Hold the Phone...

More changes!

Because of my delicious, new pain, Dr. Rick said to hold off on switching from gabapentin to Lyrica. He wants to wait until I am more stable (I did not even laugh when he said it). He gave me a new medication called Trileptal. Another seizure medication, which often helps with trigeminal nerve pain.

I either have trigeminal nerve pain or "ice pick headache." He is not sure which, but he is going with trigeminal nerve pain meds to see how I respond. I began taking Trileptal today. It is the kind of drug you have to take everyday and build up a steady state with, not like the tramadol, where I can take more or less depending on how much pain I have.

Speaking of tramadol, Dr. Rick again reminded me to cut it to 25 mg. Ideally, he would like to see me off it, because I have quite a few drugs that can interact. Tramadol, gabapentin, Trileptal, and Ambien CR. And Vicodin, but I will not need to take that anymore, since I stopped the Avonex. Or I hope I will not need it again. It stinks at helping nerve pain, so probably not.

I have had a weird headache today, on the top of my head. The trigeminal nerve pain started in the afternoon, but then it got a little better. Maybe the Trileptal is already working? Whatever, I will take it.

So that is the bad news. The good news is that I will stay in the study! I know: How is that good news?

Basically, I have three options:
1. Continue in the study with the shots (which I know means Avonex, although technically it could be either Avonex or daclizumab.
2. Continue to be followed by the study, with the regular visits and labwork (all free). I could pursue any line of treatment I choose but would have to pay for the [pricey] MS drugs.
3. Leave the study altogether.

Option 1 is pretty much out. It would be nice to have free MS drugs (the shots), but free is not so great if they are not working. The only real advantage to option 3 would be not driving into the city every month if I were feeling okay and did not need to be seen. But I think the benefits of free visits when I need them (um, all the time) and free labwork outweighs that drawback. So I chose option 2.

I have not heard from the nurse yet about my next appointment, which should be next week. Oh, and I have not heard back from my internist's office about psychiatrist referrals. I guess I will add that to my to-do list for tomorrow (like I maintain a to-do list...).