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I saw my primary care doc Tuesday. She suggested I give Lyrica a shot since it's similar to Neurontin. I had side effects with Neurontin, but no vomiting.

I have some samples since right now I can't afford to make a co-pay on something I might end up throwing out if I can't tolerate it. Lyrica, I found out, is the gabapentin that was studied for fibromyalgia for the past few years. I'm hoping it will get rid of the nerve pain that bugs me so much.

I also got a referral to a pain management specialist. I want to see what can be done for the nearly constant lower back spasms and hip pain. It has persisted for months on end despite massage, stretching, aquacise, heat and OTC patches.

I have an appointment with the pain doc on the 20th, but I was warned right away that he didn't treat fibromyalgia, and the office staff was kinda rude about it. I explained that I have arthritis and chronic myofascial pain in addition to the fibromyalgia, so I wanted to at least consult with the doc. I'd rather let the doc decide whether he should be treating me.

Thanks to Robert's recommendation, I am trying Netflix for two weeks for free. Tuesday night, I saw "Finding Neverland", which was quite good, not at all the melodrama I was expecting. Tomorrow, I am supposed to get "Chocolat". I have four other movies picked out but realize I'll probably only have time for one or two of them before my trial runs out. I picked "Tortilla Soup", "Soul Food", "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" and "Crash". I would really love to join because I think 10 bucks a month is a pretty good deal, but right now I have no income, so it will have to wait. Even when I do finally start getting my LTD benefits, I don't know if I should allow myself to set aside money for entertainment as it's technically not necessary. That's just SAD, not knowing if I can spare 10 measly bucks a month.

This weekend is the big birthday bash for Dan and my sister. Dan turns 35 on Monday; my sister turned 37 yesterday. So Dan and I will be going to Red Lobster with my sister and her husband and my dad and stepmother. I will have to take an Erythromycin beforehand to help my digestion. I haven't eaten out since mid-October; I hope my tummy cooperates.

I promised Dan I'd write a Christmas letter tonight, but my brain seems only capable of spouting gibberish at the moment. Did I do anything this year worth relating in a letter? It took me an hour just to come up with this entry. I know, I'll check my old blog entries and come up with a few paragraphs about them. But maybe tomorrow. Right now it just about hurts to think.

Once again, a post without a point. Sorry about that.