Hi, I went through chemo and radiation for a recurrence of my breast cancer in 2004. My treatments lasted for almost a year. I remember that horrible achiness! I woke up in such pain after my third treatment that I was crying. I'd tried taking Advil (prescription dose) but that didn't even come close to dulling the pain. I went to my doctor and she put me a drug whose name I can't remember (wasn't a pain pill though -- I think it was a steroid) and it immediately relieved me of the pain. Please call your oncologist or go in to see him or her. Chemo is bad enough without having to suffer the pain associated with it. I am in remission now for two years. Good luck to you. Johannah
johannahw
JoinedPosts by johannahw
-
9
Has any one else gone through chemo would like to compare notes
by lapweaver ini'm going through chemo right now , just had no.
3 of 4 treatments, i would like to talk to others who have or know someone who has.. had started to lose hair on day 15, mostly day 3,4,and 5 after treatments i ache like a bad case of flu and have to stay in bed don't even feel much like tv.
the meds keep away the neasua, very fatigued.. i know there are others that have it alot worse then me, so i'm not complaining just want to know if anyone else would like to talk about it..
-
-
-
133
Mental Illness - diagnosed for me
by Crumpet ini've long known, and most of you probably have as well, that there was something not all there with me.
mostly i put it down to me being bad.
questions i've never been asked before.
-
-
johannahw
Hey Crumpet, I'm bipolar too and have been for over 30 years. I've now been on disability for something like 16 years and can't tell what my future holds yet. I've had a really hard time the last three years. I've had my meds changed so many times only to find they wouldn't work or that the side effects were so bad I couldn't tolerate the drugs. Finally at the end of May of this year I was started on Depakote and Effexor. The meds took about 3 and a half weeks to kick in but once they did -- what a difference. For the past 3 years I have spent most of my time in deep, suicidal depressions and have been hospitalized 3 times. I had absolutely no energy. I mostly just laid around in bed all day and night watching TV. I was already overweight but of course gained even more. It was not even worth the effort on most days to bathe or even brush my teeth. My small apartment was filthy and hadn't really been clean in the three years I'd lived here. Sometimes I'd get a rare burst of energy (mania) where I'd get quite a bit done and then I'd crash again into depression for weeks and sometimes into months at a time and the cycles would start all over again. In March another catastrophic diagnosis hit -- At nearly 200 lbs, I now had diabetes, type 2. I suddenly had to change my diet, monitor my blood sugar, and start exercising. I wasn't motivated at all to do any of this. But somehow, with the help of the American Diabetes Assoc. and my doctor I was able to start making small, simple changes. The first thing i did was to start walking for 30 min. 3 days a week. Oh how I hated that. Everything hurt when I walked and I would sweat so much and was physically uncomfortable. I would huff and puff. My first time out it took me 30 min to walk 1/2 mile. When I got home from walking, sometimes I'd shower but most of the time I wouldn't. I'd just take my clothes off and hit the bed for the rest of the day and wonder if there really was a better way to live. Things continued this way until the end of May when Dr. daines started me on the new meds. By the end of June, my mood had so much improved and seemed stable. One week would move into the next with continued stability. By this time I had done a complete reworking of my diet to manage the diabetes and started losing weight. Since March 27, I have now lost 30 pounds and 11 inches off my waist. My pyschiatrist had been trying to convince me for years that I needed to add daily vigorous exercise to my life to help keep my mental health stable. It was always easier to ignore that advice. I guess in the end it really took the added diagnosis of diabetes and learning really how serious that disease is if it is not managed properly that woke me up. All in all, I think everything has had a positive impact on my bipolar disorder as well. Oh, and one other thing I had to give up upon learning I had diabetes was smoking. I haven't touched a cigg since March 27. I have worked myself up to engaging in vigorous exercise for 90 min. a day 7 days a week now. I do this not so much to maintain weight loss as to keep my heart in shape and maintain a stable and positive mood. I guess my whole point is that things can and will get better. Medications are important as are other things you can do to maintain your health. I'm 52 now and have lived most of my adult life not taking care of myself. For the first time in my life I'm feeling pretty good now. Good luck to you as you begin the search for medications that work to calm your mind. Johannah
-
32
Any Stephen King fans??
by lola28 ini'm just wondering if any of you are sk fans, i just started to read the dark tower books, i began with the second book "the drawing of the three" and have not read the first one, so far so good.
just wondering how many of you are sk fans.. lola.
