Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

It's 1 am and I'm supposed to get up at 4 am this morning so we can leave for my doctor appt. today. My appt. is a 8 am today with an orthopedic doctor. You see, we live 2 hours from the doctor. So we have to leave early to get there. I haven't been able to go to sleep yet because of my WED/PLMD. I'm hoping I will sleep at least 2 hours before we have to get up. I should be able to sleep in the car, I usually do. I will be seeing the doctor to schedule my right hip surgery. It will be a total hip replacement. And of course as I sit here I am starting to worry. I just read one of the posts about people being discriminated against, regarding the meds that they take. Since I take Methadone I just hope that doesn't happen. Also I'm trying to figure out how they will write the order when giving it to me in the hospital. Since I usually take 2.5 mg at 5 pm, then another 2.5 mg at 9 pm, then 5 mg about 11 to midnight and lastly sometimes another 2.5 mg 2 or 3 hours after that. I like to spread it out. I don't like taking more than 12.5 mg each night. Since I'm an RN I know how they give meds in the hospital. So I don't know. Usually it's an every 8 hour kind of schedule. Maybe 5 mg at 5pm, then 10 mg at 1 am. Of course I don't know what pain medication they will give me since they all make me itch and vomit. Normally that would all be that I would need, and probably wouldn't need the Methadone. Again, I don't know.
The other thing that I was thinking about was that during the surgery I will be asleep. YEAH. The last time I had surgery was in 2009. My legs were bad then too, since I was augmenting. I do remember being able to sleep when I first got out of surgery. I had one total knee done, then 3 weeks later the other knee was done. The only problem occurred was after the second knee. I woke up in recovery screaming. The pain was in the back of my thigh. I thought maybe it was a blood clot. Turned out no, but they gave me more drugs to stop the pain. My husband was standing there and noticed that my heart rate started to drop into the 40's. Normal is 60 to 80, more or less. He started calling for help and tried to wake me up. Obviously, I made it. I asked my husband this time to make sure he was there when I get out of recovery.

Debbluebird - My heart is with you. Let us know asap how you are.

are you back yet?

I'm back home. I am feeling better even though I haven't slept. (less emotional) I never slept last night, really, except for about 20 minutes. Saw the doctor. I have no cartilage left and it is bone on bone, with some bone damage. They had a cancellation, so I am now scheduled to have a total hip replacement Aug. 23 at noon. We have to be there by 10 am. We are going to drive over the day before. We are taking our 5th wheel and setting it up at a friends house. They have hook ups, sewer and elec. available. I will be in the hospital 2 to 3 days. Then to rehab for a week, maybe. It will just depend on how I do and feel. Then in 3 months I will have the left hip done. By next spring I should be in great shape. I decided to have them to give me morphine if I have much pain. I will just deal with the itching and hopefully I won't vomit. Actually I should only have incision pain. The hip should feel better. Today the doctor really moved my knees and hips. My WED/PLMD really acted up on the way home. I ended up taking a Methadone, then another later and an Oxy. They finally settled down just before we got home. I'm sitting here sort of unwinding and I hope I will go to sleep soon. I was just obsessing last night.

Wow - that was fast! You're going in next week!

Per the meds - I think we all worry about that. My old doctor would freak out about how to write for it. Like you, I don't take it all at once - I do it spread out over about 6-8 hours.

Brilliant to get such an early appointment.

I figured out why I was up all night, the night before. I had some chocolate cake the other day. Last night I slept all night, with a bathroom break. Went to sleep around 9 pm. Got up at 8:30 this morning. The only other thing that was different, I took more Methadone. From now on, no more chocolate. I think I have said that before. I keep forgetting. I love chocolate. Oh well.

MMMmmmm...... I wonder if the choccie craving got really bad... would it lessen the kick-back if you had a (very) tiny piece in the morning ?

Bad me. No chocolate at all !!

I think I'd think as you are PB - surely some in the morning is OK!

I love chocolate that much too !

I was getting away with having some, but now it's over.

Hey - just in case the post office is not on time, I decided to wait to send you the card. So, don't look for it until you get back, OK?

Oh, ok. Because we live up in the mountains, it usually takes a week for us to get mail.

I thought that might be - I was going to mail it today when I was out, but then thought that you might worry about if it would come on time and didn't want you to. So, no worrying - will send it later. Then again, you might not be a worrier!

Yes, I would have worried. Thank you