Always listen to your mother

You know the old saying about your mother telling you to always wear clean underwear in case you’re ever in an accident?

I think I can expand on that.

Always keep the state of your life in the order you’d want it in just in case you’re ever in an accident and aren’t capable of handling it otherwise.

What I mean is — I was so depressed that I let my apartment go pretty bad prior to the accident. The Effexor was just starting to catch on when I had that toxic reaction and then the car accident. Now I’m facing possible company arriving in a few weeks not to mention family in a couple of months plus a really busy season for work.

And now my apartment is so messy, I’d be embarrassed for professional cleaners to come in and I can only stand to do house cleaning for 15 minutes at a time with my sprained back.

So, today’s advice is don’t leave home with your house in a state you’d be ashamed to have your mother or someone else discover it in.

Tags: Effexor, depression

Oh, The Irony!

I haven’t been shy about my sleep issues. Everyone knows I was an insomniac for ages. Everyone knows I did months of ambien and finally fell into a semi-normal sleep pattern.

So, how ironic is it that my new anti-depression med, Effexor, has a side effect of making people drowsy and it’s working it’s evil magic on me?

I take the med between 7:30 and 8am every morning. Then right around 11am, I start feeling drowsy with heavy eyelids and by 1pm, I’m feeling like if I don’t pay attention, the next time I blink, it will be a permanent closure of the eyes. I’ve tried taking a brief walk outside. I’ve tried caffeine. I’ve tried stretching. Yet, as the day progresses, the sleepier I get. I have to force myself to stay awake until 9 or 10pm because I don’t want to be up in the middle of the night twiddling my thumbs waiting to go to work while the rest of the world is asleep — lucky bastards!

I know I’m going to have to discuss this with my GP. She is on vacation right now and I am expected to go see her around the 2nd week of July for a med check anyway.

I just don’t know how I’m going to overcome this sleepiness before then. I’m hoping someone will leave a comment sharing their experiences with drug-induced drowsiness and possibly how they overcame it.

Tags: Effexor

Muscle Spasms

I was hoping that switching from Prozac to Effexor would elliminate the strange muscle spasms that I’ve been having the last few months since we upped the Prozac to 40mg a day. Maybe it’s just too soon since it’s only been a week, but I do find it slightly annoying to be sitting quietly and have a leg or an arm suddenly jerk out and in again. I had my mother check my meds to see what might be causing it but she said none of them should be. Shortly after that, I saw an article about people who were taking Prozac and having muscle spasms. My doctor didn’t seem concerned when I mentioned it to her.

Anyway, I’d like for it to go away.

Tags: wellness, Prozac, Effexor

Why Today?

Well, I’m feeling fairly ill this morning. I’ve got a migraine and I feel nauseated and quite frankly, I can’t decide if it’s the anxiety over flying today or my recent Depo shot or the switch from Prozac to Effexor yesterday that is causing it. Granted, my doctor did warn me that the switch in drugs might make me feel jittery and a little ill for a couple of days, and maybe I should have thought about switching after the trip this weekend.

I was unable to finish my bagel this morning and I don’t even want to think about the comfort Twizzlers I have in my laptop bag. Gah.

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And here’s a bit of ironic realization I had last night: Interesting that I collect fairy art and am enamoured with winged beings but have a horrible fear of flying.

Tags: migraine, Prozac, Effexor, Depo Provera, fear of flying