The Long Hold Support Group

[[Ba...]]

Thanks, Valley.

 

Yeah, I have an idiot and apparently not very nice dr.  Would need another to even feel the compassion to order care, if any is available.

 

Wonder if a psychiatrist might more order it along the lines of panic attacks as a diagnosis or agoraphobia... that type thing.

 

Cuz no dr. I know believes this stuff.

 

Granted we may be just 10% of the population but googling around there seem to be thousands of us with issues.

[[He...]]

Thank you so much Valley l seem to have got very obsessive about my taper and I also have no patience at all.l think this whole process makes you feel despair.l hope things do settle as l want to get off these drugs and never go back.Again thank you

 

 

In response to Stut 55’s post....

 

A great big DITTO! Tapering is the pits!

 

Heath

[[St...]]

Hi Heath you couldn't make it up.l also have doctors telling me to use diazepam l can't believe people are struggling to get benzos and l am fighting them off.l don't believe any of them have a clue.l hope you get off when you are ready and able.

[[...]]

I am not on Medicaid.

 

Medicare only.

 

I know you get way more benefits from Medicaid, but think you cannot have more than 2000 in your bank acct.

 

So do you think I could get help?

 

Think possibly if I find a dr. who is nice he could order some social services type thing.  Otherwise, Medicare ONLY helps if you are in a wheelchair or something, from what I've read.  There is some language about social services or therapy and yes I would be relieved to have something, anything, as a backstop.

 

My dr. is an idiot and am not going back.  Wonder what type dr would need to say I am housebound and need a little attention?  Even someone calling to check would help.  Open to ideas.  I think Medicare does have people helpp if you are like in a wheelchair.

 

HI Barbara ,

I don't know how it works in different States , I just know in CA there is a department called IHSS, in home services support .

Are you able to call social services ? I knwo they would be able to answer your questions or refer you to the right department . It's completely separate from Medicare  or Medicaid , or whatever you have .

The money to pay soemone comes from a different group altogether .

You could also try a Google search of IHSS for your state .

Love, MiYu

[[He...]]

Hi Heath you couldn't make it up.l also have doctors telling me to use diazepam l can't believe people are struggling to get benzos and l am fighting them off.l don't believe any of them have a clue.l hope you get off when you are ready and able.

 

 

Thanks Stut!

 

Yes I am on my way. Seems the lower I go the harder it gets, but I’m hanging in and I will win this war!  You will too!

 

Best of luck for an easy time!

 

Heath

[[To...]]

Too many Bennies,

You are so wise. I have soaked up everyth8ng you posted to me so I remember what you said for a long long time. I will go a bit faster when I feel that I can but not rush ahead indefinitely. I will be cautious and jump off this diazapam when the time is right.. Thanks for putting me back on the right path.

 

All the  best ,Heathcliff

 

You'll know when it feels right. You've made such great progress. You'll be there soon enough!

[[ga...]]

I am not on Medicaid.

 

Medicare only.

 

I know you get way more benefits from Medicaid, but think you cannot have more than 2000 in your bank acct.

 

So do you think I could get help?

 

Think possibly if I find a dr. who is nice he could order some social services type thing.  Otherwise, Medicare ONLY helps if you are in a wheelchair or something, from what I've read.  There is some language about social services or therapy and yes I would be relieved to have something, anything, as a backstop.

 

My dr. is an idiot and am not going back.  Wonder what type dr would need to say I am housebound and need a little attention?  Even someone calling to check would help.  Open to ideas.  I think Medicare does have people helpp if you are like in a wheelchair.

 

HI Barbara ,

I don't know how it works in different States , I just know in CA there is a department called IHSS, in home services support .

Are you able to call social services ? I knwo they would be able to answer your questions or refer you to the right department . It's completely separate from Medicare  or Medicaid , or whatever you have .

The money to pay soemone comes from a different group altogether .

You could also try a Google search of IHSS for your state .

