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6624. anomie - 3/4/2006 11:56:37 AM IV sedation works well for dental work. I had been stressing about "going under" and getting a wisdom tooth and moler removed for about a month now. I had the fight or flight, or approach/avoidance turmoil going on right up to when they started the IV yesterday. But then I woke up and it was over. I had no awareness at all of what was going on or even of time passing. Residual pain is very mild and I can look forward to fewer head and ear aches. Best of all I can finally stop obsessing about the procedure. 6625. arkymalarky - 3/4/2006 6:47:21 PM I had an epidural for my hysterectomy last spring. I just couldn't get beyond being stressed about "going under" either. I wasn't even worried about the surgery, even though they had to do a cesarian-type incision. I hadn't been under anesthesia since I had my tonsils out when I was 8. 6626. wonkers2 - 3/4/2006 7:29:08 PM "The Health Care Crisis and How to Fix It" by Paul Krugman and Robin Wells in "The New York Review of Books," March 23, 2006 Here. 6627. anomie - 3/4/2006 8:25:48 PM Arky,
Most of my anxiety was caused by thinking about what they would actually be doing while I was out, amd worse, what if I woke up in the middle of it. 6628. wonkers2 - 3/4/2006 8:29:36 PM One of my best friends had a quintuple bypass yesterday. During the several days when he was in the hospital before the surgery they put him on Xanax to reduce his anxiety. 6629. anomie - 3/4/2006 8:32:40 PM We'd better fix the health care system before the economy makes the choices for us.
Some people piss me off. I met a guy while traveling once - right wing, etc - who boasted about how he payed his own way for health care and everything else and didn't need ANY help from the government. I asked him how much he paid to prevent himself from getting polio and smallpox, and how much for his doctor's education. I don't think he got the point. 6630. arkymalarky - 3/4/2006 11:02:40 PM Wonk, I do that for mammograms every year. I've had several abnormal ones, and though all have been fine, I get increasingly stressed about them from one year to the next.
6631. arkymalarky - 3/4/2006 11:04:16 PM I did for the week or two before my surgery last spring too, come to think of it. 6632. wonkers2 - 3/4/2006 11:37:52 PM Cap'n Dirty sez, "I can't handle more'n two abnormal ones!" 6633. anomie - 3/5/2006 12:16:22 AM I've used Valium for other dentist visits, but this guy said he wanted my system clean for the IV. Just as well too as long as you can get yourself to the office and in the chair. 6634. judithathome - 3/5/2006 3:13:26 AM Well, I know exactly what that stress is like, Arky...I read the MRI report yesterday when I picked it up to take to the specialist next Thursday.
Now, I know doctors and those who read MRIs and X-rays have to cover their asses these days...I know that intellectually but emotionally, that all goes out the window when you see words like "malignant" and "metastasis" and "cannot be ruled out at this time". It's one thing to know they have to put that in there to avoid liability but it's a whole 'nother thing to be hurting like bloody hell for almost 4 weeks and taking vicodan like it was candy and reading those words. 6635. arkymalarky - 3/5/2006 4:17:39 AM I really hope Thursday comes quickly for you and you get a good report, Judith. 6636. SnowOwl - 3/5/2006 5:10:32 AM Shit,Judith. I don't know what to say excpet good luck for Thursday. 6637. woden - 3/5/2006 5:15:56 AM Judith, I'm hoping for the best for you. 6638. thoughtful - 3/6/2006 3:16:11 PM Hang tough Juds. I know this stuff ain't easy. Don't borrow trouble. I know it's harder to do than to say, but try to keep it in mind. You'll have plenty of time to deal with bad news when it comes, should it come. But if it doesn't come, then you'll have put yourself through the wringer for nothing. 6639. thoughtful - 3/14/2006 6:41:43 PM I'm sorry, but this just struck me as funny. I guess it's not if it's you, but this is un-freakin'-believable!
Study Links Ambien Use to Unconscious Food Forays
The sleeping pill Ambien seems to unlock a primitive desire to eat in some patients, according to emerging medical case studies that describe how the drug's users sometimes sleepwalk into their kitchens, claw through their refrigerators like animals and consume calories ranging into the thousands....
Most of the people who use Ambien say the drug puts them to sleep, and they wake up without incident. But several doctors and a number of patients say that sleep-eating is one of a variety of unusual reactions to the drug.
The reactions range from fairly benign sleepwalking episodes to hallucinations, violent outbursts and, most troubling of all, driving while asleep, a subject explored in an article last week in The New York Times. 6640. PelleNilsson - 3/14/2006 6:48:50 PM Reading on, you come across this:
Among sleep-eaters, the desire for food can be tremendously powerful. One woman in the Minneapolis area whom Dr. Schenck treated, Judie Evans, said she began taking Ambien while recovering from back surgery. At the time, she was in a full body cast and needed assistance to get out of bed.
During this time, Ms. Evans, who is 59 and lives alone, began to notice that food was missing from her refrigerator. She accused two nursing aides who were caring for her of stealing food. It was not until her son came to spend several nights that Ms. Evans said she realized that despite the body cast, she was getting up to eat while she was asleep. "During the day, I couldn't even make it to the bathroom by myself," Ms. Evans said.
The first night her son was there, he found her standing in the kitchen, body cast and all, frying bacon and eggs. The next night he found her eating a sandwich, Ms. Evans said, and sent her back to bed. Later that same night, her son arose to find her standing in the kitchen again. "I had turned the oven on," she recalled. "I store pots and pans in the oven and I had turned it to 500 degrees."
Ms. Evans said her problems ended when Dr. Schenck diagnosed Ambien-induced sleep-related eating disorder.
Totally absurd!
6641. wonkers2 - 3/14/2006 8:43:07 PM Questions about the safety of a major heart drug--Plavix. 6642. thoughtful - 3/30/2006 3:15:56 PM Was up early this am watching a very interesting piece on local pbs station dedicated to dana reeve on the mind/body connection. Things like the length of time for a wound to heal is far longer in people under chronic stress than people who are not. How a pregnant woman whose water broke far too early was able to avoid infection for 4 weeks using stress reduction and guided imagery vs. the normal 1 week for those without those techniques. How a boy with cerebral palsy who suffered chronic pain was able to diminish it with self-hypnosis techniques. And most surprising was a fellow going in for back surgery and his insurance company gave him a tape on guided imagery for a successful operation. Why? the $17 tape has been proven to reduce the length of hospital stay and need for medications in surgery patients by, on average, $2,000.
Western medicine is just beginning to pick up on such things and I'm glad to see it spreading. How we feel emotionally affects us physically...how we feel physically affects us emotionally. Rather than the usual way of thinking that if there's no physical cause it must be psychological, the two are not mutually exclusive and treating a patient well means dealing with both aspects of their life, not just the physical. 6643. robertjayb - 3/30/2006 5:32:31 PM PBS late night talker/interviewer Charlie Rose is having/has had heart surgery in France. I'm looking forward to interesting reports on European health care.
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