Posted by Tim M (64.12.96.201) on July 18, 2001 at 18:47:21:
Every Summer, around my birthday, which is today, family and friends drive to a beautiful lake in the sandhills of Nebraska, to camp, fish, swim, eat, laugh, to help me celebrate my B-Day, and to make up for lost time. This little tradition has been going on for over 10 years. Usually, I get hit with an occasional CH at night, and wipe it out with O2 in a few minutes. Only a minor problem. This year, however, I've been getting hit hard regularly, and the O2 has not been all that helpful. I blame it on the Neurontin, which seems to actually CAUSE attacks for me, and the doc says that I have to taper off slowly, meaning that I need to endure hell for a longer period of time. Anyway, knowing that I may be hit unusually hard, I took 4 tanks of oxygen "just in case".
It is a 5 hour drive to the lake. After 3 hours, I had to pull over and suffer through a killer before I could continue.
I will not describe the weekend bit-by-bit, but suffice it to say that I did have a great time between frequent attacks, and we had to leave Saturday evening, because I was down to a quarter tank of O2. I let a lot of people down, (though they tell me not to feel that way), and I feel cheated, myself. I've continued to be hit hard, and I'm contemplating the cold-turkey approach to the neurontin. The only side effect I've seen of quitting quickly is a possible return of seizures.
Sorry this was such a rant. I hate these things, and this time they affected others besides myself, which makes it worse.
Thanks for the "ear".