The Headaches of Progress

Turns out that the Tramadol (Ultram) is what was giving me the massive headaches.  Order from pain doctor: Stop taking the Tramadol.  Now.

I asked the pain doctor if there wasn't something else he could give me, like Talwin NX.  He said this is an "old drug" (Old? I took it as recently as 2001...) and that he needs to research it.  Instead, for now I'm on a low but increasing dose of Neurontin (generic name Gabapentin).  I'll say this much about it -- it knocks you for a loop.  I'm dealing with said loop right now before I log off for the night, so please forgive any screwups in the text of this post.

Saw the new knee doctor yesterday and told him about the problems I have walking and climbing stairs.  He injected Synvisc, a synthetic knee fluid enhancer, into both knees.  I couldn't even tell he'd done anything on the left knee when he was done (the knee does feel slightly better).  I could tell that he injected it into my right knee.  It felt like he had injected a golf ball into my knee joint.  There's still a swollen welt where the stuff went into the right knee.

Summary: I've spent most of today in pain from the right knee.  The Neurontin has numbed it for now (I go up to two doses next week).  The worst part is that the inactivity forced onto me by the medicines means I have been gaining the weight back.  Today's weight was 317.  That is NOT acceptable, but I don't know what to do about it.  I have no support system, thanks to the lousy service from the doctor that inflicted this upon me.  I really do fear that I'll have to have a revision to get this fixed.

One last tangent before I log off - a tooth that recently had a filling removed and replaced has broken along the filling line.  I'm on soft stuff until the Dentist can see me on Monday.  Urgh.