Newly diagnosed LC, many questions.

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 3:13 pm

Keep it to one change at a time, your body is a bit super sensitve at the moment.
Drink lots of water and give yourself a neck rub that will help with the headache

EastWestGirl · Post by **EastWestGirl** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 9:20 am

Subway is also getting their gluten free bread from them.

Where have I been?

Subway has gluten free bread???? Seriously????!! :-))

alclarkson · Post by **alclarkson** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 7:18 pm

Day 3 no Cymbalta, headache is gone and I have not visited the bathroom once. To say I was excited would be an understatement!

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 7:40 pm

awesome news!!

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:06 pm

Terrific!

Gloria

Post by **tex** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:11 pm

Linda wrote:Where have I been?

Subway has gluten free bread???? Seriously????!! :-))

They're testing the market at 700 outlets in Texas, in the Dallas and Tyler areas. I have no idea if/when they might roll out the GF items nationally.

Tex

Post by **tex** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:14 pm

Andrea,

Great! Thanks for the update.

Over the years, that class of drugs has caused a lot of people to spend a lot of unnecessary time in the bathroom.

Tex

dgshelton · Post by **dgshelton** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:47 pm

Great news, Andrea! It sounds like you are having a much easier time getting off Cymbalta than I did. I took it several years ago for pain, but it didn't help. When I weaned off and finally stopped taking it, I was so sick. I was dizzy and nauseated to the point that I couldn't get out of bed for two weeks. I called my dr. and his nurse said it could take up to a month to stop having those symptoms....when I asked her what I could do to stop them, she said, well you could get back on the Cymbalta and try weaning off more slowly. I said NO thank you and have told anyone who asks me about the medicine that it is poison! Thank goodness the symptoms subsided a couple of days after my call to the dr. It was awful. I'm so glad you're having good results!!

Hugs,

alclarkson · Post by **alclarkson** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:38 am

Thanks everyone! I'm pretty sure the Cymbalta may have been the cause of my hypertension & some of my chest pains as well. My BP had been way high 140/90, I usually run 120/70, and I had been having awful chestpain for about a week. The high BP had been going on for about as long as the LC, but I chalked it up to dehydration. Once the chest pain started, off to the Dr. I went! My PCP ordered an echo and 48hr holter EKG and I get those results today. It would stink if all I had to do was stop the Cymbalta to get rid of those symptoms instead of paying the money to get those tests done, but better safe than sorry I guess!
I don't think I'll be being an advocate for Cymbalta either!

Post by **tex** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:19 pm

Andrea,

The good news is that in some/many cases of drug-induced MC, just stopping the use of the drug can be sufficient to stop all the MC symptoms. Whether or not that happens, probably depends on one's genes, and how long the drug has been causing symptoms.

I hope that you're one of the lucky ones.

Tex

alclarkson · Post by **alclarkson** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:02 pm

You and me both Tex! I was only on the Cymbalta 5 weeks before the symptoms started, so hopefully that helps. No visit to the bathroom still today! I think it may be a record, 2 days! Watch me have the opposite problem now! Echo and EKG came back clean and BP was 117/78. I think we can confirm that all of my issues were caused from the Cymbalta. I don't think I've ever hated an inanimate object so much in my life!

Dr. really wants me to get my gallbladder removed. He says it's better sooner when you can plan it rather than later when you're hunched over in pain & have to have emergency surgery which I agree with. After the whole colonoscopy & EGD sedation fiasco, I'm really nervous about surgery. I know a lap chole wouldn't be conscious sedation, so that's a little reassuring. I'm also a little weary now since I may be rid of the D to get it going again with the removal of my GB. He asked me at what point would I agree to have it taken out & I told him when I couldn't stand the pain & that I have a pretty high pain tolerance. I'm torn.

Post by **tex** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 9:20 pm

Frankly, I think you're justified in putting more faith in your own judgment about whether or not you need surgery, than putting it in a doctor who should have noticed your symptoms and connected them with the Cymbalta, back when you first reported your problems to him. We usually know our bodies better than our doctors do, but for some reason or other, they always seem to be in a big hurry to cut something out, or prescribe a drug that may throw a monkey wrench into our internal machinery.

What's the rush to have the surgery? Is he afraid that you may start feeling so well that you won't see any need for the surgery? Call me a cockeyed optimist, but frankly, I don't see anything wrong with that. LOL. And you're right - a rather high percentage of cholecystectomy patients end up with chronic D, at least for a while, and for some it can last for years and years. Why take that risk, unless you absolutely need the surgery? No one needs chronic D, just to make their doctor happy.

Tex

alclarkson · Post by **alclarkson** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 1:52 pm

I plan on putting up with my bad GB for as long as I can. I'm still having angina like crazy. It's lifted a bit since I stopped the Cymbalta. I'm left wondering if the chest pain will go away as the Cymbalta clears my system, or if it's being caused by the bad GB.

On the pepto news,, I think I may be starting to get a little constipated, so I stopped taking that today. I've been doing 1 every morning for about 2 weeks. Is this the norm? Once the inflammation is gone, will taking pepto eventually cause you to be constipated?

Post by **tex** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 4:34 pm

Andrea wrote:I'm left wondering if the chest pain will go away as the Cymbalta clears my system, or if it's being caused by the bad GB.

That's a tough question. GB pain is usually just under the rib cage, and maybe just a little to the right of center, and it can often/usually be felt all the way through to the back.

Andrea wrote:will taking pepto eventually cause you to be constipated?

It certainly can, if you don't need it, or if you take more than is needed. We are all different in how we respond, of course, so we have to listen to what our body tells us.

Tex

alclarkson · Post by **alclarkson** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 6:16 pm

I think I'll put a halt to the pepto for now and see what happens.
I absolutely have RUQ GB pain. I have a dull ache there 24/7 and it flares up every now and again to a sharper pain. It did that yesterday & it was actually hard to bend, stretch, reach, lean with the right side of my body b/c it increased the sharp pain that was already there. It's gone today though, so I'm OK. I'm not sure of how many episodes of that I"ll want to put up with though. Like you said, you have to listen to your body and obviously my body is saying "Get this junk filled GB out of me!" lol