Love, MiYu

Some states have Aging and Disability Resource Centers. In others, the same thing is called the Area Agency on Aging. So they seem to have different names in different states. The ones I know are run by the counties and are basically information centers that direct people to help. Some bigger cities have their own resource groups. You just have to find out what your local group is called. If you can find your local Health and Human Services phone number, they can point you to something like this. Where I live, there is no free help, but the resource center keeps lists of people who do in-home help for a lower-than-average fee and have had background checks. They charge about $15/ hour and will come for 2 or more hours at a time. Different home helpers do different services. Most do light housekeeping. Some will drive you to an appointment or take you shopping or just sit and talk.

 

I hit the jackpot when I was housebound in that I found a local church (via google) who would send a volunteer to come and talk and pray with you even if you didn't go to their church. A lady came every week for months when I was housebound. She was not pushy at all. And she was free. We still keep in touch even though I am no longer housebound.

 

There are also warmlines if you want to talk to someone. Warmlines are not crisis lines (but can help in a crisis, too). They are for people who need someone to talk to about anything. Here's one I found. I think they may also do wellness check phone calls. https://www.ioaging.org/services/all-inclusive-health-care/friendship-line

 

I encourage you to keep knocking on doors until one opens for you.

 

Gard

[[La...]]

Seems the lower I go the harder it gets, but I’m hanging in and I will win this war!  You will too!

 

Best of luck for an easy time!

 

Heath

 

Heath- we are having the same experience, the lower we go, the harder it gets. No choice but to hold and hope the anxiety settles

[[He...]]

Hi Laura!

Actually I don’t have anxiety except the anxiety over wanting to speed up my tapering and constantly fighting with myself because I know it will only mess me up if I go too fast.

 

So I’m trying very ha4d to stay within the 5% range.

 

I hope your anxiety decreases and that you feel good as your journey continues!

 

All the best for patience courage, strength and fortitude!

 

Onward soldiers!

Heath

[[He...]]

Oh sorry Laura, I had forgotten that you were on this journey for and along with your sister! You are a blessing to her. I hope she can get off of this benzo poison as quickly as possible but only in a safe way. Keep up the strength and courage you have and that you are giving to her. Everyone here is pulling for you both. Bless you! All power to you!

 

Heath

[[La...]]

Oh sorry Laura, I had forgotten that you were on this journey for and along with your sister! You are a blessing to her. I hope she can get off of this benzo poison as quickly as possible but only in a safe way. Keep up the strength and courage you have and that you are giving to her. Everyone here is pulling for you both. Bless you! All power to you!

 

Heath

 

Thanks so much. Yes, her anxiety is horrible.  We have been holding for almost 5 months, hoping and praying that things will settle down for her.  We have had other symptoms go or fade away to tolerable levels.  But the anxiety has increased.  We are struggling to get through each day.  She seems to have developed a phobia that you can't really avoid and she has to face it multiple times a day.  Just hoping that one of these days we wake up and things are not as horrible.

[[de...]]

Wanted to say HI to the Long Hold Support Group, and to Laura4321 in particular ...

 

Happened upon your post and read your signature, seems our loved ones arrived at benzo hell in a similar way, yours via cold turkey off AD Trazodone, then benzo Ativan, mine by cold turkey off AD Prozac then benzo Xanax.  We're tapering the Xanax with Valium substitution, currently at 1mg and 10mg, respectively, and holding.  Interesting (though awful) that your sister is calm in AM and worse in PM.  My mother is worse in AM and better (relatively) as the day goes on, calm in PM.  Her anxiety is horrible, too, and she has some phobic/obsessive symptoms that are just agonizing   Horrendous these drugs, eh?  But looks like your sister is almost finished with tapering, at 1/11 of 0.5mg pill?  Hope all goes smoothly the rest of the way for you guys delta1

[[La...]]

Wanted to say HI to the Long Hold Support Group, and to Laura4321 in particular ...

