long update
Haven't posted in a while except a few random memes… life has been busy, and I've had a lot of stuff going on.
I did get some good news yesterday, found out that I'm going permanent at the job that I'm at (I was temp-to-hire). Yay!
Anyways, on to the major stuff that's been happening in the past month or so…
As some friends know, I put in a bid to chair next year's Conjecture. I think I had a good strong bid; however, the board decided not to accept my bid. There were various reasons, all of which I understand their reasoning for (I may not necessarily agree with them, but I understand where they are coming from). The one good thing is that not being chair next year makes my life a LOT easier over the next year. We do have a new chair for next year, and I will be in charge of Programming. More details after this year's con is over.
On to other stuff… I've mentioned it briefly before, going into a bit more detail now. I've been seeing a therapist for a little while now. With the various medical problems, family stuff, and assorted random things in life, it was something I've needed to do for a while, and started going shortly after I lost my job in March. Therapy's going well, and my therapist recently referred me to a Psychiatrist (I've been having trouble concentrating, trouble sleeping, short-term memory problems, etc). So about three weeks ago, I saw the same psychiatrist that caprine sees. Spent a bit over an hour talking to him, going over my medical history and my assorted ongoing medical conditions (poly cystic ovary syndrome, hypothyroid, pituitary tumor, and ocular hyper-tension), the drugs that I'm currently taking (thyroid drugs, metformin, and at the time, eye drops), drugs that I've had reactions to in the past (both keflex and parlodel have made me sick), as well as discussing what's generally going on in my life.
He was *extremely* thorough, and a lot of what we talked about was in an effort to figure out what drug might be a good choice to try… As he said, most of it's a crapshoot on figuring out which one will work. Apparently, there are 27 different psych meds (could be 26, can't remember for sure), and there is an equally good chance on which one will work for each person. The main thing is to figure out which ones aren't appropriate for the specific condition or the person, and which ones should be at the top of the list to try first. In my case, one of the drugs is *definitely* off the list, as it will screw with your eye pressure. I've got enough problems with that on my own; I don't need a drug to make it worse.
So we are trying Wellbutrin XL to start with. I've been taking it about three weeks, and it seems to be helping. I see the shrink again tomorrow after work, will find out then if I stay on this dosage or we change the dosage… doubt we'll be changing drugs this early in treatment.
I'm very glad that I have a good psychiatrist, not some pill-happy primary care doctor with minimal training in psychiatric treatment whose first reaction is to put me on their personal favorite psych drug, and then not follow up regularly and never ask if that drug is working well for me, what kind of side effects I'm having, if I'm tolerating them well, or if they interfere with my life.
Will try and get back to posting more often… I read my flist on a regular basis, just don't post as often as I should (more me being lazy then anything else).
I did get some good news yesterday, found out that I'm going permanent at the job that I'm at (I was temp-to-hire). Yay!
Anyways, on to the major stuff that's been happening in the past month or so…
As some friends know, I put in a bid to chair next year's Conjecture. I think I had a good strong bid; however, the board decided not to accept my bid. There were various reasons, all of which I understand their reasoning for (I may not necessarily agree with them, but I understand where they are coming from). The one good thing is that not being chair next year makes my life a LOT easier over the next year. We do have a new chair for next year, and I will be in charge of Programming. More details after this year's con is over.
On to other stuff… I've mentioned it briefly before, going into a bit more detail now. I've been seeing a therapist for a little while now. With the various medical problems, family stuff, and assorted random things in life, it was something I've needed to do for a while, and started going shortly after I lost my job in March. Therapy's going well, and my therapist recently referred me to a Psychiatrist (I've been having trouble concentrating, trouble sleeping, short-term memory problems, etc). So about three weeks ago, I saw the same psychiatrist that caprine sees. Spent a bit over an hour talking to him, going over my medical history and my assorted ongoing medical conditions (poly cystic ovary syndrome, hypothyroid, pituitary tumor, and ocular hyper-tension), the drugs that I'm currently taking (thyroid drugs, metformin, and at the time, eye drops), drugs that I've had reactions to in the past (both keflex and parlodel have made me sick), as well as discussing what's generally going on in my life.
He was *extremely* thorough, and a lot of what we talked about was in an effort to figure out what drug might be a good choice to try… As he said, most of it's a crapshoot on figuring out which one will work. Apparently, there are 27 different psych meds (could be 26, can't remember for sure), and there is an equally good chance on which one will work for each person. The main thing is to figure out which ones aren't appropriate for the specific condition or the person, and which ones should be at the top of the list to try first. In my case, one of the drugs is *definitely* off the list, as it will screw with your eye pressure. I've got enough problems with that on my own; I don't need a drug to make it worse.
So we are trying Wellbutrin XL to start with. I've been taking it about three weeks, and it seems to be helping. I see the shrink again tomorrow after work, will find out then if I stay on this dosage or we change the dosage… doubt we'll be changing drugs this early in treatment.
I'm very glad that I have a good psychiatrist, not some pill-happy primary care doctor with minimal training in psychiatric treatment whose first reaction is to put me on their personal favorite psych drug, and then not follow up regularly and never ask if that drug is working well for me, what kind of side effects I'm having, if I'm tolerating them well, or if they interfere with my life.
Will try and get back to posting more often… I read my flist on a regular basis, just don't post as often as I should (more me being lazy then anything else).