Health update
Well. The short story goes like this: got medication, got complications, got off medication, got some detox effects, had tests, will have way more tests.
The longer version... well, it's longer.
So on the start of December my doctor thought it a good idea to start antidepressants, to which I agreed. Usually the best option is the one that's worked before, so I was put on Paxil as that's what I took with good success some years ago.
Only this time, not so much. First there was a total upheaval of my sleep rhythm, with all the fun of waking up at 3 am, wide awake until nine when dear old sleep came from behind with a four by four. Let's just say that if I thought I was fatigued before, I sure as hell was after that!
Then there were the twitches. I'm talking uncontrollable muscle spasms the kind you get with Parkinson's. Or epileptic seisures. Take your pick, it doesn't matter when you're doing whole body convulsion excercises on the sofa for fifteen minutes straight.
And did I mention fatigue? I totally think I did.
So off the meds then, with the soft detoxing that goes with those evil SSRIs. Goodbye twitching, welcome dizzyness!
My lightheadedness has always been a problem, but now I feel it 24/7 and I tell you it ain't all that and a bag of chips. It seriously cuts into my standing up and walking thing. And combined with the fatigue, I'm now a public menace behind the wheel! The only way I'm able to drive is to blare out some hard rock (thank you, The Who and Rage Against the Machine!) and preferably singing or screaming along as hard as I can. That sure keeps me awake and alert!
Balance suffers quite a lot when you're dizzy all the time. This must be one reason I fell down the stairs last week. Thankfully, my leet kung fu skillz (home martial arts training for the win) prevented any real injury, but let's just say the three story house I live in proves quite a challenge nowadays.
But a whole load of props to my doctor. I just got back from the first appointment after stopping the SSRI. He'd also, finally, received my childhood medical records and you know what?
He's TAKING ME SERIOUSLY.
I know many of you have had chronic health problems and know what a ROYAL PAIN it can be when you yourself feel like a fucking hypochondriac explaining it all. But he has, so far, put me through EEG and loads of bloodwork and whole heaps of questionnaires. Now he reviewed the med records and found two remarkable things. The first, a recorded "behavioural adjustment problem" seasoned with authority issues, strengthens the ADD-ish base of my problems. See, my neuropsych tests have came out normal. Sure, I tired myself out and came away with a bad headache, but dammit if my brilliance wouldn't be evident!
The second one is a list of complaints of my dizziness from 1992 onward. Now THAT'S a history.
What is remarkable is that unlike all the other doctors I've mentioned them to, he's not complacent with the "low blood pressure causes this, and low bp is not just normal, it's HEALTHY". No, he said, "the question is not why you're dizzy, it's why your bp is so low to cause that and what we can do about it."
Wow, I say.
In conclusion, next I'm going to an endocrinologist for a thorough check up. My doc suggested that looking at the total picture, I might benefit from actual ADD medication, but he wants to be perfectly sure there are no other underlying causes and/or contraindications.
I might be alive soon again!
In other news, my domain has been down for a while now. Our registration time closed and my husband, whose name is in the virtual paperwork, needs to fix that. When it's done, rautalanka.net will be up again.
Toodles!
The longer version... well, it's longer.
So on the start of December my doctor thought it a good idea to start antidepressants, to which I agreed. Usually the best option is the one that's worked before, so I was put on Paxil as that's what I took with good success some years ago.
Only this time, not so much. First there was a total upheaval of my sleep rhythm, with all the fun of waking up at 3 am, wide awake until nine when dear old sleep came from behind with a four by four. Let's just say that if I thought I was fatigued before, I sure as hell was after that!
Then there were the twitches. I'm talking uncontrollable muscle spasms the kind you get with Parkinson's. Or epileptic seisures. Take your pick, it doesn't matter when you're doing whole body convulsion excercises on the sofa for fifteen minutes straight.
And did I mention fatigue? I totally think I did.
So off the meds then, with the soft detoxing that goes with those evil SSRIs. Goodbye twitching, welcome dizzyness!
My lightheadedness has always been a problem, but now I feel it 24/7 and I tell you it ain't all that and a bag of chips. It seriously cuts into my standing up and walking thing. And combined with the fatigue, I'm now a public menace behind the wheel! The only way I'm able to drive is to blare out some hard rock (thank you, The Who and Rage Against the Machine!) and preferably singing or screaming along as hard as I can. That sure keeps me awake and alert!
Balance suffers quite a lot when you're dizzy all the time. This must be one reason I fell down the stairs last week. Thankfully, my leet kung fu skillz (home martial arts training for the win) prevented any real injury, but let's just say the three story house I live in proves quite a challenge nowadays.
But a whole load of props to my doctor. I just got back from the first appointment after stopping the SSRI. He'd also, finally, received my childhood medical records and you know what?
He's TAKING ME SERIOUSLY.
I know many of you have had chronic health problems and know what a ROYAL PAIN it can be when you yourself feel like a fucking hypochondriac explaining it all. But he has, so far, put me through EEG and loads of bloodwork and whole heaps of questionnaires. Now he reviewed the med records and found two remarkable things. The first, a recorded "behavioural adjustment problem" seasoned with authority issues, strengthens the ADD-ish base of my problems. See, my neuropsych tests have came out normal. Sure, I tired myself out and came away with a bad headache, but dammit if my brilliance wouldn't be evident!
The second one is a list of complaints of my dizziness from 1992 onward. Now THAT'S a history.
What is remarkable is that unlike all the other doctors I've mentioned them to, he's not complacent with the "low blood pressure causes this, and low bp is not just normal, it's HEALTHY". No, he said, "the question is not why you're dizzy, it's why your bp is so low to cause that and what we can do about it."
Wow, I say.
In conclusion, next I'm going to an endocrinologist for a thorough check up. My doc suggested that looking at the total picture, I might benefit from actual ADD medication, but he wants to be perfectly sure there are no other underlying causes and/or contraindications.
I might be alive soon again!
In other news, my domain has been down for a while now. Our registration time closed and my husband, whose name is in the virtual paperwork, needs to fix that. When it's done, rautalanka.net will be up again.
Toodles!