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Piroxicam and Tizanidine

piroxicam
Piroxicam 20mg

After ditching Lyrica, I resolved to do whatever I could to stay off prescription drugs. Very rarely, I took one Skelaxin for muscle spasms. The side effects weren’t worth it most of the time, but sometimes I would be so bad off that I had to take one. As the one-year anniversary of my back and hip issues neared, I couldn’t take the daily pain and stiffness anymore. I made an appointment with the doctor who’s worked on my neck in the past. He’s smart, isn’t afraid of the latest medical technology, and perhaps most importantly, he actually spends time with his patients and listens like a human rather than a hurried robot. Unfortunately, those attributes make it very hard to get an appointment, and I waited two months despite being an established patient.

When I did finally see him, he examined my back and hip and told me a few things I already know, like I have tight muscles and joint laxity. He decided to order a lumbar MRI, which wasn’t a surprise. He also talked me into filling a couple of prescriptions because he was very worried about my high pain levels and lack of sleep. I left his office with two scripts I’d never heard of before—Piroxicam and Tizanidine.

I thought I might not fill the drugs, but pain wore me down and I headed to the pharmacy. I figured I could try them once or twice and get off them quickly if they sucked. Piroxicam is an NSAID pain reliever and Tizanidine is a short-acting muscle relaxer. I was given instructions to take the Piroxicam once per day and the Tizanidine up to three times per day. I took one of each the first night, and was asleep within an hour.

Going to sleep quickly is a big deal with a body wracked by chronic pain. Hell, going to sleep at all is monumental. When I woke up the next morning, I didn’t feel hung over at all—I just felt better. I felt genuinely rested, unlike the crappy, forced sleep that comes from some drugs.

Tizanidine 4mg
Tizanidine 4mg

For several days, I took one Piroxicam in the evening and one Tizanidine before bed, and I felt great. I hiked 21 miles one weekend, and began to feel hopeful about a mostly pain-free back, neck, and hip. As always, I follow a healthy diet and use my hot tub as much as three times per day. The good food, warm water, and new prescriptions gave me a feeling of freedom from pain, and it was priceless.

That feeling was also short-lived. After almost a week, I noticed my back pain was getting more intense again, and my neck felt badly out of alignment. This seems to be the curse with my fibromyalgia—something new helps for a little while, but before long, I’m back to hurting.

I took a break from my nightly muscle relaxer routine and didn’t notice much of a change. However, I’m now on day two of no Piroxicam, and I feel like crap. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to start taking it again, but I’m leaning toward yes. I’m scheduled for the MRI this afternoon, and if I get stiff having to lie still for it, I’ll probably come home and pop a Piroxicam.

Have y’all tried either one of these medications? If so, what’s been your experience? I’d love to hear from you.

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Ten Things I Did Before Fibromyalgia

10. I played soccer—a lot of soccer. It didn’t even seem like a big deal when I’d take off my cleats after a game and find a bloody sock. Pain was temporary before fibromyalgia.

9. I ran around mountains, up mountains, and once down a mountain.

8. I tried new sports, like rollerblading, just for fun. There was no fear of the repercussions of taking a stiff, broken body through a new routine.

7. I took ibuprofen for pain and it actually worked.

6. I sat in a chair and read books for hours without my back hurting.

5. I ate ice cream and brownies and cookies and knew nothing about total-body inflammation.

4. I planned my days around choices rather than obligations—choices like when to go to the gym rather than obligations like having to see the chiropractor just so I can stand to be alive.

3. I travelled, and didn’t have to plan trips around muscle spasms and pain. I carried fun stuff in my luggage rather than needing a carload of pain-relieving props (Back Buddy, camping mattress in case the hotel bed is too soft, cervical pillow, Tiger Balm, etc.).

2. I went to sleep like a normal person. No handfuls of herbal supplements, no piles of pillows to ease back pain, no special cervical pillow. I would just lie down and pull up the covers.

1. I was free without realizing it—free to live as boldly as I wished and without pain—free to explore, to take risks, and to relax.

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Product Review: Topricin

TopricinI’m always in the market for any pain reliever that’s homeopathic. The local co-op recently had Topricin on sale, and I bought a 0.75oz tube to give it a try.

