It’s always strange to try to suddenly change an ingrained schedule. Not sure if I’ll keep this entry up here or not, but here goes.
In the interest of trying to figure out what’s causing what in my body these days, and in the interest of honoring the medical information I’ve been uncovering about side effects and the medications I take, I’ve been cutting back wherever I can.
Today I feel like I have a balloon attached to my shoulders. Two nights with no Seroquel (and no withdrawal symptoms!). A new drug – Trazedone – in it’s place. No Lamictal yesterday or today. Protonix dosage cut in half. Symbicort dosage cut by three quarters. 2 cigarettes so far today instead of 10, and a nicotine patch instead. Short on sleep because I went to bed so late. Heavy duty hay fever (me and my mother both, so I’m assuming it’s not related to my change in medications). I have to say the effect is similar to the effect you feel when you’ve consumed a large dose of Valium. Not unpleasant, but not normal. I will say that for the first time in what seems like months I’m taking deep breaths and actually feel that I am getting plenty of oxygen. Maybe it’s the extra oxygen that’s doing it.
About twenty minutes ago, the girl who sits across from me asked me if I smell mold, and I said no. She explained that she’s quitting smoking and wondered if her sense of smell isn’t going a bit haywire. Her face looks like mine feels – sleepy, flushed, surprised. The girl who sits down the row from me stopped by my desk and we simultaneously said, “I slept through my doctor’s appointment this morning!” (she slept through her OB/Gyn appointment, and I slept through my appointment with the general surgeon).
I guess what I’m saying is that I’m not the only one floating through my day, but floating through my day I am doing.
Based on these changes in my medications, here is a list of what has, and has not, changed:
- I can flex my feet and toes without having a muscle cramp, this morning…
- But I had a relatively minor foot cramp last night.
- I haven’t coughed all morning!!?!!!
- Well, that’s not exactly true. I haven’t coughed my gurgly/croupy cough all morning, but I have coughed an occasional allergy cough (itch cough/itch cough)
- I am not sad, euphoric, paranoid, or insecure.
- I have been pretty nauseous, especially right this minute (but it also woke me up this morning).
- I had trouble swallowing when I went to bed last night. I took 100mg of Trazedone and 600mg of Neurontin before I went to bed. Could the Neurontin be the culprit? Did I wait so long to do something about the Seroquel that it’s caused a semi-permanent problem?
- I have a bit of a headache, but it’s a different kind of headache. My normal daily headache is oppressive and constant. This one’s more of a “What the heck are you doing to me now?!?!” kind of headache; Advil seems to work on this one.
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Ah, heck. You know what I’m going to say, right?
Be careful with changing your medications without knowing exactly which med is doing what. If you have trouble after cutting back on more than one at a time, especially after adding a new one or two, you will not know why doing without which or adding another is causing you trouble or making your mother write disjointed sentences that run on and on.
You know what I mean.
I love you.
I’ve taken trazodone for years and have never had trouble swallowing. Except when I had to take 150mg and those only come in trapezoid-shaped tablets! Which are hard to swallow.