyone wants to share holiday goodies. The answer to this is to keep plenty of fruit and carrot sticks at my desk. I know I'll indulge some but one piece of fudge will do it without return trips to the platter. 

Good luck with the new meds -- sound effects sound annoying, but I suppose worth the trade-off of no pain? As for holidays, I was planning to keep it simple and employ Glen's method -- same foods, just less of them. 

I was put on Neurontin and immediately felt less pain (it was atop the other meds the pain clinic has me on). I had knee replacement surgery 3 years ago and still have swelling, pain & other issues so I have had to be on double my daily steroid treatment to try to stay out of adrenal failure due to pain. I gained 60 lbs in what felt like a week but was about 9 months. I saw my neurologist about a month ago to have him check on this small brain tumor I have and he was shocked at my weight and how bad I looked. I had already started titrating off the Neurontin and I am glad...he told me he was sure it was one of the major culprits in my weight gain. Our goal is to get me off the other pain meds as much as possible but it will be slow as I have to balance pain & any withdrawal symptoms against adrenal fatigue. I have lost 3 lbs so far this week so I'm thinking there is something to the Neurontin and gain. Be careful. Pain relief is so important so you have to weigh it out. 

Good luck with the decrease Gramma Mary. You have to decrease that one slowly.  

We talked about piggy backing it with a smallish dose of nortryptiline I think it was but he wants me to look into medical marijuana before we try that. He didn't have the certification to prescribe it(the pot lol) so I am off to see another pain med doctor in a week. It was mentioned that the marijuana can be baked into brownies as well as candy made with it. I was very ambivalent about that lol.Oh the irony of it, apparently, a 40 lb weight loss in 6 months is a 'warning sign". I personally think it was 6 months of just the bare minimum of meds and no flares. It is a very fine balancing act to be sure, Gramma Mary. I have been on this roller coaster for 25 years so far and am grateful we have more options now for treatments but very discouraged at the side effects still. You would think they could figure that out.  

weight loss a warning sign esp when you are working that direction on purpose. Hmmm... I have lost 60+# in 6 mos and my dr said nothing. 

Never makes a darn bit of sense. All I heard was "Lose weight! Lose weight!" Now I have lost some it's.."You are losing too fast! Let's make sure you aren't sick..." 

I started the weight loss journey with the assistance of my doctors. Actually, in the beginning, when I was still taking the aromatase inhibitor, my family doctor used to check my thyroid numbers to make sure that it's still the AI making me having issues with weight loss and not the thyroid going "under". Otherwise all my doctors are please with my weight loss, with the way I went about it and how I kept it to "healthy levels" of about 5-6 lbs a month. I can't for my life figure why your doctor isn't actually worried that lately you DON'T lose weight even if you try and they're giving you even more medication that can cause weight gain. I'd say get a second opinion. I've fired quite a number of doctors in my life and always considered it was a good decision. If there's something I hate, it's pill-pushers.