I know I’ve been quiet lately between comics, and I apologize for that. The blog postings have been few and far between because I’ve been putting all of my energy into the comic pages. I’ve had to spread out the time I spend on the artwork because they’ve been very complex, with very involved backgrounds, and I’ve had to build some very detailed 3d assets for them.
In addition, I don’t know if anyone is familiar with the prescription drug Darvon, sometimes found in conjunction with acetaminophen in the drug Darvocet, but this 50-year-old pain med was recently the subject of a nation-wide recall. According to the official FDA press announcement:
“The FDA sought market withdrawal of propoxyphene after receiving new clinical data showing that the drug puts patients at risk of potentially serious or even fatal heart rhythm abnormalities. As a result of these data, combined with other information, including new epidemiological data, the agency concluded that the risks of the medication outweigh the benefits.”
This is bureaucrat-ese for “a half-dozen people worldwide had some kind of problem and said they’d sue, so we decided to take it away from everyone everywhere.” I discussed this with my cardiologist, and he said that in over 30 years of practice, he’s never seen anyone have a cardiac problem from this medication in any form. But what can you do, when it’s no longer being sold?
Given that it was my “breakout” pain medication, I had to get something else, so off I went to the pain management doc, and we tested out a couple of different meds. The first one didn’t even touch the pain, so I went back. The second one is working much better, and I’m starting to catch up on things a bit. But I still have to use a work timer — I use WorkRave — to make sure I take frequent breaks. If I don’t, I do too much for too long without a break, and I’m in agony and can’t do anything.
But for now, I’m managing with this new medication, so long as I spread things out and take frequent breaks.
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