 

Happened upon your post and read your signature, seems our loved ones arrived at benzo hell in a similar way, yours via cold turkey off AD Trazodone, then benzo Ativan, mine by cold turkey off AD Prozac then benzo Xanax.  We're tapering the Xanax with Valium substitution, currently at 1mg and 10mg, respectively, and holding.  Interesting (though awful) that your sister is calm in AM and worse in PM.  My mother is worse in AM and better (relatively) as the day goes on, calm in PM.  Her anxiety is horrible, too, and she has some phobic/obsessive symptoms that are just agonizing   Horrendous these drugs, eh?  But looks like your sister is almost finished with tapering, at 1/11 of 0.5mg pill?  Hope all goes smoothly the rest of the way for you guys delta1

 

Hi-Sorry you have loved ones going through this hell as well.  Yes, C/T trazodone was awful, but we would have survived that and we would be fine right now (we have no doubt).  The trouble was when ativan was added--horrific drug for her. 

 

Well, I must have misspoken somewhere.  Right now, the anxiety is across the day, but much more extreme at night.  Every once in a while we have a calmer day, or calmer segments of the day and we start to think the anxiety is starting to go away, but then it comes back.  This is truly the worst we have every been.  I must not have fixed the signature, we are actually at 1/10 of the .5 pill, holding almost five months.  We have no choice but to hold and hope and pray we survive this phase.  We have vistaril for the anxiety, but we are scared to use it b/c it comes with a warning that there is a rare side effect of causing some kind of heart problem that could actually be fatal. It's supposed to be extremely rare, but with our horrible luck, and my sister's extreme sensitivity to drugs (it only took one Tamiflu pill to blow out her gut and start us on this medical nightmare--IBS, to Fibromyaglia, CFS, to Lyme- and it was the tinnitus from the Lyme the caused insomnia and led to trazodone., She was the happiest person in the world her entire life and never sick until 38 years old and she got the flu and we went to the doctor--if we just stayed home, she would have gotten better and still had her life--sorry for the rant, just get carried away thinking about how we got here)

 

Good luck to you

[[de...]]

Wanted to say HI to the Long Hold Support Group, and to Laura4321 in particular ...

 

Happened upon your post and read your signature, seems our loved ones arrived at benzo hell in a similar way, yours via cold turkey off AD Trazodone, then benzo Ativan, mine by cold turkey off AD Prozac then benzo Xanax.  We're tapering the Xanax with Valium substitution, currently at 1mg and 10mg, respectively, and holding.  Interesting (though awful) that your sister is calm in AM and worse in PM.  My mother is worse in AM and better (relatively) as the day goes on, calm in PM.  Her anxiety is horrible, too, and she has some phobic/obsessive symptoms that are just agonizing   Horrendous these drugs, eh?  But looks like your sister is almost finished with tapering, at 1/11 of 0.5mg pill?  Hope all goes smoothly the rest of the way for you guys delta1

 

Hi-Sorry you have loved ones going through this hell as well.  Yes, C/T trazodone was awful, but we would have survived that and we would be fine right now (we have no doubt).  The trouble was when ativan was added--horrific drug for her. 

 

Well, I must have misspoken somewhere.  Right now, the anxiety is across the day, but much more extreme at night.  Every once in a while we have a calmer day, or calmer segments of the day and we start to think the anxiety is starting to go away, but then it comes back.  This is truly the worst we have every been.  I must not have fixed the signature, we are actually at 1/10 of the .5 pill, holding almost five months.  We have no choice but to hold and hope and pray we survive this phase.  We have vistaril for the anxiety, but we are scared to use it b/c it comes with a warning that there is a rare side effect of causing some kind of heart problem that could actually be fatal. It's supposed to be extremely rare, but with our horrible luck, and my sister's extreme sensitivity to drugs (it only took one Tamiflu pill to blow out her gut and start us on this medical nightmare--IBS, to Fibromyaglia, CFS, to Lyme- and it was the tinnitus from the Lyme the caused insomnia and led to trazodone., She was the happiest person in the world her entire life and never sick until 38 years old and she got the flu and we went to the doctor--if we just stayed home, she would have gotten better and still had her life--sorry for the rant, just get carried away thinking about how we got here)

 

Good luck to you

 

Totally get what you've said.  I also have no doubt that my mother would've been fine by now if it had just been the c/t Prozac, as godawful as that was.  But with the Xanax added, to deal with the Prozac withdrawal no less, it quickly became even more hellish, and for longer now.  And our doctors were absolutely no help through all of this.  We had to figure everything out on our own! 

