Day 81

[truepenny]

This morning, the orthopedist gave me the all clear to start getting rid of the walking boot.

Yeehaw! says I.

I spent part of this afternoon calling first my HMO (which does not cover acupuncture treatments) and then the acupuncture clinic which is within walking distance. The acupuncturist was very nice and perfectly honest. The answer here, as with everything else about RLS, is "Maybe." Which, at $60 a session, is a rather expensive ambivalence.

But I note two things:
1. My GP's nurse offered to put in a referral to a neurologist, but warned me it takes 6 to 8 weeks to get an appointment. Also, when I asked, she said it was about 50/50 whether they'd be able actually to help or not. So, neurology offers no better odds than acupuncture.

2. The acupuncturist talked about chi and blood stasis, as opposed to the orthopedist, who said essentially, "Nobody knows why," but they agreed that the return to normal motion should make the RLS quiet down.

I bothered mirrorthaw at work, and we agreed that the best thing was to wait until after WFC: give the increased dosage of Requip and my new and very exciting mobility a chance to work before we try other, expensive and/or time consuming options which may or may not do anything anyway. And hope that something starts working before I run out of Vicodin, because I don't think my GP's going to give me any more. At least now, though, if I need to get up in the middle of the night, I can just go ahead and damn well get up, without having to plan it out like a land war in Asia.

In the meantime, even though I'm having a lousy day on other health fronts (ME: Meat, is this nausea really necessary? MEAT: Bleah.), I am absolutely loving the fact that I'm wandering around the house barefoot. It's like a freaking dream come true.

Comments

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

FREEEEEEEDOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!

It's glorious, ain't it?

I would mail you my leftover Vicodin if that weren't probably illegal. (I wish I could just return it or something. Seriously, they gave me a bazillion pills -- and said I could get a refill -- which freaked me out, because did that mean I was going to be in endless amounts of pain?) Regardless, fingers crossed that mobility will solve the problem; it helped me when I got out of my own boot, though my own RLS-type problems were more minor.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I would mail you my leftover Vicodin if that weren't probably illegal.

Hee. It is a very kind thought, and I thank you for it.

[pitselly.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's not illegal to send prescription medication through the mail, so long as it's not overseas 8D don't ask me why I know this.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

It's less the mailing than the "passing along prescription-strength narcotics to somebody other than the prescribed patient" that I figured was illegal.

Out of curiosity, what are the overseas regulations?

[glinda-w.livejournal.com]

Oh, yay for freedom! (Also, much sympathy on the RLS thing; it sucks.)

Totally unrelated, thank you for recommending the Ellery Queen Cat of Many Tales? I thought I'd read everything of theirs, a long time ago, and didn't remember that one. The library here doesn't have many of the Queen books, but luckily it does have that one. And yeah, I couldn't have not remembered that one, if I had read it. Wow. Just... wow. (Also, thank you. :) It's now on my Thriftbooks.com wishlist...)

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

You are very welcome!

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Please write more if you do try acupuncture for RLS at any point. I've been thinking about trying that, too.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

It seems to be a relatively competitive price for the Madison area. But yeah. Good point.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

ME TOO.

(Thank you.)

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Acupuncture has always cost me that.

It's one of the few things that doesn't seem to vary with time and inflation and stuff -- it's been thirty pounds or $60 a session for every session I've had since 1980. So when I saw that, I nodded.

[kirbyfest.livejournal.com]

Wandering by via friendsfriends: I don't know where you live, but you might want to look into community acupuncture if you do end up wanting to go the acupuncture route:

http://www.communityacupuncturenetwork.org/

I wanted (needed) acupuncture and simply couldn't have afforded it without finding a community acupuncture provider. My treatment was excellent, and worked. I also really liked supporting someone who wanted to make her treatments available to all, regardless of income.

Might not be walking distance from you, but FYI.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[remote45.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine who was extremely skeptical tried acupuncture for her pain that no one could either diagnose a reason or really help to alleviate and had amazing results. I think you may be surprised at how well it might help you. I totally agree with trying all avenues but do give acupuncture a go. Fingers crossed that you can find something to get your RLS under control.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

As I may have mentioned, I've had very good results from acupuncture for pain, and also for the concussion sequelae.

One of the things with acupuncture clinics though is that they don't want to give you a session and then see you again the next time you have a problem. They want you to sign up to go every week for weeks. But usually you don't need to -- usually with nerve stuff, one session will do a lot, and then a second will sort it out. I've had a lot of acupuncture partly out of the belief that if two sessions does all this if I keep going my leg will just get better and I'll be able to run, but in fact it isn't magic and doesn't work that way.

So these days I'm firm and make two appointments, and that's what I'd suggest. $120 to be sleeping properly? Well worth it. (With the concussion I had three, because they wanted me to have a third to "put my head and body back in alignment" -- that third session made me so stoned I walked out without paying and came home with my t-shirt on backwards and slept all afternoon. I don't know if my head and body were aligned, but I haven't had a problem since.)