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I may be miscounting.

Let’s see, three at a time most days, with 4 on bad days.

That’s every five hours, unless I have shit to do.

So that’s 3×4 minimum a day. On average it’s higher, what with bad days and having a teenager which means having to do shit I can’t just avoid. So 12 a day times 30 days is 360 minimum.

February, I got a new bottle on the second or third, and I have about 200 left, unless I miscounted. February was bad though.

But that does mean I was wrong in my guesstimate. I just end up buying a bottle every month, which isn’t really the same thing as taking the entire bottle.

As to the consequences of the over use, it takes a lot of pepcid and other options to keep things under control. But the doc refuses to prescribe other NSAIDs because of the supposed heart risk, and aleve fucks me up even worse. Seriously, the amount of blood coming out of places it shouldn’t on aleve was ridiculous.

But what else can I do? Fucking hands don’t work without something to reduce the inflammation. You can’t stay on steroids long term at all, and it isn’t the pain that’s what keeps them from working, it’s the stiffness, so opiates are useless.

3 at a time is just enough to function most days. And there’s days where it’s every 4 hours instead of 5, but I do keep an eye on things. So far, no ulcers, no bleeding, just a lot of heartburn and some cramping. I think it helps that I always take them with food of some kind. Kidneys are doing fine as of October. No liver issues either, though that’s not a high risk.

Plus, I do take breaks from it when I know I won’t need the movement range as much. Every few months, even if I have to tell people to bugger off lol.

Damn though, there was a time when I had decided that I’d rather die from the medications than live with what they treat. The arthritis is mostly in my hands, but I have other musculoskeletal issues, and was essentially unable to walk without extra support for a year or two back in 08. So I was throwing down two Tylenol, 4 ibuprofen, and whatever herbal shit I could find at every dose, every four hours. If that didn’t kill me, I reckon I’m going to survive as it is for a while longer.