I’m down to 100 mg of Lamictal. I feel like shit, but not because of the taper.
I have my period and I have yet to figure out how to get through my period without taking 800 mg of Ibuprofen every 6 hours as well as the maximum dose of Tylenol 4 hours after taking the Ibuprofen. I put the alarm on in the middle of the night because if I sleep through the 6 hour mark I’m in agony. And I’m still in pain in any case.
On top of that I get an adverse reaction to Ibuprofen that makes me spaced out and hardly able to talk. And I generally have my worst “PMS” symptoms the first three days of my period. On days like today I feel thoroughly sorry for myself, so for any of you who have a misguided sense about how wonderfully I handle all my shit, think again.
My trip keeps changing. I have a lot of pressure to go home because both my cats are sick. They got some awful bug while being boarded for the first time of their lives because one is old and needs special treatment. My husband went to Europe while I was away and so the cats too had to leave their home. Now I’ve been worried sick about my cats. My oldest who I’ve had 17 years has kidney disease. I’ve linked her and my brother in my mind since I knew my brother was going to die. I have them linked as two beings that I love that I would lose in short order. So my cat being sick is bringing up stuff about my brother.
I’m also staying in the room where my brother spent his last 4 months. Some of his stuff is still here. I see him everywhere. My last two visits with him before he died was here. So this is plenty of shit to get anyone down, tapering drugs or no.
My mom turns 70 in a couple of weeks and I turn 43. My sister wanted me to stay and to take us out to a fancy brunch in some tower in San Francisco. I don’t want to go home, but I need to go home and take care of the cats. My husband has to leave town on business and I don’t want the cats going back into boarding. I’m not too thrilled about the idea of leaving California at all. I’ve been busy and happy here over all. I feel like I have business here. Family business. People in the withdrawal business and then I also have friends to play with.
But I tapered last night and slept 9 hours. I’d say I’m still doing damn well.
trying to keep up with blogs/ and posts. but wanted to say, i understand about leaving pets, and losing them as well. they are our closest unconditional friends. i’m also happy to know you will spend your mom’s bday w her. my mom is 73 and ive missed several of hers due to my life situation. my grandmother lived in oakland and i spent many days hiking the hills of SFO, and the last time i saw her i knew it would be the last as i drove across the bridge into SFO. at age 21 i almost moved to sausalito for a job. i regret that.
enjoy the moment. peace to you.
Rene,
Your body needs to heal. I suggest looking on my about page and reading some of the diet and nutrition books.
Also on the about page are some email support groups where you can learn how to take care of yourself while sharing with others who have similar histories.
http://bipolarblast.wordpress.com/about/
Please take the effort to care for yourself. You can be healthy if you work at it and the info on the about page can be a springboard. I don’t have the answer for you though—you need to find that. I hope some of the resources I link to can help you.
Good luck.
You rock….
xxooo
Hello,
Do you know of any support groups that help those getting off these psyche meds? I’m completely off my cocktail but I feel fatigue all day and stay in bed. I was on Lamictal, Geodone, Trileptal, Wellbutrin XL. Every once and a while I take a natural suppliment 5-htp and I feel better but I want to avoid that too. I’m sleeping better now too ever since I tapered off the psyche meds.
-rene
I’m glad you’re doing well. Sorry you’re worried about your cats. That’s hard.
I used to have really bad PMS before I was on the Pill. Now I only get it sometimes. Which can be frightening, because I’ll think that everything is shit and I want to die and I’m crazy, and after a few days of that I’ll realize that hey, it’s just bad PMS and it will be over relatively soon. But it still sucks.
Good evening,
I don’t know why I don’t use the internet as a support for my illness. I’ve been having some uncomfortable reactions to medication; possibly Lamictal. I googled lamictal and nightmares and three clicks later I was at your page. I was looking for information about nightmares but found your post and was soothed knowing that you were going through something similar that I hadn’t even related to lamictal. My periods have been brutal lately and waking me up for several nights every month. You gave me a good tip with setting the alarm clock and taking the Ibuprofen before the pain wakes me up.
I completely sympathize with you regarding your cats. I’ve gone through being separated from mine during moving to and back from Europe.
I wish well.
Hi Gianna!
Enjoy the rest of your time in California and your friends and family there. I know I would!
Cats are naturally intuitive and will understand you need the time away!
Kind Regards,
Sloopy
thank you Val and Cricket,
I’ll be staying a while longer. The cats will be staying in isolation as you suggested, Val. And my husband will be gone only two days. I can stay for my mom’s birthday.
Cricket, yes, I have absolutely no perspective. Everything feels tragic.
I was doing more research today and found that in addition to Ridperdal increasing prolactin which messes with menstrual health, benzos too mess with progesterone. All the more incentive to get off these meds.
The diet and supplementation I’m doing should take care of premenstrual stuff. In my late teens I controlled it completely that way. So hopefully it’s just the drugs messing things up now. If I continue feeling good the rest of the month I really shouldn’t complain and I really shouldn’t feel sorry for myself.
There are so many things to be grateful for.
I know how impatient I am with myself during PMS. It is frustrating. I have no perspective.
Sounds like you have a lot on your plate. I hope you can prioritize to your satisfaction. It’s tough. My cat was in renal failure and I lived around her needs for almost two years. She was worth it, though.
9 hrs sleep… that sounds positively orgasmic ;-)!
I’m sorry BOTH kitties are sick, though — that’s a tough call.
Easy for me to say “Why don’t you find a reliable pet sitter?”
But if you did have to board ’em, you could request that they stay in isolation…