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Further adventures n the land of antidepressant medication

Post 1

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

Those of you who have no interest in this topic may be forgiven for not bothering with this thread.

I may even be violating my own privacy by posting these things, but I'm thinking about the things that a journal can/should be used for, and this seems to be such a use.

For twenty or thirty years, I was taking Doxepin and Citalopram, and was happy as clam doing so.

Then things got more and more stressful for me,expecially after an october meeting t which the Park's attorney asked if a board member would be willing to visit the new manager (10 to 2 o Tuesdays and Thursdays) in order to train him properly. I was and am an unpaid volunteer secretary for the Board, and I could at least keep him from doing things that were and are in conflict with how the park is run. None of the other Board officers had schedules that would permit them to train him when he was in the Park. Without having sounded me lout about this in advance, the president asked me to do it. All eyes were on me. I would lost face by saying no. Thus began a very stressful few months. I spent forty hours training the manager, writing a report for each session. I shared copies of the reports with the other officers so they could view the manager's progress.

Alas, he liked dealing with me so well, that he refused to talk much with the president, who really wanted to be the one he talked to. (texts and emails and phone calls would have worked, but the this manager rarely sent them to the president.

Alas, a very important report was to be written and presented to the Bank that granted us $200,000, and the manager came within two days of failing to file it properly.

By then I felt as if I were about to die. This was a stress reaction. Anxiety, depression.

Two weeks later, Coronavirus came along, and it was in the news night and day. Twice I called 911 because my chest was seizing up so I could hardly breathe. At the hospital, it was found that the Citalopram which has been ramped up, was pushing down sodium levels to dangerous levelsi n my body. It had to go. The hospital psychiatrist put me on Mirtazapine, to be phased in while Citalopram was phased out. (The Doxepine was jettisoned immediately.

Scroll forward to this week. I've been an 15 mg. of Mirtazapine for about four weeks. My HMO has no available psychiatric clinicians to officially tell me when to jettison the remaining little bit of Citalopram. I spnt lots f work finding an available clinician, who could not see me until yesterday (by video, of course). He was cheerful and very nice. he said: drop the Citalopram and double the Mirtazapine. I did this last night, with some trepidation (what idf the side effects were terrible?).

Well, I seem to be all right today. Not feeling too much different, in fact, though I seem to be calmer and more coherent and less stressed.

I still need to be unaddictd to the Ativan that they gave me at the hospital (IO liked it so well that I started taking it every night).

Te clinician I saw yesterday had some ideas for dealing with that as well. But I will wait to start dealing with that next week.

I survived a night of 30 m.g.Mirtazapine!


Further adventures n the land of antidepressant medication

Post 2

SashaQ - happysad

Thank you for the update - glad to hear you're feeling all right so far.

That training thing is a difficult situation for you to have been put in - challenging enough if it were your job and you were paid to do it, never mind as a volunteer... And the covid situation definitely exacerbates existing stresses and strains...

I hope things continue to go well for you smiley - cheerupsmiley - tea


Further adventures n the land of antidepressant medication

Post 3

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

I don't know anything about these medications, but things sound complicated and not much fun. Take it as easy as you can! (And bug those doctors early and often.) smiley - hug Sending prayers your way.


Further adventures n the land of antidepressant medication

Post 4

Pierre de la Mer ~ sometimes slightly worried but never panicking ~

smiley - sorry to hear about these troubles. Hope things will ease up for you smiley - smiley

smiley - pirate


Further adventures n the land of antidepressant medication

Post 5

ITIWBS

Glad to see a happy note in your milestone report.

I can sense your apprehension on completing the course and hope the process is uneventful.

Remembering the misery I was in before I got started on an effective anti-anxiety medication I've certainly got grounds to sympathize.


Further adventures n the land of antidepressant medication

Post 6

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

The Mirtazapine is working really well for me so far. My mood is much better than it's been, though I still have some dark thoughts to work through with my clinician.

Today I made an effort to get off the Ativan. The psychiatrist says that Gabapentin can be substituted for it with very little noticeable difference. I took my first Gabapentin tonight, and so far there's little to report. The nice thing is that, whereas Ativan is addictive, Gabapentin is usually not. That means that after a decent period of time, I can begin phasing out of the Gabapentin. The psychiatrist is a very cheery, friendly person. I enjoy talking to him -- not directly, but through a videoconferencing program called doxy.

Gabapentin is a muscle relaxant that is given to epileptics, though at a much higher dosage than I'm getting. It can also be used to relieve pain from shingles. I used to have a bad case of shingles, and I'm wondering whether that's what they prescribed for me then.

I continue to be mostly comfortable, with some twitches and cramps in my back. I don't do planting any more, and driving long distances is probably out of the question. This is my life now, and maybe I can do more reading, sitting at my dining room table. The thing is, the library books I was reading as of mid-March were dreary and depressing. Not the sort of books I really wanted to affected by smiley - erm.


Further adventures n the land of antidepressant medication

Post 7

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

Obviously, I can sit at my computer for up to an hour, though maybe even longer. I can find comfortable positions in bed, and I manage to drive to local supermarkets and eating places. I shop for groceries nearly every day.

My weight has receded to the point where I'm not far from my ideal weight. Mirtazapine stimulates the appetite. I find that my lack of appetite has faded somewhat. My weight has stabilized, I hope. My doctor hopes so, too. No point in carrying excess weight around in my golden years. (Lots of formerly heavy elderly people find themselves much lighter.)

The point is, I don't *need* to do some of the strenuous planting that I used to do. The plants I put in the ground are well-established. They come up every year and look after themselves. If any new plants are needed, some younger residents can plant them. I did my part. The baton can be passed. I have a wealth of knowledge, and I can teach people how to do these things.


Further adventures n the land of antidepressant medication

Post 8

Willem

I also experience discomfort and cramping … actually just almost-constant muscle pain in my upper back region around the scapulae. And random muscle and joint pains. I've been diagnosed as having fibromyalgia … were you ever checked out for that?

My medication also causes a very discomofortable feeling especially in the evenings just after I've taken my medication. It's like I feel jittery but with a very unpleasant creeping sensation on my skin …

Anyways, I do hope your plants manage without constant attention. Personally when I work with plants I feel very relaxed and happy. I don't do very strenuous gardening, though … rarely a lot of digging or sawing. I sort of spread the work around so it's just a little bit at a time.


Further adventures n the land of antidepressant medication

Post 9

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

I can relate to ll of what you have written. smiley - hug even if I don't feel all of the aches and pains and twinges.


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