I’ve seen pretty bold claims on homeopathic products, and I’m often skeptical. (However, I love Crystal Star Natural Muscle Relaxers and good-quality magnesium supplements). When I first squirted the Topricin on my finger, I was even more unsure of its claim of pain relief. But my back was killing me, so I gave it a try.

For starters, it’s either odorless or has such a slight smell that I can’t detect it. I’m accustomed to all topical pain-relieving products having at least some kind of odor, including my beloved (and quite fragrant) Tiger Balm. But the Topricin literally smelled like nothing.

I rubbed it over my sore vertebrae (thanks, fibromyalgia) and waited for any sort of tingling or other sign that it was working. Nothing. But then I went to sleep, and that’s a rare thing when I’m in pain. I woke up at 3 a.m. to pee and realized my back was much better. Topricin or coincidence?

I tried it thrice more and now I love this odorless product. I’ve sometimes combined it with Tiger Balm for extra relief, although I have no idea if that’s smart or not. I’ve only used Topricin on my painful back and hip, but it says it’s patented for neuropathy and specifically mentions fibromyalgia, plus a host of other conditions.

Nothing is a cure for chronic pain, but Topricin helps, and sometimes that’s the best we can do. Plus, it’s not as full of extremely sketchy ingredients like some prescriptions, and it doesn’t cost much to try a small tube.

Good luck in your pain relief journey, and let me know about your favorite topical products.

As with all things health-related, ask your healthcare provider before trying anything new.

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The “Unavailable” Specialist

I’ve been waiting on an appointment with a specialist for months, and the week was finally almost here. I hate going to doctors’ offices, and I hate planning my life around appointments. Mostly, I hate not being well. But the reality of not being well means spending a significant amount of time at the mercy of doctors and their scheduling staff. I called to confirm my appointment a week in advance because I’m driving five hours and spending the night in a hotel to see the specialist. The receptionist casually informed me that the doctor would be “unavailable” that day.

Unavailable? I asked her why I hadn’t been notified, and why I had to be the one to confirm the appointment, only to find out it was cancelled. She didn’t give me a decent answer, but said the doctor could see me the following week. I explained that I was coming from out of town, that the hotel was reserved, and I’d already made arrangements with my boss. I might as well have been talking to a toadstool.

I told the receptionist that I’d need to check my calendar and see if I could work something out to change all of my plans and come the following week. She said that was fine, and that the office would be open until 5 p.m. I called back within a few minutes to say yes to the later appointment, and was informed that it’d been given to someone else, and the next available appointment was in mid October. My thought: “Oc-fucking-tober???” My words: “but you guys were the ones who cancelled my appointment—without even telling me—and now I have to wait MONTHS to reschedule it?”

After an absolutely useless and maddening conversation with the receptionist, I asked for her manager. She said the manager was in a meeting, which felt dishonest at best. I asked her if the manager would call me back today, and she said yes. Of course, no one called me.

I understand that life happens. Things come up, and maybe the doctor had to schedule some sort of life-saving surgery for somebody. Or maybe he got a deal on an island vacation. I don’t really care. What I care about is the complete shit for customer service and the lack of decent resolution. At this point, I don’t even have another appointment scheduled because the manager must be on major overtime, as this would be the sixth hour of the meeting she was supposedly running.

It’s inexcusable when people are sick or hurt and doctors and staff act like it’s no big deal to mess around with the schedule and drag out the wait for months. We patients have so little power already. We’re in pain, we’re miserable, we’re frustrated. To have an appointment cancelled is bad enough, but to be made to wait so long after already waiting months is inexcusable. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do. If we need a specialist, as I do, there’s nowhere else to go. I have no words for the level of frustration and anger and disgust I feel, and perhaps the worst part is, no one in the doctor’s office seems to care a bit about how their decisions impact patients’ lives.

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Supplements

Four Natural Muscle Relaxers and a cal-mag-zinc.
Four Natural Muscle Relaxers and a cal-mag-zinc.

What supplements, if any, do you use to improve your health or alleviate symptoms? I’ve experimented with lots of them, and switched brands fairly often. Currently, I take a lot of magnesium to help with muscle spasms caused by dystonia. I also take fish oil, melatonin, and cal-mag-zinc at night. I don’t take a multivitamin because my diet is so clean that I don’t feel like I need one.

