By the Pricking of My Thumbs
A little over a year ago, I started noticing a strange tingling sensation in my pinky and ring fingers, especially when I woke up in the morning or after a long day at work. Of course, I ignored the tingling for the next six months, hoping it would go away. It did not; instead, it progressed up my hands and forearms until I was continually semi-numb from the elbow down, which turned me into a complete butterfingers, especially with small, expensive objects (like my cell phone—the poor thing will never be the same).
At this point I was also having a bit of trouble typing, which was a bad thing, because I type a lot. In fact, at least half of my favorite activities (blogging; Facebooking; library-catalog–searching) require the use of a keyboard and/or a mouse. So I finally went to the doctor. He ruled out the obvious possibilities (which were apparently limited to heavy-metal poisoning from well water or me making my symptoms up), and referred me to a neurologist. She was a nice, intelligent-seeming woman with a bag full of torture devices like needles and mallets and tuning forks and oh, yes, an ELECTROSHOCK CART. After using the above on me for what seemed like eternity (Hell is an endless nerve conduction survey, bet you didn’t know that), she shrugged, said everything seemed normal, and prescribed me 900mg of Neurontin.
If any of you aren’t familiar with Neurontin (generic name: gabapentin; motto: You Are Very Sleepy), it’s a drug that is commonly prescribed for seizures and various kinds of nerve pain and trouble. Patients are usually eased up to the full dose a little at a time to avoid the worse side effects, which include extreme lethargy, dizziness and poor coordination. The idea is, if you increase the dosage by 100mg a day, by the time you’re up to the maintenance dose of 900mg/day you won’t spend all your time snoozing, bumping drunkenly into furniture or mis-dialing telephone numbers. It’s a nice theory, but in practice that is exactly how I’ve been spending the last week, which is one of the reasons I haven’t been posting in this blog very regularly. Also, I was in Vegas for five days, and let me say: Neurontin does not interact well with alcohol. Just a tip.
Aside from the dizziness and the drowsiness and the turning my life into a complete shambles, the drug does seem to be having an effect. So maybe it’s worth it. I’m in a constant drugged daze, but at least my fingers aren’t tingling.
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January 17th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Aha! Now I know you aren’t ignoring my emails. I no longer have to make an irate phone call to your actual self, but can wait patiently, twiddling my electronic, non-tingling thumbs.
Oh–I’m glad you’re feeling better, too. I take it the neurologist didn’t recommend any wrist exercises or things of that nature, in case you had swollen things that were pinching nerves in your wrist? I’m thinking carpal-tunnel-esque swellings….
January 17th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
She referred me to a hand therapist, but I haven’t been able to go yet, what with me constantly being out of town over the last month. The interesting thing is that the neurologist said the nerve conduction survey ruled out any nerve impingement (the elbow having been the most likely place), so basically we don’t know what’s up. Yay!
January 19th, 2008 at 6:01 am
That almost falls into the ‘cure worse than the disease’ category. Glad it’s having an effect though, because that condition sounds really frustrating.
January 25th, 2008 at 3:20 am
Yay for the American medical system! “I don’t know what’s wrong with you. Here, take these pills! Medicate the symptoms away, but don’t worry about the problem that’s causing the symptoms.”
At this point, you’re better off going to a homeopathologist.
–Andy
January 27th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Chosha, no kidding! Just wait till I tell you the side effects the Cymbalta has–and, even worse, what the withdrawal symptoms are. :P
Yeah, Andy, that’s pretty much what my aunt said. Can you recommend a good one? Preferably hot, young and male? :D
January 29th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Ha! The “homopathologist” joke is just too easy here. In Germany there were more homeos than doctors–their offices were as ubiquitous as Mormon churches in SLC. No idea around here–they’re considered quacks in this country.