Update 9/14/12

Stomach update: yesterday I tried 1/4 a 40mg nexium pill. It made me groggy and weirdly depressed again. Less so than a 40mg but still ruined my morning. My cfs dr suggested trying omeprazole and/or aciphex as long as I was trying things. She also said that before there were ppis they used the h2 blockers like Zantac. I already am doing 150mg Zantac 2/day but was told to go to 300mg 2/day. We also decided to get more serious about using carafate on a schedule. I went to the pharmacy and bought OTC prilosec and Prevacid. I picked up aciphex samples from gi office. Last night I started the increase dose of Zantac and tried 20mg Prilosec. I did pretty well with it although felt very groggy on waking today. This morning I did the same thing. I am definitely wiped out. Not sure if it's the drug or if I would just be wiped out anyway. I feel like the new meds are playing into this for sure  and I'm not thrilled about it but know I need to let my stomach heal. I also know they'd like me on twice the dose of ppi that I'm on now. Will just see how it goes.

Rituxan update: I met with my cfs dr yesterday and we decided to go ahead with round two. Although the gastritis was probably brought about by steroids and NSAIDs we think the scales may have been tipped by rituxan. So it is unknown if this will happen again but I'm praying it doesn't. I am scheduled for next Tuesday am. Of course I feel like I am jinxing it by even saying this since I seem to be the queen of canceling. Will just keep praying. We did run some more blood work to get a new baseline before the next round of treatment. We got results back today. My lipase was still slightly elevated although I have never had it tested prior to two weeks ago so who knows if I've had slightly elevated lipase for some time. If so I'd chalk it up to steroids. Creatinine very slightly elevated but dr isn't worried.

On a lighter note, I decided to take a bath today. Can't remember the last time I did that. Anyway while I was trying to relax one of my cats (not the kitten) fell into the tub. Chaos ensued and as I tried to help her out she shredded the palm of my right hand. Ok so maybe this isn't a lighter note since my hand is torn up and it is taking me forever to heal anything at this point so i am a bit nervous about nothing getting infected. That was the end of the relaxation anyway since I had to chase a soaking wet cat around the house. But at least now 3/4 of her is clean :)