For fibromyalgia and/or dystonia flare-ups, I keep Crystal Star Natural Muscle Relaxers on hand. They don’t work wonders, but they also don’t make me turn into a useless zombie like prescription pills do. I tried Curcumin but got no relief, so now I just include a decent amount of turmeric in my diet (just in case it works over time), which is essentially what’s in Curcumin.

I can’t underscore how much I hate prescription drugs. Even though it’s often impossible to live without them, I’ve been so beaten down by side effects in the past that it now takes a very, very bad day to make me turn to prescriptions.

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Lightning and a Return to Running

The wet evidence of my storm-plagued return to running. Honestly, it was kind of fun.
The wet evidence of my storm-plagued return to running. Honestly, it was kind of fun.

Remember the song Maybe God is Tryin’ to Tell You Somethin’ from The Color Purple? I made my return to running today after an almost two-month break because of my hip. I’d been jogging along for about forty-five seconds when the sky broke open. I’d been looking forward to trying to run for so long and have had so many setbacks over the years, and I’m not very good at giving up. So I kept going, even when the flashes of lightning and blasts of thunder got closer together, which I’ve read means they’re getting closer to me.

At minute 13, lightning came down with a massive, simultaneous thunder clap. It was more like an explosion than thunder and lightning. I jumped into the middle of the road (not the best solution) and hollered. The hairs on my arms and neck felt like cactus spines, and my teeth felt like they were buzzing. “God is tryin’ to tell you somethin’” got stuck on repeat in my head. I changed course for home.

I made it 17 minutes before deciding not to overdo it with my comeback. My rain-soaked clothes are airing out on the porch, and my hip is throbbing, but it was throbbing before I left for my run. Considering I got caught in one of our famous Florida summer thunderstorms, ran longer than I expected, and didn’t end up a scorched piece of meat, I’m pretty happy. If no one can help me with my pain and spasms, I might as well live and die how I choose. These days, I feel like I can survive anything (until I can’t).

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What the Hell is Dystonia?

“What the hell is dystonia?” I’ve heard that question enough times to get rich if I were paid to answer it. In a not-very-scientific nutshell, here’s my definition.

Dystonia is a condition that causes intractable muscle spasms that result in pain, limited range of motion, and often bizarre postures. Those spasms and postures and pain make it hard to do anything normally. I have cervical dystonia, which means my neck muscles are very tight—sometimes so tight that I can’t do anything but lie flat on my back and yell curse words.

Dystonia can be in different parts of the body, and I’m afraid mine has spread to my right hip. Some days I can’t walk normally, although that’s usually remedied by forcing myself to walk until my gait straightens out, which sometimes takes an hour or more. A few weeks ago, I had debilitating calf spasms in both legs, and I had to crawl to get to the bathroom. I upped my magnesium dose and have thankfully had no more calf problems, although I stretch them obsessively. I’m headed to yet another specialist five hours from home in August.

Sitting is one of the worst things I try to do. I stand whenever possible, often through meals and all day at work. I also have to be very careful with my head and neck. I sold my road bike a couple of years ago in favor of a “grandma” hybrid, because the aero bar position was impossible with cervical dystonia. Now I can ride my bike as long as my hip allows me to sit, or as long as my legs can handle standing while pedaling.

Some people have such severe dystonia that they are stuck twisted sideways, or an arm or leg (or both) are flexed abnormally and locked in a way that looks impossible. I’m one of the lucky ones, although it doesn’t feel like it sometimes, which brings me to my final non-scientific definition of dystonia: it is an unpredictable, life-changing bastard that can make you a prisoner in your own body.

My rather cynical definition aside, I refuse to let dystonia lock me in bed. When I wake up and am slow and stiff, I either go straight to the gym and get on the elliptical (the weird movement of that machine loosens my joints) or walk around the neighborhood. Exercise doesn’t help the pain very much, but it definitely increases my mobility. It’s also a huge psychological victory to be able to still do something I want to do even when my body doesn’t want to cooperate. There are some days when I can’t do much of anything besides feel like a leech, taking up space and resources, but I can almost always force my body into walking.

I recently found the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, and it’s a pretty awesome organization. Check out their website if you want more information. I’ve been sitting too long, and I have to go for a walk now.

 

 

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Paraphernalia for the Fibro Sufferer

It looks medieval (if you ignore the blue plastic), but it's actually a great took for working out trigger points in muscles.
It looks medieval (if you ignore the blue plastic), but it’s actually a great tool for working out trigger points in muscles.