.
-
-
johannahw
Hi Lola! I'm a SK Fan! I just got Lisey's Story and Cell but haven't begun reading them yet. I have yet to read the Dark Tower series. Johannah
-
10
Disfellowshipping - Is This Common
by johannahw inwhen i was with the jws i met a woman named kathy and we became friends.
kathy was going through a lot of struggles i didn't understand.
she had been married twice (her first husband died) and married a second time.
-
-
johannahw
Hi Snarf, My sister has been a JW for almost 30 years. And for almost 30 years she has off and on continued to try to woo me into the organization. But after the way I was shunned by most of the congregation during my 6 months of studying I don't think I could ever be deceived by them again. I guess as a group they don't know much about people who struggle with extreme bouts of mental illness. I missed a lot of meetings due to depression or hearing voices and because I was so unstable emotionally I really had a hard time quitting smoking. I'm off ciggs now for 3 months but it may not last. Thanks for your answer. Johannah
-
23
Who Else Here Is On Myspace.com?
by Arthur inat the risk of being "untheocratic", i recently set up a profile on myspace.com.
i know that there are several of you on here who are also on myspace.
i thought that it would be nice to get in contact with some of you on here who do.
-
-
johannahw
I just started an account on myspace but I'm still trying to figure out how it all works. There's really nothing on my site yet.
-
16
Do you ever wonder...
by changeling inlast week i started the "do you ever wonder what people here look like?
" thread.
a lot of you responded and many even posted pics.
-
-
johannahw
I'm probably the only one who does this but I always go by my first name and last initial or the nickname "Joiey" that my sweet hubby calls me. As for the pic, that's me though it's about 10 years old. I have a polaroid from a couple years ago I haven't scanned yet. I'm kind of timid about using that one -- I was being treated for metastatic breast cancer and I was totally bald. I'm about 5'6" and weigh 174. I'm working on losing weight and have lost about 25 so far. I've got like 40 lbs to go. So that's me. Johannah
-
10
Disfellowshipping - Is This Common
by johannahw inwhen i was with the jws i met a woman named kathy and we became friends.
kathy was going through a lot of struggles i didn't understand.
she had been married twice (her first husband died) and married a second time.
-
-
johannahw
Hi. When I was with the JWs I met a woman named Kathy and we became friends. Kathy was going through a lot of struggles I didn't understand. She had been married twice (her first husband died) and married a second time. She had a fifteen year old daughter. The husband started exposing himself to his stepdaughter and Kathy separated from him and divorced him. She and daughter reported him to the elders but he denied it and the elders invoked their 2 witness rule. The elders told Kathy she was not free to remarry. sometime after the divorce was final, her ex husband met her in a parking lot and ended up raping her. Again, he denied it and there were no witnesses. He was never disciplined and remained in good standing in the congregation. Fast forward a couple years. Kathy meets and starts to get involved with a convert fairly new to the faith. After six months or so of seeing each other secretly, he ends up seducing her and they end up in bed. To say Kathy was overwhelmed with guilt would be an understatement. After about a month, she went to the elders herself and confessed her sin. After that her story really got confusing to me. I guess the elders talked to both Kathy and the man involved several times and then had something like a hearing. The man was not disfellowshipped but Kathy was. Kathy was 3rd generation JW. She knew nothing other than JWs. All her family were JWs. And suddenly, no one could talk to her or include her in get togethers or anything. Kathy ended up taking an overdose of sleeping pills to kill herself. She almost succeeded. While she was in the psych hospital the elders held another funny kind of hearing right there in the hospital. I know all this because I was hospitalized at that same hospital at the same time and I spent a lot of time trying to support Kathy. I wasn't a member yet so what could they say? Kathy was told that the elders were going to uphold their previous decision to disfellowship her. They would re evaluate in 6 months but in the meantime she was to attend all meetings and talk to no one. If anyone spoke to her she was to tell them she was disfellowshipped. I don't know what happened to Kathy. We stayed in touch for a while but after I stopped attending meetings and studying she kind of just faded from my life. I wonder about her still sometimes. Is this kind of disfellowshipping common? Sure according to the elders she had committed adultery but the man who was with her also committed adultery even though he was single. Why were they so easy on him and so harsh with her? I asked my sister Brenda about this and she kind of got all flustered and said "Well, you and I don't really know all the details so I can't judge the brothers." I got mad at her for that. Thanks for any insight you can give me on this. Johannah
-
27
New Here, My Personal Story
by johannahw ini have thought off and on about the jws for years.
