…nothing. Nadda. Ziltch.
Today was one of those days that were doomed from the get go.
I woke up today at the time I would normally wake up if I was gonna get up and go to work-5:45am-ish. I realized that my stomach was absolutely KILLING me. Why, you ask? One of the many benefits of being a woman-terrible, terrible CRAMPS.
Now, I discussed my awful cramps with my gynecologist when I went to see her last month. She suggested I take a small dose of naproxen to help with the pain. I did this last month, but my creatinine has been on a steady increase- my baseline is in the 90s (or 9.0ish) and has gone up to 120-ish (12.0ish). Not normal. Now, my transplant coordinator thought that me taking the naproxen might have had something to do with the sudden spike in my creatinine, but I disagree. It seems like my creatinine was on a steady increase ever since I stopped taking that horrid drug known as prednisone.
But, as usual, I digress. I woke up today with the thought that I would do some blood work today, but not so. I cancelled my blood work appointment at the local lab and decided that I would go on Thursday (the day after tomorrow) as my cramps seem to settle down after the first couple of days of my period have passed. So, I took one single OTC naproxen pill this morning. Let me tell you how that pain got up and left within 30 minutes. It was a thing of beauty.
Now, what’s the big deal with taking Naproxen, you say? Well, naproxen, along with advil, are NSAIDs, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. NSAIDs and kidney issues don’t seem to go hand in hand. I think it might be because NSAIDs are metabolized in the kidney, whereas drugs like acetaminophen, or Tylenol, are metabolized in the liver. Now, the above paragraph may be completely made up and I’m still in the “I’m too lazy for this” mode, so I’m not really into doing too much research right now, but feel free to correct me if I’m totally wrong. The same goes for proofreading this post.
So, the whole point of me taking them was to take it sparingly. It has been well over 14 hours since I had taken one single pill and I still feel good in terms of my cramps. It’s crazy how the one drug that can very quickly and easily resolve this pain is not the “best” for me. And no, taking a Tylenol for cramps is not sufficient and is, in fact, an exercise in futility.
Oh, I was also a crying, dribbling mess today. Just because.
View Comments (3)
i hope this isn't too much of a personal question or TMI, but after being diagnosed with lupus, has your menstrual cycle changed? Mine is absolutely awful! I'll get my cycle for 14-16 days every 2 weeks. Sometimes I just get 1 week of no menstruation. It's really frustrating. All I'm hearing is "get an IUD" from my gynos. I love my gynos but in total if you add them up, I'm on my period for half a year. It's awful!
I realized that I posted the same thing pretty much on your previous post. I remember not knowing if it went through and gave up trying to repost :( i hope you're feeling much better :)
Hey Ticklemebear!
Sorry for the delay in response-i obviously haven't been keeping up with my blog lately!
from what i recall, my period was pretty much the same with a few exceptions here and there until my bowel/colon issue in 2006-ish..then it disappeared and never came back until (exactly) one month after my transplant! Since then, I think there has only been one occasion where i missed a cycle (or rather, it was delayed)
:)
Flo
xo