Once things calm down, Steph, I also have a drug question. The doctor prescribed 15 mg of meloxicam for the foot and it seems to be helping. However, now I have a god-awful cold with body aches and exploding sinuses, and the meloxicam seems to have no effect on that. Dr. Google says to not take ibuprofen with meloxicam, but I took two and it helped the cold. Should I not do that? I've never had any problem with massive amounts of ibuprofen.

eta: Yay, cat!

Heh. It's less that we found her and more that she decided to come out. Now we're checking her belly for Wall Dirt.

Teppy, I'm glad your cat is safe. I'll e-mail you tomorrow. Right now I am still trying to fully convince my body that the crisis is over.

I can't go to the pharmacy now, anyway -- they closed at 9.

I want a black and white cookie.

{{{Hil}}} Pain~ma.

Drug Talk with Teppy:

sj, 1 mg of ativan should be fine, from everything I've read. A common daily dose is actually 2-3 mg, given 2 or 3 times daily (in other words, 1 mg per dose). But something stronger, like Valium, might be a better idea. If you're going to see your doctor, ask [gender-neutral pronoun].

Ginger: I have 2 answers.

(1) The internet says that meloxicam and other NSAIDs, when taken together, can lead to a greater chance of side effects, particularly gastrointestinal, and it's not recommended.

(2) If it were me, I would take them both, if that's what works. HOWEVER, I say that with the following caveats: don't take the 2 drugs together; try to space them out by about 2 hours. Also, try to only double up on the NSAIDs for a couple of days if you can. That way you save your stomach lining. And, of course, keep an eye out for any untoward effects.

sj, 1 mg of ativan should be fine, from everything I've read. A common daily dose is actually 2-3 mg, given 2 or 3 times daily (in other words, 1 mg per dose). But something stronger, like Valium, might be a better idea. If you're going to see your doctor, ask [gender-neutral pronoun].

Grazie. I will still talk to my doctor tomorrow, but she is still knew to me so I am not sure what she is going to say. She knows I have ativan, but she is not the doctor that prescribed it, so I don't know how conservative she is about such things.

Thanks, Teppy. That was about what I was thinking. I'm certainly hoping that it doesn't feel like someone is drilling into my sinuses for more than a few days.

Grazie. I will still talk to my doctor tomorrow, but she is still knew to me so I am not sure what she is going to say. She knows I have ativan, but she is not the doctor that prescribed it, so I don't know how conservative she is about such things.

I would hope she's familiar with patients getting claustrophobic in MRI machines. It's definitely not uncommon. And I think as long as you explain that it's for the MRI only, not an ongoing thing, that's reasonable.

Thanks, Teppy. That was about what I was thinking. I'm certainly hoping that it doesn't feel like someone is drilling into my sinuses for more than a few days.

I'm pretty cavalier about taking meds, so I always hesitate to recommend people do what I do. (Last week, I had taken a Xanax, and after about an hour I was all chill and thought, "Man, a beer would be good right now." I was halfway through it before I remembered that I had taken a Xanax an hour before. I lived, but I opted to not have a second beer.)

I try to be careful, but I'm probably more cavalier than I should be because of my paradoxical reaction to drugs. Since nothing except Ambien makes me sleepy and codeine makes me wired, I tend to discount things like "combining may increase drowsiness." If only.