WARNING: MAY CAUSE DROWSINESS

Drowsiness, fatigue, sleepy, lethargic, tired…These don’t even begin to describe the side effects Vince is having from all of his nerve pain medications. From nodding off while eating to nodding off while trying to take a simple glucose check, it is never ending. The poor guy is so tired he falls asleep sitting upright in his desk chair. Throughout the day, I call him to remind him to take his meds. If I call him and catch him in his sleep, sometimes he doesn’t even hear the phone or he doesn’t know who I am for a few seconds. Talk about a deep sleep!

We recently visited his neurologist for a checkup and he is continuing to increase Vince’s Topamax. This is a new medication they are trying to see how much it will help his nerve pain. I am hoping that we are at the worst stage right now with the side effects. Since they are increasing the meds right now, and haven’t begun to decrease any, he is getting a whole lot of medication at one time, all of which say WARNING: MAY CAUSE DROWSINESS. I am hoping that when they start to decrease some of the others, the side effects will let up. This doctor is giving us a lot of hope in finding the right combo of drugs that will hopefully help him. It is a slow process but this is the first doctor we have found that has new and different ideas and seems to know the disease. From increasing one medication over a few months time, and then decreasing others, all while trying to control the pain and the side effects, this is getting very stressful for me to watch. Throw in the fact that through it all, I am still supposed to be able to tell the difference between weak reaction babble talk and dopy medicated babble talk! It is so hard to just sit back and watch as he groans in pain, knowing I can’t do anything to make it go away.

Notice how much I am using the word hope in this post today? Well, I just noticed and I guess my writing is really reflecting my (along with Vince’s) state of mind. We have lots of hope, that one day (hopefully soon (there I go again lol)) he will start to feel less pain and be a little more comfortable. One day he won’t have to brace himself 24/7 for that shock that is about to come on in his leg, or that rain storm that is expected in the week to come, knowing it will throw his body for a loop. This is no way for someone to live and it’s not something that someone should have to watch a loved one go through.