The Action Plan
The plan to withdraw from pain medications is apart of the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) treatment process. And now, due to my pain levels having come down from a 9/10 to a now 5/10. To my shock, I mean I did expect it to help but still an unexpected treatment outcome so low and still not over for someone with so many pain disorders. With the lowering of medications and the continued tDCS treatments the pain levels can hypothetically come down lower, as the brain works out the new balance in chemicals. When under prolonged chronic pain the brain chemicals: serotonin, norepinephrine, and GABA are in a constant state of chemical imbalance. When shown on a functional MRI’s you can actually see a visible difference between healthy and chronic pain patients brains in their prefrontal cortex where they are chemically imbalanced.
The front area (yellow is the affected area) is your decision making area. That area is full of serotonin, norepinephrine, and GABA, which is the chemical imbalance. When Doctors put pain patients on SSRIs it deals with part of the problem, but serotonin helps to initiate your sleep cycle, and eating cycle but that's not treating the whole problem. However, through the tDCS treatment effects on the brain areas as like the frontal lobe and parietal lobe the current is likely to help balance the chemicals out.
Thus I have begun the struggle of finding a lowest possible doses while still effective to my pain levels. After my 10th treatment we decided to start lowering my pain medications, as I wanted to start sooner than later to give my brain the time to work really hard on healing, while I'm getting the treatments that give it this direct current stimulation twice a week that will boost it to this new level of functioning. When I began treatments I was on the following medications and dosages:
100 mg (*Now I'm down to 25 mg) of nortriptyline - for Fibromyalgia and Neuropathic pain
100 mg topamax - Trigeminal Neuralgia (next week we lower this by 25 mg)
1.50 mcg synthroid - Hashimoto's Thyroid
Taking back the Home Front
When it comes to motherhood I have been extra exhausted between vaccinations causing our boys leg to swell up, runny noses, and late nights. Basically I run between rooms at night and then attempt to function during the day on my regular 4ish hours. This week my energy has been gradually increasing, to the point where I have actually been able to get around to tasks that I usually can barely imagine doing. When you have chronic conditions you live in survival mode, so unlike those normal folk with clean organized homes, the home gets gradually slowly worked on at snail speed. For me, I've moved from condo to townhouse with a 11 month old while pregnant, right in the middle of having two kids in two years. As you can imagine a few things have piled up between that 11 month old and my now 2 year old boy and now 1 year old girl, some days things are all over the place. Now that my energy is coming back due to treatments, I'm attempting to regaining order in my home and that has been what July and now August are about for me. In between treatments, cleaning, taking care of kids and cooking, I am starting on these tasks. Tasks, that since we moved into our townhouse I haven't had the energy to get to.
Start with Small Tasks
So the other night I began small, by making a list of storage areas in the house that aren't currently being used as efficiently as they could be, and what I wanted to put into those areas. The next day I moved all that stuff into the reorganized storage areas. Oddly enough after the 4 hours of work with a 20lb baby on my back, I wasn't in brutal amounts of pain. It was astonishing. If I had attempted that previously, to these treatments I would be wrecked in an 8 out of 10 pain, for at least 2-3 days afterwards. So, instead of being zapped for energy, I enjoyed baking ham and cheese scones for treatments and lunches during the week. And, then we even baked a raspberry birthday cake for taking up to the lake with us on the weekend. This year we're celebrating the kids birthdays together since their a year and two weeks apart.
After I got all the storage worked out I set my sights on our clothing issues. Once I conquered my mess, I then set my sights on the truly scary task of the kids clothes. The ever growing mound, I sorted all the kids clothes that no longer fit them and will either sell them or get rid of them to MCC. It felt productive so far.
Remission is worth years
Coming off of the medications not gonna lie, is totally sucking, and is doing some funky things to my digestion. Fresh raw fruits and vegetables are just out of the question, and whole wheat will lets just leave it at have me sick for days. So, I need to be extra careful what I eat, because it has thrown the IBS out of whack, which is a pain. There are major withdrawal headaches, and all over my body aches. After consulting with my doctor at my 13th treatment, the Dr.'s said that in his opinion, I could either wait a few more days to see if the withdrawal subsides or increase the dose to attempt to regain a balance again. So, I will preserve through this and wait as today feels slightly better after the treatment. It's like the brain gets a tune up and corrects itself.
~Elysia B
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