 

I feel for you and your sister.  Very similar to my mother's situation, again, in that she was healthy all her life before this nightmare started with drug-induced heart failure (that's right, heart failure induced by 2 drugs that interacted badly, Prozac and Zithromax).  Right, "medical care" that harms rather than heals! 

 

I looked into getting hydroxyzine (Vistaril, Atarax, brand names) also, for anxiety help, but found out that it can cause prolonged QT intervals, which is what happened to my mother because of the mixed Prozac and Zithromax, so we're not going near that.  So good for you for being wary, because who knows.  They say the Prozac/Zithromax interaction is supposedly rare but hey, it happened to my mother. 

 

No worries about your rant.  I, too, get so worked up thinking about how she would've been fine and happy if only we hadn't had such great medical care.  I'm so sorry about your sister suffering. 

[[La...]]

Wanted to say HI to the Long Hold Support Group, and to Laura4321 in particular ...

 

Happened upon your post and read your signature, seems our loved ones arrived at benzo hell in a similar way, yours via cold turkey off AD Trazodone, then benzo Ativan, mine by cold turkey off AD Prozac then benzo Xanax.  We're tapering the Xanax with Valium substitution, currently at 1mg and 10mg, respectively, and holding.  Interesting (though awful) that your sister is calm in AM and worse in PM.  My mother is worse in AM and better (relatively) as the day goes on, calm in PM.  Her anxiety is horrible, too, and she has some phobic/obsessive symptoms that are just agonizing   Horrendous these drugs, eh?  But looks like your sister is almost finished with tapering, at 1/11 of 0.5mg pill?  Hope all goes smoothly the rest of the way for you guys delta1

 

Hi-Sorry you have loved ones going through this hell as well.  Yes, C/T trazodone was awful, but we would have survived that and we would be fine right now (we have no doubt).  The trouble was when ativan was added--horrific drug for her. 

 

Well, I must have misspoken somewhere.  Right now, the anxiety is across the day, but much more extreme at night.  Every once in a while we have a calmer day, or calmer segments of the day and we start to think the anxiety is starting to go away, but then it comes back.  This is truly the worst we have every been.  I must not have fixed the signature, we are actually at 1/10 of the .5 pill, holding almost five months.  We have no choice but to hold and hope and pray we survive this phase.  We have vistaril for the anxiety, but we are scared to use it b/c it comes with a warning that there is a rare side effect of causing some kind of heart problem that could actually be fatal. It's supposed to be extremely rare, but with our horrible luck, and my sister's extreme sensitivity to drugs (it only took one Tamiflu pill to blow out her gut and start us on this medical nightmare--IBS, to Fibromyaglia, CFS, to Lyme- and it was the tinnitus from the Lyme the caused insomnia and led to trazodone., She was the happiest person in the world her entire life and never sick until 38 years old and she got the flu and we went to the doctor--if we just stayed home, she would have gotten better and still had her life--sorry for the rant, just get carried away thinking about how we got here)

 

Good luck to you

 

Totally get what you've said.  I also have no doubt that my mother would've been fine by now if it had just been the c/t Prozac, as godawful as that was.  But with the Xanax added, to deal with the Prozac withdrawal no less, it quickly became even more hellish, and for longer now.  And our doctors were absolutely no help through all of this.  We had to figure everything out on our own! 

 

I feel for you and your sister.  Very similar to my mother's situation, again, in that she was healthy all her life before this nightmare started with drug-induced heart failure (that's right, heart failure induced by 2 drugs that interacted badly, Prozac and Zithromax).  Right, "medical care" that harms rather than heals! 

