Page 12 of 366

Day 3

*day 1, 300 mg Gabapentin, day 2, 600 mg of Gabapentin given in 2 doses on 6 hours intervals. No significant improvement in condition.

8:00am, done, 300mg of gabapentin, taken with Vit. B Complex and ARV: zido/lami. No significant improvement in condition

2:00pm, done, 300 mg of gabapentin. experiment in jeopardy, a few minutes after taking my second dose of gabapentin, I threw up. no significant improvement of conditon

8:00pm, done, 300mg of gabapentin. total of 900mg of gabapentin


Not very optimistic. No significant improvement of condition observed. Day 4 tomorrow, 900mg of gabapentin, given in 3 dose, on 6 hours intervals. If still no observable improvement in condition, we'll terminate experiment.

As far as I remember... it started when I got out the hospital the 2nd time... I was hospitalized twice, the first one was when I got diagnosed... and just over a month after, I was back in the hospital, this was July... it was due to high fever... they have not found the cause except, well, I have TB... and barely a month on ARV... but they found out that I am anemic... and I found out that blood transfusion, finding a blood match, was not easy... it was not just a matter of what blood type you have... my uncle had to go back and fort to the blood bank and the hospital 8 times to find me a match and I am a type O...!

I was starting to feel little tingling, then pin and needles just when we got out of the hospital... at first we thought it was just because of lack of activity... I was bedridden most of the time... and that I lost a lot of body and muscle mass... it was 130 lb in May to 90lb by July...

But then it started to get worst... it started to hurt... specially when walking... 

At first, we were thinking a twisted vein which causing trouble in blood circulation on my legs and feet... although if that were the case, there should be inflammation... but then we ignored that and my cousins were great, they have no problem giving me foot and leg massage... but then I also, as per logic, if this were a twisted vein, it should affect just one foot, but it was both my feet... so the vein in question should be around my waist and crotch area...

We are not seeing a doctor at this point because, what do I say... I am suffering from chronic pins and needles...?

That was my biggest problem, I am not able to validate it... good thing I blogged about it here... the pain I was suffering, how excruciating it could get and one reader, someone from twitter actually asked if am I suffering from peripheral neuropathy, to which, I have no idea what that is then... I went to google it and there it was... I was indeed suffering from  peripheral neuropathy, and that it affects a third of PLHIV...

Page 11 of 366

DAY 2


1st dose: 8:00 am, done, taken with ARV: zido/lami and Vit. B Complex. No significant improvement on condition.


2nd dose: 2:00 pm, done will be sleeping on it and see if second dose will improve condition.

Note: different opinion about gabapentin effectiveness on HIV caused neuropathy...

Peripheral Neuropathy is the term for damage to nerves of the peripheral nervous system, which may be caused either by diseases of or trauma to the nerve or the side-effects of systemic illness.

Those with diseases or dysfunctions of their nerves can present with problems in any of the normal nerve functions.

In terms of sensory function, there are commonly loss of function (negative) symptoms, which include numbness, tremor, and gait abnormality.

Gain of function (positive) symptoms include tingling, pain, itching, crawling, and pins and needles. Pain can become intense enough to require use of opioid (narcotic) drugs (i.e., morphine, oxycodone).

Skin can become so hypersensitive that patients are prohibited from having anything touch certain parts of their body, especially the feet. People with this degree of sensitivity cannot have a bedsheet touch their feet or wear socks or shoes, and eventually become housebound.

Motor symptoms include loss of function (negative) symptoms of weakness, tiredness, heaviness, and gait abnormalities; and gain of function (positive) symptoms of cramps, tremor, and muscle twitch (fasciculations).

There is also pain in the muscles (myalgia), cramps, etc., and there may also be autonomic dysfunction.

During physical examination, specifically a neurological examination, those with generalized peripheral neuropathies most commonly have distal sensory or motor and sensory loss, though those with a pathology (problem) of the nerves may be perfectly normal; may show proximal weakness, as in some inflammatory neuropathies like Guillain–Barré syndrome; or may show focal sensory disturbance or weakness, such as in mononeuropathies. Ankle jerk reflex is classically absent in peripheral neuropathy.

tried on new shirt...

nice boxers ba? lolz
I'm home... i like it to be airy...