My cpsp was really pretty bad yesterday. The pharmacist I had been dealing with in the past gave me some medicine for the worst times. Thought I would double check before taking. May have to check each of your medicines to be certain a mistake hasn’t been made.
Are there any issues taking codeine and nortriptyline/amitriptyline ?
“Using codeine together with amitriptyline/nortriptyline can increase the risk of a rare but serious condition called the serotonin syndrome, which may include symptoms such as confusion, hallucinations, seizures, extreme changes in blood pressure, increased heart rate, fever, excessive sweating, shivering or shaking, blurred vision, muscle spasm or stiffness, tremor, incoordination, stomach cramp, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Severe cases may result in coma and even death”
Erm think I will give that a miss.
Always worth checking. Mistakes can happen, especially if on a large number of medications.
Always best to check.
I remember 2 days after I got home from hospital, I over-balanced in the bathroom. I felt myself starting to fall towards the walk-in shower - or rather, the side of it which is plate glass or something. As the best of 2 evils, I allowed my legs to give way and drop to the floor. Hello coccyx, said the floor. Yes severe pain. My wife took me to a&e and I asked for pain killers. I was given a prescription to take to the pharmacy, who promptly denied me saying that what was prescribed was codeine based and could cause serious damage. According to my meds, there was no effective painkiller available. Hence 6 weeks of slow, painful recovery.
Thank God the pharmacist checked.
I’ve never used them so can’t comment, but I’ve heard that you’d probably do better to swallow a minty Tic Tac than Tylenol.
Aside from that, I have a small announcement to make.
In my early days of hospitalisation, a physio told me that playing an imaginary game on the controller of my ‘Play Station’ may help with dexterity and loosening up my fingers. Well, I found the exercise a bit of a waste of time as I had almost no movement in my right hand at all, and needed at least SOMETHING in order to start me off. So I was lying in bed this morning - mending a puncture, as you do - and I wondered if I could resurrect the idea, better still, set up the old Play Station and let it thump the whatzzits out of me. So i did.
I’ve just put the thing away after managing around 6 hours playing like a beginner, but an enthusiastic beginner.Of course I kept getting wiped out, but that wasn’t the point. The point was I now have a MOST satisfying ache in the thumb and three fingers of my right hand. Yes, it’s tiring, and no, I could never compete with anyone, and I’m sure that my 10 year old grand-daughter (Bibi) would absolutely take me to the cleaners. BUT… I’m playing. And more than just a little bit happy.
@BobQ1 @Chlodog
I have the gift of Piano and although I’m now a bit klunky on it, it is so good for fine motor and dexterity on my affected right hand. There are days I can’t play due to spasticity, especially chilly mornings, but most days I can sit and march up and down the keyboard.
Have either of you tried the “hand putty” ?
Yes, indeed I have, and continue to use it with my PT. What I have found most useful is an empty 1l plastic bottle which I initially quarter filled with water, put it in a freezer bag (they have handles) and hold it dangling in my right hand, thereby straightening the limb. By increasing the amount of water inside the limb becomes straighter each time. I’m actually doing it now. Best when I’m sat at my computer and I’ve got something to focus my attention on.
Although I no longer play (retired 3 years ago), I will, one day, dig out a set of my conga drums or bongos to try something different, but not yet.
I recommend video games as they hold your interest, and if you have the Playstation, then I’ve found that Horizon Zero Dawn is the one that holds my attention the most.
Yes. kids are far more dexterous and so will beat us ‘oldies’ every time. But it’s all about FUN.
That’s cause for a celebration Keep up the good work Bob, persistence pays off and so you will reap the rewards
I did something similar in the lockdowns when I had my stroke But I used the 2ltr bottles of milk with the handle, also with the big bottles of fabric conditioner. And when out walking, if we needed any milk from the supermarket, we’d pick one up and I’d carry it back home. As time went on and I improved, I could almost do bicep curls with them.
At home, I had ankle weights I could strap to my wrist, as I progressed I strapped the 2 weights to it and eventually carried a hand weight as well. I utilised a lot of things around the house in that first year post stroke.
There are one or two folk on here who start using Wii sports, I’d imagine the ones such as 10pin bowling and tennis would be an entertaining form of physio that might spark the neurons memory better than playing with putty. I used games on my phone to refine the finer motor skills relearnt like finger dexterity: PokemonGo, Flow Free, Water Connect, Bubble Pop, Mahjong…to name a few favourites. I wasn’t easy to begin with, my phone very nearly learnt to fly on a number of occasions but I managed to persevere
Wow!
And there was I, thinking I’d come over all inventive. It just goes to prove that there’s nothing new under the sun. There’s some great ideas there. Early days for me yet - not out of hospital 3 months yet - so I need just a leetle more movement before taking some of those exercises on (sshh - I’ve copied and pasted them into my notebook), but the time will come…
Well I wasn’t quite lugging 2ltrs cans of milk in the first months either …that was more like 6-10mth, after the brain caught up a little The weights on the wrist I did almost from the beginning just for a couple hours a day. It helped bring my arm down a little from where it liked to rest across my chest.
Once my arm was down to my side, with certain movements it wanted to creep back up to my chest, so annoying. And it still retains that memory
@EmeraldEyes Interesting, my arm and leg want to go out straight. my nightly spasms cause my limbs to stretch out straight and stiff for several seconds and they shudder. Sometimes painfully so.
Now don’t laugh, but mine do something similar. I could be all curled, waiting for sleep when I suddenly go into a yawn. In doing so, my affected limbs ( right arm & leg) straighten and stretch and shudder as if there’s an earthquake kicking off. Lasts about 8 seconds and then gently curls back to where they were. Just like a feline stretching mid-doze…
@BobQ1 Exactly…all my spasms are accompanied by a yawn, and my neurologist can’t explain it. I can be taking a nap in an easy chair, wake up with a yawn and the spasms start. Frustrating.
That’s cause for a celebration 
Keep up the good work Bob, persistence pays off and so you will reap the rewards 
But I used the 2ltr bottles of milk with the handle, also with the big bottles of fabric conditioner. And when out walking, if we needed any milk from the supermarket, we’d pick one up and I’d carry it back home. As time went on and I improved, I could almost do bicep curls with them.