 

I looked into getting hydroxyzine (Vistaril, Atarax, brand names) also, for anxiety help, but found out that it can cause prolonged QT intervals, which is what happened to my mother because of the mixed Prozac and Zithromax, so we're not going near that.  So good for you for being wary, because who knows.  They say the Prozac/Zithromax interaction is supposedly rare but hey, it happened to my mother. 

 

No worries about your rant.  I, too, get so worked up thinking about how she would've been fine and happy if only we hadn't had such great medical care.  I'm so sorry about your sister suffering.

 

Yes, that's it, the QT intervals--we're so conflicted. We desperately want to get her some relief from the anxiety, but terrified that the vistaril could kill her (supposedly extremely rare, but we are extremely UNLUCKY and she is extremely sensitive to drugs).  Haven't been able to find anything to lower the anxiety.  Sorry to hear about your mom--OMG! Drug-induced heart failure! I totally believe you--they hide so much about these drugs, plus a lot of medical fraud gets passed on as science. For us it all started w/one Tamiflu pill that blew out her gut and started medical domino effect.  What's so upsetting for us, is that we found out later that tamiflu is a total fraud, doesn't shorten flu like they say (read about this in Atlantic monthly--article saying the only people benefiting from tamiflu are the makers).  So a medical fraud got this started for us.  Yes, it's so painful to think that if we just stayed home when she got the flu, she would have her happy life right now. 

 

Good luck to you.  Thanks for your comments and support.

[[...]]

I am not on Medicaid.

 

Medicare only.

 

I know you get way more benefits from Medicaid, but think you cannot have more than 2000 in your bank acct.

 

So do you think I could get help?

 

Think possibly if I find a dr. who is nice he could order some social services type thing.  Otherwise, Medicare ONLY helps if you are in a wheelchair or something, from what I've read.  There is some language about social services or therapy and yes I would be relieved to have something, anything, as a backstop.

 

My dr. is an idiot and am not going back.  Wonder what type dr would need to say I am housebound and need a little attention?  Even someone calling to check would help.  Open to ideas.  I think Medicare does have people helpp if you are like in a wheelchair.

 

HI Barbara ,

I don't know how it works in different States , I just know in CA there is a department called IHSS, in home services support .

Are you able to call social services ? I knwo they would be able to answer your questions or refer you to the right department . It's completely separate from Medicare  or Medicaid , or whatever you have .

The money to pay soemone comes from a different group altogether .

You could also try a Google search of IHSS for your state .

Love, MiYu

Some states have Aging and Disability Resource Centers. In others, the same thing is called the Area Agency on Aging. So they seem to have different names in different states. The ones I know are run by the counties and are basically information centers that direct people to help. Some bigger cities have their own resource groups. You just have to find out what your local group is called. If you can find your local Health and Human Services phone number, they can point you to something like this. Where I live, there is no free help, but the resource center keeps lists of people who do in-home help for a lower-than-average fee and have had background checks. They charge about $15/ hour and will come for 2 or more hours at a time. Different home helpers do different services. Most do light housekeeping. Some will drive you to an appointment or take you shopping or just sit and talk.

 

I hit the jackpot when I was housebound in that I found a local church (via google) who would send a volunteer to come and talk and pray with you even if you didn't go to their church. A lady came every week for months when I was housebound. She was not pushy at all. And she was free. We still keep in touch even though I am no longer housebound.

 

There are also warmlines if you want to talk to someone. Warmlines are not crisis lines (but can help in a crisis, too). They are for people who need someone to talk to about anything. Here's one I found. I think they may also do wellness check phone calls. https://www.ioaging.org/services/all-inclusive-health-care/friendship-line

 

I encourage you to keep knocking on doors until one opens for you.

 

Gard

 

Hi Gard 

I'm so glad your taper is going well now , it gives me hope that one day I'll be able to do a decent taper .....

 

Nice to see you here ,

Love MiYu 

[[ga...]]

