I’m a Guinea Pig

Today is Day 4 of the CBD oil Guinea Pig trial.   I am also being put on propanolol to see if it helps with my Complex-PTSD. I just got home from my 4 month check-up with my family doctor. I like her. I’ve been going to her since about 1994, after the doctor that delivered me and took care of me for almost 20 years retired. She ‘s really cool and down-to-Earth. I can ask her any question and tell her anything and we figure out a plan for it. Her practice she worked for was bought out by a fairly local hospital and medical practice last year. They just got in their new (well, old, really) office last month. Even with the new computer system, she was very helpful for my problems today. Which are the “normal” migraines and fibromyalgia, plus the CPRS/RSD issue and also my C-PTSD nightmares, that are getting violent and gorey again and flaring. (Yuck.) My therapist, who has his pHD in psychology and is a life coach, does lots of research on medications and supplements. He mentioned last week that there have been studies with war vets and PTSD and being put on a low dose of propanolol. The short story is that it will help with the anxiety and panic that my body and mind goes into during a “fight or flight” response. We are also hoping that it will help my tachycardia, or fast heart rate.

So the pain level is lower, although yesterday I did feel like my eyes were bulging out of my head because of a bad headache. I took my CBD dose early and went back to sleep. They both seemed to help it a bit. I still missed my local Unitarian Universalist service because of head pain. I also missed an important meeting for the Healing Service I was going to participate in in January. I will be one of the Reiki Masters doing reiki on the members that choose to have a relaxing few minutes on a massage table, or in a reiki chair.  Now I’m not sure about if I’ll be able to participate, since I missed the meeting.

But getting back to my pain, my lower back doesn’t feel as bad. Now, my foot. There have been some crazy nerve pains firing off. Last night I practically jumped out of bed. But now, instead of feeling like stabbing pain and a hot rod going through my foot, it’s more of being stung by bees, or pins going through my foot. The pain was always random, up until a few days ago, but pretty much a constant thing. Now pain intervals are definitely farther apart. My doctor wants me to continue doing what I am doing with the oil to see if it will help some more. Because frankly, I had no hope for the CPRS/RSD pain.  As a matter of fact, I am set up on the 27th with a pain psychologist to go through an evaluation to see if a Dorsal Root Ganglion Spinal Stimulator is right for me and my pain. I’ve had 2 Sympathetic Trunk Nerve Blocks, and the last one (after my foot surgery) didn’t really do anything for the pain.

I had originally planned on doing a blog today on the above, but also a supplement on the basics of CPRS/RSD. Our phone/internet lines are messed up, so I didn’t even bother getting on this morning to type up a description and have links to references. One of the items I’d like to try to include, is a TED Talk from a Pain Anesthesiologist for Children.  I just watched this last week, when I was approved for a support group, on-line, about pain from different diseases. It is an excellent talk. So I will work on this subject for tomorrow.

I also began a page on my on-line teachers, and am getting the links to their websites up. I’d like to eventually do a blog spotlight on each of the teachers. The same with my “in-person” teachers. If you have time, check them out!

Take Care, Be As Well As Possible, and Until Then…

This is me next to a painting of Eddie Vedder in The Muggles Cafe in Jim Thorpe, PA, in November. And to the left is our Guinea Pig, Mr. Piggers, in his little Pigaverse from the other day.