I woke up today feeling so VERY MUCH BETTER! Sorry, I just had to shout it… 😛

Besides regaining my physical health, a couple of other things have been on the uptick.

But I must backtrack a bit to explain those improvements.

Last March I had a bad fall, which exacerbated my various severe pain syndromes and caused a lot of soft tissue injury. Those injuries in turn deprived me of my long-planned trip to Iceland to see the lands that the Icelandic family sagas came from.  See No Iceland for me

Because of the increased pain, my doctor increased my dosage of Lyrica, which I was taking not only for fibromyalgia, but also for the nerve pain caused by my spinal stenosis. See PAIN Pain Part Two Pain Part Three Conclusion to Pain Series Today the pain is winning…

I also have painful and limiting osteoarthritis in many joints, most painfully in my hands and fingers and lower back.

I was only on the increased dosage of Lyrica for a short while before I had a horrific pyschotic break. 😦

I went inpatient for a week and was taken off the Lyrica there.  My mind was already clearing on its own once the Lyrica was gone, and I didn’t really require more medication (in my amateur opinion.)

But in the hospital I was put on the antipsychotic, Seroquel. It made me gain 20 lbs in less than three weeks and sleep as much as 23 hours in a 24 hour day.. Still I stayed on it, fearing a possible backlash if I went off.

Finally though, a couple of months ago, my psychiatrist said I could taper off the Seroquel. It was at that point that I was having all the difficulty with sleeping, as a reaction to the Seroquel leaving my system.

But a happier response has been that I’ve lost twelve of the 20 lbs, without even doing anything except eating only when I’m actually hungry. Seroquel is known to not only decrease metabolism but to increase the longing for massive quantities of carbs. A weighty combination. 😉

And I’m also now completely off of the anti-anxiety medication Klonopin. That was a rough one to get off of, even though I was not at a very high dose to start with. Each time I stepped down my dosage I got withdrawal symptoms (NOT nice at all!), so I slowed down the tapering off process. Until I finally did get completely off of it.

Now I’m only taking my maintenance dosage of Depakote for mood stabilization (I have bipolar disorder type 1). It works somewhat for that, precluding me from getting completely manic and psychotic (unless I’m triggered by another med such as Lyrica). However, it doesn’t keep me from having hypomania, which manifests itself through impulsive overspending.

Still, I’m a pretty happy camper to be out from under so much medication! 🙂 And now I’ve gotten rid of the Evil Bug, too, so my physical health is much improved! ❤