Posted by jealibeanz on August 17, 2006, at 14:22:21
So, I had my physical today.
My GP was more than happy to refill my Xanax, of course. What a wonderful man. No talk of discontinuing, abuse potential, or conflicts with professional career.
I told him the Lunesta hadn't been working. I'd only been sleeping 2-3 hours a night since for the past 3 months since I've been at school. He seemed shocked that I was able to get through PA school with nooo rest (yeah, me too!). My explanation was that I was a competitive athlete throughtout college, practicing twice daily, so constant fatigue is normal for me. He agreed. (btw, my insomnia is obviously caused by the stress and anxiety of school, since I slept for 48 hours, unmedicated, as soon as I completed my last exam).
I mentioned that I had always liked Lunesta in the past because I felt "normal", not sedated. Also, I reminded him that Ambien was a disaster. So he said he'd increase it from 2mg to 3mg, since a drug rep had just visited and reported that there's much more success with 3mg. Hopefully this works again!:)
I then told him about the depression and Straterra. Haha, I started out with... I know I shouldn't have done this, but...
And he very nonjudgmentally said, OK, go ahead...
I told him I D/C'd the Straterra for 5 days about a month ago to try to deal with the insomnia, but it didn't work. Since then, I restarted it, for 3 weeks now. I told him ever since I haven't felt normal, crying and very emotional.
He was puzzled. Didn't know why that happened, but at least he was concerned. He briefly mentioned well... I wonder if you should try anything like Celexa... I don't really know that you need an Antidepressant... I said, well, yeah I'm not sure, maybe, but I haven't been happy with the other medications I've tried.
So what have you tried?? Paxil, Buspar, Wellbutrin, Effexor, I said. His suggestion was to stop the Straterra for right now, since I'm not currently in school. That's the plan for now.
I don't think I'll magically improve, depression wise, but that's OK, I've not brought up the topic. I hopefully will be in a better mood if I begin sleeping again. He asked what set off the crying, ect, and I said I couldn't truely be a good judge of anything, since I'm not sleeping at all.
Anyway, I now feel comfortable coming back and telling him the mood has not improved. He knows that I don't want an SSRI (didn't even ask about an MAOI. I can wait. I think he'd want me to anyway, to see if the current med difficulties were the cause of depression). So if I come back for depression and/or insomnia, I now feel like I have my foot in the door and am not too ashamed/embarrassed to talk about emotional problems. I could bring it up and ask what my options are, expressing again, that I am not fond of SSRI's, am afraid of the same side effects(weight!)/mood response, and ask if I have further options.
Other than that, we had a wonderful conversation about school, ect. We have a great mutual respect for one another. I know he has great empathy for my situation, esp. dealing with emotional/physical problems while in such a stressful schooling situation. He really does want the best for me. So, the door is now open. Currently untreated for the depression and now ADHD, but that's OK. This is a process. Can't change too many things at once. As long as I'm persistent and willing to stand up and make sure I'm getting myself the attention I need to be at my best, eventually, I hope I will lead a happy/productive life.
poster:jealibeanz
thread:677450
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060810/msgs/677450.html