I am so happy to see you back again today! The place is slowly getting back into shape and is pretty much dust-free today so feel free to have a seat.
Yes, the weather is certainly chilly today. Imagine, yesterday it was almost 82 degrees (it was 64 when I started to walk) and today it isn't supposed to get above the high 40s! Yikes! I guess that is Texas for you!
Are you all done with your Christmas preparations? Personally, I am still working on a few things - like decorating the tree. I also need to get a few more things for Hubby for under the tree. However, my candy making is finished for the season. I sent Hubby off this morning with a big platter of truffles and buckeyes for his office party today. Everything looked yummy!
Can you see the reindeer and Santa? I think they turned out particularly well considering I had to pretty much improvise once I saw the idea on a magazine cover!
Anyway. I did promise to explain where I have been, didn't I?
To be perfectly honest, I am struggling with just how much I should tell. I am not ashamed of anything but am just not too sure that everyone needs to know.
I guess the start of the story is safe so . . . sit back, have a truffle and I will tell you a story.
Over a year ago I had a routine check-up with the doctor who was my general physician then. This doctor had been managing my anti-depressant medicine for many years and I was taking Cymbalta. While Cymbalta helped with the depression, I was finding that there were some side effects that I could no longer tolerate. One was night sweats (no - I am NOT in menopause!) that were horrible. So . . . with these side effects in mind, I asked Doc Feely (as he shall be called) if we could change things up.
His response?
"Oh goodie! We get to experiement!"
Yes, that gave me a bit of a pause but Doc Feely is a bit of an odd duck anyway so . . . I went ahead with the plan.
First, Doc Feely put me on a med that really didn't help too much. Then he tried another which gave me a LOT of anxiety. Not good. Finally, he put me on Seroquel. A pretty high dose of Seroquel.
After three weeks, I went back for another check-in and told Doc Feely that I didn't like this med because it made me really sleepy (as in about twenty two hours a day!!). He then decided to keep me on the same med but to cut the dosage. Fine . . .sort of.
The med still made me sleepy (now only about nineteen to twenty hours a day) and had a bunch of other side effects. They included feeling "foggy," having trouble saying what I was thinking, a feeling of tension in my joints, and worsening depression (because I couldn't think or make decisions!).
In an email, I told Doc Feely about these effects and the fact that my speech therapist was concerned about the fact that I was having problems forming my thoughts into words. After all, I already have one neurological problem (Spasmodic Dysphonia) so messing with my mind wasn't that good of an idea.
Shortly, I got a response, via email, from the good Doc. He said that all of what I was feeling was due to the medication and that I should "take a walk" to get rid of everything.
Really? Take a walk? I could barely stay awake long enough to make Hubby's lunch in the morning and I was supposed to head outside to walk? I was terrified that I would fall asleep along the way or get lost (remember, I was fuzzy in the head) and not be able to find my way home.
As a solution, Hubby agreed to walk with me when he got home from work (FYI: Hubby goes to Doc Feely as well and has no problems with him so he thinks his advice is good.). Each day I would drag myself along our appointed route with Hubby at my side. Normally (before the meds), I can walk for several miles without a problem but now, I could barely make it through the half mile route. Additionally, I could barely make any conversation while walking. This is also not a problem for me normally!
So . . . . Hubby and I are walking in the evening and I am pretty much sleeping the rest of the day away. However, when I am awake . . . I try very hard to think about my situation. By this time I was unable to make any decisions and felt very unsure of myself and what I thought. This from a person who is normally very decisive and pretty intellectual. It felt like hell . . . .
Oops! I just noticed the time. I need to get on with my day so I will stop the story here for now. If you would like to come back tomorrow, I will pick up where I left off and you can have some more truffles and maybe - just maybe - some Spiced Pumpkin Pecan ice cream (the best stuff for the holiday season!).
Thanks for listening and have a super day!
Trisha
1 comment:
Yikes! I'm glad you don't seem to be "fuzzy" now!
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