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Blarg. Solution still a ways off.
14 years ago
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Don't wait for the queue to shrink—the commission docket is rarely empty.Saw Dr. Spencer today, got a check-up. He said everything seems fine which is a relief... but I had fasted for 13 hours (bad timing on my part) and am running on like 4 hours of sleep, so going to another place after to go wait for another hour for someone to poke me with a needle and take blood was out of the question. I'll have to do it later this week. Then after that it'll be like, 4 or 5 days for results... then I'll have to make a new appointment with Dr. Spencer when my lab results are in, and then he'll have to refer me to the psychologist, who I'll have to call and make an appointment with to get diagnosed for ADD... then I have to come back to Dr. Spencer for a prescription. *huffhuff* but... other than that, I guess it's better than nothing. And Dr. Spencer, as expected, didn't need much convincing.
He did warn me that ADD meds might diminish my creativity somewhat, but I'm honestly willing to take my chances. I warned him that I am a night owl, that my circadian rhythms are all kinds of off and always have been, that I can't force myself to sleep when I don't want to, that I have trouble focusing or even remembering simple things (even with notes plastered all over the place), that I don't eat well, drink way too much caffeine, etc. etc. It's embarrassing, but I couldn't get help if I didn't just lay into the big long list of reasons why I suck at taking care of myself.
Mentioned that I was having heart palpitations any time I take diphenhydramine for sleep so he had the nurse run an EKG on me. So that was kind of neat. She said the results were fine. Obviously we don't wanna go putting me on any prescription stimulants if my heart isn't so good, but after the EKG, I'm willing to bet it's just the diphenhydramine and any other light palpitations have been caffeine-related. One less thing to worry about is good!
So yeah. Stressful but at least I've eaten something now. I'll try to go get the bloodwork done right after I wake up from sleep instead of suffering through fasting all day again.
He did warn me that ADD meds might diminish my creativity somewhat, but I'm honestly willing to take my chances. I warned him that I am a night owl, that my circadian rhythms are all kinds of off and always have been, that I can't force myself to sleep when I don't want to, that I have trouble focusing or even remembering simple things (even with notes plastered all over the place), that I don't eat well, drink way too much caffeine, etc. etc. It's embarrassing, but I couldn't get help if I didn't just lay into the big long list of reasons why I suck at taking care of myself.
Mentioned that I was having heart palpitations any time I take diphenhydramine for sleep so he had the nurse run an EKG on me. So that was kind of neat. She said the results were fine. Obviously we don't wanna go putting me on any prescription stimulants if my heart isn't so good, but after the EKG, I'm willing to bet it's just the diphenhydramine and any other light palpitations have been caffeine-related. One less thing to worry about is good!
So yeah. Stressful but at least I've eaten something now. I'll try to go get the bloodwork done right after I wake up from sleep instead of suffering through fasting all day again.
Alright...i'm done being mother hen
But yeah, such diaries are really useful.
When you take the pill, try and drink something high in electrolytes with it...Like coconut milk or even Gatorade. That might help your heart and whole body know what to do a bit better.
But these are all things you have to talk about with your Docs! I'm glad I can be a test bed though
I enjoyed my little machine for the two months I had it...Told me a lot of neat stuff. Like that I could never have caffeine again
Caffine mixed with an anxiety attack can get your heart racing. Are you on any allergy medications? I have to make sure that they have no decongestants in them cause of them causing high blood pressure and other heart stress. Talk to a pharmacist or research online that your heart racing is not the result of drug interactions between the OTC and a perscription drug.
Detox from caffine, drink water for a week, and see if you have any changes in your sleeping habits. I stop drinking caffinated beverages around 6pm and drink water. I usually get drowsey around midnight. But this might not work for you since I get up at 8am and I don't start hitting the caffine until I get to work at 10 am.
I didn't have any caffeine raging in my system when I had the heart palpitations, though I definitely had had caffeine on each day, at some point. Cory says that the way I described it -- chills, sudden jolt, a few quick heart pounds and then fine -- sounded like a panic attack. I've had one before, and he's right -- it's exactly the same, just very brief and totally unprovoked (other than the diphenhydramine). But I've noticed I've often been laying there feeling like "this is too much, the drugs are too strong" when I've had them. Could it be I brought on a brief panic attack and had no idea? You'd think I'd get more paniced at the reaction and then proceed to have more, but I never do. It totally confuses me.
I'm not on any prescription drugs, never have been, so it's not that.
I wish I could detox from caffeine and drink water for a week. I have wanted to, but I haven't had the willpower. I'm so scatterbrained and so lacking in focus that even doing one or the other has proved futile so far. To do both... let's just say it may sound like whining, but I have a REALLY hard time making myself do anything healthy no matter how good I know it'll make me feel. :( I don't know how to get up the motivation... part of my ADD is that I don't get the same satisfaction from doing things I should be doing that "normal" people have... so my motivation is pretty much totally nothing most of the time. :( I've been told "so what, do it anyway" but I can't seem to make myself do it. I hate drinking water... I hate being without caffeine. I guess you could say I'm a caffeine addict, but while I've had some success dropping caffeine in the past without major freakouts, drinking only water as well has been the dealbreaker. >.<
Hope it will out turn out fine but being myself careful with such medicine as well. Got some kind of psycho pills too once and after a few weeks I didn't took them anymore because they really demolished my brain.
I hope you will get well soon :3
I would like to see you sort this all out for yourself. You are like me, you know you mistreat your body due to your habits (ie, not sleeping like 'normal' people and not eating and too much caffiene). I hardly sleep and I eat next to nothing and I know it's damaging my body but it is hard to break out of those things. No matter how I tackle my sleeping I am just a night owl like my dad and we run on only a bit of sleep. So many times I would bump into him in the middle of the night making tea XD!
Anyways I wanted to just show my support! Also I'm stuck in bed ;o; bah.
Defeatist is exactly the way I'd describe myself up til now, but I hadn't seen a doctor since I was a child (we were poor and I only just now have insurance through Cory). It's easy to see why I kept just saying "meh, it'll never happen" but this doctor really seems to understand. We have a LOT to tackle, honestly... but like you mentioned about anxiety, I don't know if I'm up to handling it until I'm more stable, so handling the ADD first will help me to get healthy and mentally stable enough to tackle other things like, "do I REALLY have a problem with sleeping, or do I just drink too much caffeine?" and "why the hell do I bruise so easily?" There was actually a checkbox on my check-up form for the latter, so I realized I should probably try to deal with that, too. I foresee a lot of doctor's visits in the future, but I'll be able to get my ass in gear and deal with it all in good time if I just take care of this big problem first.
Instead of the diphenhydramine, have you tried doxylamine succinate? If not, you could check with your doctor to see if that's safe. It's the active ingredient in Unisom and the sedative ingredient in Nyquil. When I take one of those, I'm out for a good 8 hours and don't feel any heart-related side effects. It just leaves me feeling a little bit groggy for a few hours after I wake up, as if I could go back to sleep.