Drug Dragging
I went to sleep at 10pm and awoke at 11pm, unable to sleep. No REM sleep at all, just BOOM, awake. Obviously, this isn't good. Apparently Strattera is not the medication for me if this is what it's doing. Mind you, this is on 50mg (two 25mg capsules).
I'm finally starting to get tired after four hours awake. The trouble is, it's 3am, and at 5am I'm supposed to be out the door, if I'm going to go see my therapist and be anything like helpful to ssatva and valasia. I'm undecided at the moment.
There are some other disturbing things about the effects of this drug on me. My psych problems include physical depression and rages. Strattera exacerbates rages in the warning literature. I'm starting to notice rage patterns over the last couple of weeks, and each time I experience them strongly enough to damage a door or some other defenseless object, I have always taken medication the previous night.
To test this, I tried going without for the past several days in a row, since this drug is one of the ones with which you can do that, and for the days I hadn't taken my capsules I was able to sleep all the way through the night and there were no rages. Irritations, yes, but no rages.
ssatva thinks this is obviously the wrong medication and I need to find something else. This has been his opinion ever since he found out that at 80mg (the first dosage) I was sleeping 2 hours a night and somehow REMming in that time, beats me how. Right now that would be an improvement. When I dropped dosage levels down to 40mg, which is not considered a therapeutic dosage, I still notice the effects but the energy benefits are almost nonexistent. The main difference at that level is I sleep 7-8 hours a night.
Mind you, the Strattera is not supposed to cure either my rages or my depression. It's an ADD drug, intended to alleviate the problems of distraction and inability to concentrate. What I really wanted it to do was help me be more aware of the time and help with forgetting tasks, which, perhaps at age 46, I should not be surprised I am doing.
When I was going to college, I noticed as long as I continued to do my martial arts exercises, I experienced no rages and was very even tempered. So maybe the solution is plain old exercise after all. The only trouble with that is I experience joint pain with walking every now and then, and the full range of martial arts exercises leave me totally wasted for the day because I'm so out of shape.
Hmmm.
I'd consult ssatva to see what he thinks of me ditching, but he's not online, or at least not on IM. valasia is on, but unresponsive (I suspect asleep and left it on).
On the plus side, I see my psychiatrist on Friday. I jokingly refer to him as my Pusher. I think it's finally down to either not taking anything and working on the whole exercise regimen or else trying something else. It would be helpful if I could get a decent night's sleep the night before I'm to go in to see him, too.
I'm finally starting to get tired after four hours awake. The trouble is, it's 3am, and at 5am I'm supposed to be out the door, if I'm going to go see my therapist and be anything like helpful to ssatva and valasia. I'm undecided at the moment.
There are some other disturbing things about the effects of this drug on me. My psych problems include physical depression and rages. Strattera exacerbates rages in the warning literature. I'm starting to notice rage patterns over the last couple of weeks, and each time I experience them strongly enough to damage a door or some other defenseless object, I have always taken medication the previous night.
To test this, I tried going without for the past several days in a row, since this drug is one of the ones with which you can do that, and for the days I hadn't taken my capsules I was able to sleep all the way through the night and there were no rages. Irritations, yes, but no rages.
ssatva thinks this is obviously the wrong medication and I need to find something else. This has been his opinion ever since he found out that at 80mg (the first dosage) I was sleeping 2 hours a night and somehow REMming in that time, beats me how. Right now that would be an improvement. When I dropped dosage levels down to 40mg, which is not considered a therapeutic dosage, I still notice the effects but the energy benefits are almost nonexistent. The main difference at that level is I sleep 7-8 hours a night.
Mind you, the Strattera is not supposed to cure either my rages or my depression. It's an ADD drug, intended to alleviate the problems of distraction and inability to concentrate. What I really wanted it to do was help me be more aware of the time and help with forgetting tasks, which, perhaps at age 46, I should not be surprised I am doing.
When I was going to college, I noticed as long as I continued to do my martial arts exercises, I experienced no rages and was very even tempered. So maybe the solution is plain old exercise after all. The only trouble with that is I experience joint pain with walking every now and then, and the full range of martial arts exercises leave me totally wasted for the day because I'm so out of shape.
Hmmm.
I'd consult ssatva to see what he thinks of me ditching, but he's not online, or at least not on IM. valasia is on, but unresponsive (I suspect asleep and left it on).
On the plus side, I see my psychiatrist on Friday. I jokingly refer to him as my Pusher. I think it's finally down to either not taking anything and working on the whole exercise regimen or else trying something else. It would be helpful if I could get a decent night's sleep the night before I'm to go in to see him, too.