What images do you have to describe fibromyalgia? When I look around my house, I see signs of it everywhere. Three bottles of Crystal Star Natural Muscle Relaxers are on my kitchen counter. Two jars of Tiger Balm are on my nightstand and a Back Buddy is on the couch. A cervical pillow is on my bed. My fridge is full of GT’s Kombucha and organic vegetables, and the bathroom looks like an infirmary supply closet.

I took a few pictures of some of the various symptom-relieving paraphernalia around the house and will compile a comprehensive list later this week. Do you have anything you swear by to get through bad days? Nothing in my arsenal is a cure, but each piece has helped at some point.

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Comfortable Shoes: Brooks Ghost 7

I’ve always been bothered by the bones that stick out on the outsides of my forefeet, but I didn’t know until recently that I have what’s technically called “tailor’s bunions.” What that means for me is trouble finding comfortable shoes. Wide shoes are too wide throughout, and regular shoes put pressure on the tailor’s bunions and make my feet hurt. I’ve even gone so far as to use a scalpel to excise a bothersome piece of rubber from a pair of running shoes to allow my bones to spread out instead of feel bound in pain.

brooks ghost 7
Brand new and blue!

I’ve been a big fan of Altra shoes lately, although they’re still not wide enough for me in the tailor’s bunion area. They have soft, stretchy mesh in the forefoot though, which allows my feet to push out to their required width. Since my muscle spasms have been so bad in my right hip, I haven’t been able to run in two months. I’ve been walking a lot, and Altras don’t do it for me as walking shoes. Their zero-drop platforms work well with my running style, but I’m a slow, heel-toe walker and prefer traditional running shoes for walking.

I spent an hour this morning trying on shoes from Asics and Brooks, and finally stumbled upon the Brooks Ghost 7. I hate buying the latest model of anything because it’s always marked up so much, but the Ghost 7 is superior to everything else I tried. The toe box isn’t nearly as rounded and wide as a pair of Altras, but the area near my tailor’s bunions doesn’t have a bunch of stiff overlays, so my feet can push the mesh out and relax. Sold!

Normally I wear a size 8.5, but I opted for a 9 in the Ghost. My feet are probably bigger than usual since it’s July in Florida and I’ve been walking a lot, and the 9 felt just right. I can’t wait to start putting some miles on my new shoes. They feel surprisingly light for traditional (not minimalist) running shoes, and I’ve read that they weight around 9 ounces. The heel offset is 11mm, but I don’t feel awkward in them like some shoes with big offsets. I really like that the heel collar is well-padded and covered in what feels like non-abrasive fabric. The color—“blue/eclipse/lime”—is not something I would design in a perfect world, but it’s not hideous. There are other color options, but my local running store only carries blue.

As far as the outsole goes, I’m glad to see full-length rubber. I don’t like the trend of leaving rubber off the soles in order to save weight and provide flexibility. If I’m wearing shoes, I want them to last a long time. If I want to feel the ground more, I’ll take off my shoes. I also like the Ghost’s lack of plastic plating on the sole. The hard, smooth plastic that connects the heel to the forefoot on some shoes is dangerous. I’ve slipped on the edge of a curb and slid along a fence because of that plastic. The Ghost looks like it uses a pretty thick dose of rubber on the outsole, so I hope this pair lasts for many hundreds of miles. I’ll update this post or write a new one after I’ve put a bit of distance on my new pair of Brooks Ghost 7!

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Kombucha and Probiotics

gt kombucha
Gingerade flavor is the best I’ve tried.

Has anybody tried probiotics to help with the myriad symptoms of fibromyalgia? I’ve been enjoying ½ a bottle of GT’s Kombucha every night for a while now, and I’m feeling a bit better in general. I definitely swear by the magnesium supplements that I started taking a few weeks ago, and I’m pretty sure the combination of kombucha and magnesium is a good one.

Flavor-wise, I’m definitely a huge fan of Gingerade. It’s delicious. I tried Original and thought it tasted like watered-down apple cider vinegar. Stawberry Serenity was good but a little too sweet-tasting, and Gingerberry just made me wish I’d bought Gingerade. But seriously… this stuff is raw and organic, theoretically good for us, and tastes great. Any kombucha users out there?