Hi, Miyu. Good to see you.  I skim through the thread now and then but mostly am busy with taking classes so have cut back on my time on the forum. In fact, I should be doing my homework right now! I'm annoyed at slow I am cognitively. Takes 3 times as long to learn anything than before these drugs. But I keep plugging away. And I am micro-tapering again. V-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. Yes, please hold onto hope. We will all get off this stuff if we don't give up hope. I was a mess before I did my long hold. Gosh, it was so long, I may as well call this my second attempt at tapering. I was scared this second attempt would be as awful as the first, but so far so tolerable. I think my long hold and re-boot really did pay off.

 

Gard

[[La...]]

, please hold onto hope. We will all get off this stuff if we don't give up hope. I was a mess before I did my long hold. Gosh, it was so long, I may as well call this my second attempt at tapering. I was scared this second attempt would be as awful as the first, but so far so tolerable. I think my long hold and re-boot really did pay off.

 

Gard

 

Gard- Thanks for sharing this--it really helps to hear from someone about how a very long hold helped.  I honestly think this is the only way out for us.  We have been holding for almost 5 months. Though some symptoms have stopped or faded away, new ones still roll in.  We may have to hold for a whole year, so it helps to know that we aren't the only ones who had to hold for such a long time. 

[[...]]

Hi, Miyu. Good to see you.  I skim through the thread now and then but mostly am busy with taking classes so have cut back on my time on the forum. In fact, I should be doing my homework right now! I'm annoyed at slow I am cognitively. Takes 3 times as long to learn anything than before these drugs. But I keep plugging away. And I am micro-tapering again. V-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. Yes, please hold onto hope. We will all get off this stuff if we don't give up hope. I was a mess before I did my long hold. Gosh, it was so long, I may as well call this my second attempt at tapering. I was scared this second attempt would be as awful as the first, but so far so tolerable. I think my long hold and re-boot really did pay off.

 

Gard

 

Really happy to hear Gard , I'm sorry your struggling with cognitive issues , but the fact that you're studying I think will help reconnect those neurons .

 

All the best as you proceed with the "second" taper ,

 

Love , MiYu 

 

Laura ,

I think it's absolutely the best approach for you with your sister . I know it's very hard , but she will get through this , hold on to hope

MiYu 

[[La...]]

MiYu- Thank you so much for your support and encouragement.  We are actually having a better day so far.  She's actually relatively calm right now compared to yesterday--I'm sure it won't last the whole day, but just having a lower level of upset for an hour or so gives us hope that this will eventually settle down.

 

 

[[To...]]

So this week is starting to head south. I seem to be triggered by a few things. Most notably, I have an outpatient surgery for carpal tunnel release on my wrist of my dominant hand for next week. I keep rethinking whether it is "bad" enough for me to have it done. Of course it is. I have tingling in my fingers and palm almost all the time and soreness at the base of my palm at the wrist. But, somehow I am running a loop through my head second guessing what I am doing.

 

There are things that are bothering me about it. First, I will be meeting with the anesthesiologist a few days before, to discuss what they are going to do - put me under or partially or numb the arm, etc. Key issue for me is that part of their cocktail will most likely include valium or some benzo, which I will need to discuss beforehand and hopefully avoid. I'm guessing there will be some pain meds for a couple of days, which I will at least get a script and fill it only if I will need it -- but I might need it and I don't know what kind of loop that might throw me into.

 

Then, I am obsessing about the weeks of recovering full function in my hand and wrist.

 

Then there is the out-of-pocket cost, I have a fairly high deductible.

 

Then, and then, and then.... Out from under benzo cover for a month now, I'm having trouble turning off the thought machine. I'm finding it hard to do that overnight, waking up and not falling back asleep... Grinding obsessive thoughts during the day.

 

I'm sure everything will be fine once it is all done (by this time next week). Between now and then, I've got to get a hold on things before they become a mushroom cloud around me. I have taken something that should not be such a big deal and blown it up into something major. It's mentally paralyzing me right now.

 

Just venting. Thanks for listening.