my little sister brenda converted about 30 years ago and raised two sons in the truth as she called it.
one boy, mason, is still being raised as a jw (he is 15) and my other nephew, aaron, left the organization on his 18th birthday.
-
-
johannahw
I have thought off and on about the JWs for years. My little sister Brenda converted about 30 years ago and raised two sons in the Truth as she called it. One boy, Mason, is still being raised as a JW (he is 15) and my other nephew, Aaron, left the organization on his 18th birthday. He's 26 now. I think he's an atheist. Anyway, Brenda has been talking to me off and on for years trying to get me interested. She would send me a lot of stuff to read and our phone conversations would center around religious stuff. I had always considered myself a Christian but was definitely confused by the many denominations out there and Christians who claimed the name but didn't really walk the walk. It seemed to me that the JWs as a group really did practice what they preached. I did study once but when my husband and I had to move to another city we just never started it up again. A lot of years went by and I moved from state to state for a while. I finally ended up in Reno, Nevada where I've been for the last 3 years. About a year ago I started going through some bad times with my health. I'm severely bipolar and last year my meds just blitzed on me and quit working. I went through a couple of bad manic episodes but spent most of the year in a severely depressed state, often seriously considering suicide. During that time I was put in the state hospital once. Anyway I was miserable and lonely and one day after talking to my sister on the phone I decided to call the JWs. I knew they had home Bible studies and thought it would afford me some spiritual companionship. I started a weekly study and really found myself enjoying it. Soon I was going to meetings and meeting people. The JWs even provided transportation to and from meetings for us since we don't have a car. The thing I struggled with most, was I couldn't quit smoking. Each time I'd quit for a few weeks and then start again just made me feel so dirty and ashamed and worthless. I would go to meetings anyway knowing I smelled terrible and others were judging me until I'd try to quit again. I'm still trying to quit by the way. I've gone 3 1/2 months this time. The other thing that caused me trouble was dealing with the mental illness. My moods were never stable I would often burst out crying during the meetings and have to run to the ladies room and sit out the rest of the meeting time. At first people were kind but I was embarrassed and didn't like the attention but soon people started, well, sort of shunning me. If I walked up to someone to chat after meeting, they'd be polite and say hi and then just sort of drift off to talk to someone else. After a number of months passed I was just really miserable and just as lonely as I ever was. I finally quit going to meeting after six months and stopped my study. I just wasn't good enough to make it as one of Jehovah's Witnesses. I couldn't overcome tobacco and the mental illness was disrupting my life too badly. The doctor has changed my meds several times over the last year and for the last month I've been stable. I feel good when I wake up in the mornings. It's a blessing to feel like I have reasons to live. That was my experience. I still believe in God but I'm not sure about churches. I kind of feel like this was it. Christianity at its most perfect and I found that even the folks there have warts. I've been reading on your site for about a week and have been disturbed at some of your experiences and at some of what I've learned here. Right now, I'm just looking for a place where I can find some support.
-
-
-
-
49
How Do You Stretch Your Food Dollars?
by compound complex indear budgetarian grocery-buyers,.
i am an artist though hardly a starving artist.
some of my patrons kindly feed me and i do have my well-stocked freezer.
-
-
johannahw
Hi! Try joining this yahoo group for ideas and then type what you're looking for specifically into the search box: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/healthycheapcooking I joined this site because I'm a diabetic trying to keep to a special diet on a pretty low food budget. If you're looking for ways to use up frozen soup stock try searching on stews and soups. Good Luck! Johannah