Sunday, September 9, 2012

What a week... I seriously need a 'Braincation'. I don't need a tropical island, just a week in a coma.



Well we had a short workweek (of course that in no way effects me J ). Monday the holiday of Labour - I still think the 'workweek' that affects the majority of employees, and perhaps me in the future - should be shortened to 4 days. We the people have been doing this stupid 5 on, 2 off for far too long. What the hell are those unions doing anyway, when was the last time they helped mold the working man/woman's rights - what 1919...



Tuesday was a full day - full of doctors... I started the day at my pdoc's for rTMS, the treatment went great as usual, and my pdoc walked in and said let's do the ADHD medication. I'm like awesome. We don't have to wait till the 17th, he was nah let's do it right away. He prescribed Dexedrine Spansules (extended release Dexedrine), 1 to 3 capsules in the AM. Then I took my son to his CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) session, after that we went for a nice lunch. I love going to restaurants with him, it seems to be some of the only times I have his attention and we can actually talk. I then had to take him to his pdoc appointment. I dropped him off there, as he was going to take the train home, and I took off from there and fought traffic to the Coop to get my new prescription filled. I was so excited to get the new drug. Of course I had to wait till the next day to try it.


Wednesday I started the new ADHD medication Dexedrine - I started with one pill. Sadly my pdocs instructions were not that great, I wasn't sure if I was to take one a day for a few days, then try two, etc. I figured I would just take one a day, until I went back for my rTMS treatment on Friday. Anyway, Dexedrine is supposed to kick in about 1 or so hours after you take it... I felt nothing - no good, and thankfully no bad. I am not sure what I was hoping for. Well that's not totally true, I was hoping for some concentration, motivation, drive, and improved memory - basically everything that the drug promised to solve. Nothing... I spent the day helping my friend. I made a short day of it so I could pick up my son from his first day back at school.





Thursday again I took one Dexedrine in the AM, and again nothing. I helped my friend for the day, and then picked up my son.





Friday I went to my rTMS treatment - my pdoc was away so I sat down with his partner pdoc, we had a great talk about life, and ideas for making days better, and a suggestion of a book to read, "The Tools" - I haven't read it yet so I actually have no idea what it is even about... J He also suggested I try taking 2 Dexedrine in the AM, and then the 3rd in the afternoon to extend the effects. I left there feeling pretty good and heading to Chapters to get the book and a couple of journals. One of the things the pdoc suggested I do is to create a plan each night for the next day - and celebrate successes, no matter how small... So one of my new journals will be for the daily planning, the other for writing down/journaling my weekly experiences for my weekly blog (posted Sundays). From there I went to pick up my son. He was feeling very distraught. You could see the pain in his face and eyes. We spoke for a while and decided that he was feeling suicidal and pretty unsafe, so we went to the hospital. I will spare you the details of our journey, but it took awhile which ended up being good, as we were able to talk through his feelings/mood and he agreed to try rTMS. He was hesitant of doing rTMS, because of the cost and he was a little scared of the treatment - but he finally agreed, and we all decided that for the initial rTMS treatment protocol he could suspend school. The relief was immediately evident on his face, and mood. After talking to the emergency department doctor at the hospital, we headed home with the promise of doing a lot of talking during the weekend. He also already had a pdoc appointment scheduled for Monday. I will be contacting my pdoc's office on Monday to see how quickly we can get him in for rTMS treatments - I do not care how expensive it is, if it can help him have a better life I will do all that I can to make it happen....


Saturday I tried to sleep in (which means to me not getting up until the time ends in PM) - but nope I woke at 8am and tossed and turned until I finally couldn't take it and got out of bed at 10am... This was the start of the new Dexedrine dosage. I took the two Dexedrine with my other morning medications, ate breakfast and sat waiting to see what would happen... About an hour or an hour and half later - I started to feel so tired, I could barely keep my eyes open. I am like what the hell is going on. I then started a log of feelings/reactions to the drugs. Then maybe an hour or so after the super tired feeling, I started to become a little less tired, and a teeny tiny bit fidgety.  Later maybe after another hour or so, I kept catching myself staring off into space, and feeling fine with that - very mellow... J I still did some stuff. I decided to type up a synopsis for a new script idea I have - that was an interesting experience (I did this around the one hour mark following my 2 Dexedrine), it took me forever. The words just seemed to take so long to come to mind. Also during that time I went to Google something, and by the time Google opened I had no idea what I wanted to look up. (I did remember later - it was to find out how long it was supposed to take for the Dexedrine to kick in. J) I took the third Dexedrine at around 2pm, about four hours after the first dose - as instructed. I did do some laundry and vacuumed the upstairs. Later my mom came over for a visit. I was less tired, but still a little sleepy, and still catching myself staring off into space once in a while. We had an awesome visit, and I cooked bbq steak, baby potatoes, and broccoli for all of us. It was so nice just to visit, a really nice calm afternoon.



Sunday started off like Saturday - exactly like Saturday... I tossed and turned from 8am, got up at 10am. I had my breakfast and all my pills, including the two Dexedrine. Pretty much the same reaction about 1 to 1.5 hours after taking the pills I started to feel tired, but not as tired as the day before. I was still a little spacey after a couple of hours, but again not as bad as yesterday. It should be noted that I also forced me and my son to go for a short walk - that is nearly unheard of, so is there perhaps some hope with these pills. I have no idea if the reaction/benefit takes some time with Dexedrine, or if I should have seen it immediately and therefore this won't work... hmmm. I am still waiting for the concentration, motivation, drive, and improved memory..... We (me, my son, and my ex-wife) got to have dinner with my daughter, who was passing through Calgary on her way home. It was great to see her, it was a short visit, but awesome none the less... It was a nice end to a basically quiet day. Tomorrow holds a few challenges, but hopefully we get good news about my son getting rTMS, and I have better results with the Dexedrine...

Talk to you next week...






2 comments:

  1. Your other Favourite sisterSeptember 10, 2012 at 4:42 AM

    Thanks for sharing and letting us know how things are. I sure hope you can get those treatments started for my nephew. Thank God he is comfortable telling you his feelings and you acted on them. My son took the same ADHD medication and it was one of the ones that actually worked. You do know they have to try a few to see which ones work for you and play with the dosage. It might take a bit to find one that works. Take care!

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    1. Thank you for the info on the meds... Speaking of rTMS you should get it for your son - just saying... :)

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