 

 

[[Gi...]]

TooManyBennies,

 

We do CTR surgeries at the surgery center where I work.  It's quick and easy as surgeries go.  Our patients generally get versed with anesthesia but it is not necessary.  Propofol, a non benzo anesthetic agent, works very well.  It has a very  short half life and doesn't leave you groggy for hours.

 

While our surgeons prefer sedation to a local only anesthesia, we have had people request local only.  If you can stand the pain of numerous injections of local into the surgery site, you could do it that way.  That and the tourniquet are the uncomfortable parts of the surgery and a little sedation makes it easier to tolerate both.  Easier for the surgeon too, since it's more difficult to operate on a patient who can't stay still due to discomfort.  You are in and out of OR in 30 minutes.

 

Don't consider putting off surgery.  The longer you wait the more likely nerve damage will make a full recovery less possible.  Follow-up phone calls to patients have revealed many  have pain relief with just tylenol and never do take their pain pills.

 

Do not worry, tell the anesthesia provider your concerns.  I predict you will sail through this. G.

[[To...]]

TooManyBennies,

 

We do CTR surgeries at the surgery center where I work.  It's quick and easy as surgeries go.  Our patients generally get versed with anesthesia but it is not necessary.  Propofol, a non benzo anesthetic agent, works very well.  It has a very  short half life and doesn't leave you groggy for hours.

 

While our surgeons prefer sedation to a local only anesthesia, we have had people request local only.  If you can stand the pain of numerous injections of local into the surgery site, you could do it that way.  That and the tourniquet are the uncomfortable parts of the surgery and a little sedation makes it easier to tolerate both.  Easier for the surgeon too, since it's more difficult to operate on a patient who can't stay still due to discomfort.  You are in and out of OR in 30 minutes.

 

Don't consider putting off surgery.  The longer you wait the more likely nerve damage will make a full recovery less possible.  Follow-up phone calls to patients have revealed many  have pain relief with just tylenol and never do take their pain pills.

 

Do not worry, tell the anesthesia provider your concerns.  I predict you will sail through this. G.

 

Thank you, Gingermint. Your post is "what the doctor ordered" (no pun intended).... I know my thoughts are obsessive and irrational. The best antidote for that are facts. Your note provided all the facts to counter my intrusive thinking. I too would prefer sedation, but I thought the surgeon told me they would be doing a block on the arm. But, that was when it was going to be done at the orthopedic clinic. They had to reschedule me and it is now at the hospital outpatient center so that may be the difference.

 

Before I was thinking about whether it was bad enough to go through this. After doing some moderate activity today, my hand and wrist are aching, so my revved up brain now wants to go through a new round of thinking about maybe I waited too long. I had a nerve conduction study last summer and they indicated 'moderate' carpal tunnel. Since then, it has gotten worse. As a friend of mine said, whether it's moderate or not, it is not going to get better on its own. It's compromised and you should get it fixed.

 

Thanks again for reassuring my troubled mind so it can go and obsess about something else!

[[Gi...]]

Glad I could be of help TMB.  Let me know how it goes.

[[Gr...]]

ToomanyBennies-  I would be so scared of surgery too.  Ugh, how are we supposed to trust the doctors to know what is best when they have proven the don't?  It seems like everyone is getting this carpal tunnel surgery though, so you will be in good company.  At least two people on my facebook have gotten it in the last 3 months. 

 

I realize I spend way too much time on this forum.  I've started to imagine what all the different usernames look like in real life.  LOL. 

 

We are moving out of our apartment when our lease is up at the end of May and do not know where we are going yet.  I thought I was actually doing very well with my taper until the landlady sent an email about how she is going to come and take pictures next Tuesday.  That just made is so upset and angry.  However, it only lasted about an hour and a half and ya know, I realize I don't really care what she thinks, and if she thinks I'm too messy then, whatever. 

 

There is a crazy weird stain on the kitchen floor that I didn't tell her about when it happened- like 3 months ago, and now I have just told her.  I am curious to see how that plays out.