Today was the day of my followup appointment with the
consultant neurologist1. It turns out that I wasn't supposed to take 2 pills of Depalept a day;
instead, it should have been 'according to need'. It's not clear to me how a
prophylactic medication can be taken in this manner. Anyway, I told him
about the good things that have occurred since starting (no headaches, a
slight reduction in blood pressure and no apneic events) and the bad things
(weight increase, although now it seems to be going down again, dry mouth,
mild edema in my feet, and now I've noticed trembling in my hands). The
neurologist was not surprised by any of these.
He offered me the option of either a new medication (pills every day) or a
self-administered injection
once a month. Both of these medications inhibit the
CGRP protein, thus preventing a build-up of this protein that activates nerves in the
brain, making pain signals worse. For the time being, we compromised on
reducing the Depalept dosage to one pill a day; I'll see how that
goes.
I have a followup appointment in two months' time, by which I will have
decided what to do. At the moment, the pills look the easier option
(squeamish me). Another factor is the cost as the injection (and possibly
the pills) are expensive; I discovered, however, that the kibbutz covers
medical costs for the over-70s (a fact that I need to verify) so either
option will be free for me.
Internal links
[1] 2095
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