Went to the doctor...

Thankfully, I was able to get into my doctor today. This is the only day he is here this week (at least I'm pretty sure that's what his nurse said), so I'm thankful they could squeeze me in.

I talked to him about the sleep problem. The medicine he gave me, even doubled to 50 mg, isn't helping. I'm still waking up exhausted. I can't function this way once classes and teaching start. So I'm going off the Amitriptyline and starting Provigil. That's what I used last time I had this problem. Amitriptyline helps regulate sleep cycles. Provigil doesn't help straighten out your sleeping problems... it basically just keeps you awake during the day. The website says:

"PROVIGIL is a prescription medicine used to improve wakefulness in adults who experience excessive sleepiness (ES) due to one of the following diagnosed sleep disorders: obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), shift work sleep disorder, also known as shift work disorder, or narcolepsy."

I don't have any of those sleep disorders, but I do have some other kind of sleep problem. Hopefully tomorrow morning I will take it and start noticing a difference.

He pushed on my legs and my back and neck. He wanted to make sure the pain wasn't from a physical injury, like falling on ice. He checked my back and neck to see if I had a pinched nerve. Nothing hurt, so he ruled those things out.

I had to get blood work done (and only had to get poked by 2 needles! they found my blood on the second try! yippee!). He is testing to see if my electrolytes are normal or if I have some kind of infection. He also tested for arthritis. That's what was tested last year when I had this problem--tested for infections and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. I hope it's just an infection, since that's an easy fix and a short term problem. I am praying it's not a more serious problem.

It's 11:30 and I have no plans for the rest of the day. I am hoping to finish my book and start on the next one. I'm on book 11 of 100. This one is over 350 pages, so it's taking awhile. I'm on page 94 right now. I'm going to go read for a bit before my mom comes home for lunch. I'll update again when I hear back from my doctor.