Posted by KaraS on March 10, 2005, at 19:00:29
In reply to Re: Kara, my turn. How you are doing? » KaraS, posted by TamaraJ on March 10, 2005, at 12:20:24
Hi,
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> -- Cats are such wonderful pets, but sure have minds of their own :-) Regardless, they are nice company. When I lived downtown, I saw some people walking their cats on leashes (just around the front of the building they lived in). But, it must have been something they had been doing since they were little. My mom's cat now is an indoor cat and probably wouldn't know what to do with himself if was outside. He's developing these little idiocyncracies lately. My mom was telling me that he is now in the habit of taking his little toys (even an old fake poppy) downstairs and hiding them. We think it's because everytime my dog is at my mom's house she plays with his little cat toys. So, he is hiding everything now in case the dog comes over (pretty crafy eh?). My dog used to be quite fussy about walking in the rain. If it was raining, she wouldn't budge off the front step. I had to tug and tug until finally she caved in. But it was pitiful because every few steps she would stop and shake herself off. She's ok now, but for a while it was a real power struggle to get her out in the rain. I don't blame her really. We got caught in a wicked rain storm once when we were walking back from the river (and we had about another 1/2 hour walk before we got home). It was after that that she developed an aversion to walking in the rain. Poor little thing. Probably thinks she'll melt or something if she gets wet :-) She's a kook!Apparently you have to train cats on a leash at a very early age. I think mine were close to a year old when I tried and they didn't take to it at all. Your mom's cat is very smart to hide her toys from the dog. Your dog is also smart to not want to go outside during a rain storm. I used to try to walk my sister's dog when it was raining. Nothing short of a bomb underneath her could have accomplished that though. At any rate, it's a good thing you have to go out to walk her.
> -- That's the thing about the tapping. It seems that you have to be so precise in your thinking about what you are trying to tap away. So, if you are off the mark (because of some repressed anxiety?) then you won't get the results you want. At least that is how I understood it from the woman who did my first two sessions. But, I wouldn't give up yet. You really have nothing to lose - except the anxiety - and it isn't all that time-consuming. Meditation, once you get the hang of it, is, I believe, something that can be very beneficial. Hey, have you done any more accupressure? That might be better than the tapping at this point. And, has your friend been over to give you another Reiki treatment? It would be interesting to see if you have another positive response to a second Reiki treatment.
There are a lot of things that can interfere witht the tapping according to the authors (repressed issues, not enough water in your system, reversed polarities blah, blah, blah). Also, I could be missing the right spots in some cases. It's too much to get a handle on. Maybe a professional could help me for at least a session or two but I don't have the money for that now. Also, I was using the term accupressure to describe the tapping since the book I have also uses that term in its title.
I'd rather get a CES device - run some electricity to my brain and be done with it!> -- No, it doesn't take the place of aerobic exercise that's for sure. It's true there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything. I am thinking about getting a bike for this spring/summer/fall. Cycling is good aerobic exercise, and I live right by a lot of bike trails along the river. It would also be handy to use to go get groceries and go shopping instead of waiting on buses all the time.
Cycling is definitely good exercise. I had a stationary bike which I sold to my neighbor. I'm kind of sorry that I did. In your case an outside bike sounds like it would be very useful as well as providing aerobic activity.
> -- That's great! I would imagine if you have been able to tolerate the Doxepin that you would likely be able to tolerate Anafranil as well. Speaking of Anafranil, I submitted to post on the meds board to Link to see how is doing on Anafranil. I think it's been over a week or so since he started. I'm interested to see how he is tolerating it. I ran out of chromium, so I haven't taken any for a few days. I notice a difference in how I feel when I wake up. I have to pick up some more on the weekend.
I don't know yet if I'll be able to tolerate the Anafranil. I'm only tolerating 25 mg. of doxepin so I'm not at a therapeutic dose now. Yesterday and today it feels like my heart is skipping beats - a kind of a fluttering feeling once in a while. I've had this feeling before when I oversleep a lot but I've only been getting about 8 hours of sleep a night. Still it feels like too much sleep. I hope that's all it is. I know that TCAs can have cardio effects but it's hard to imagine that only 25 mg. could be a problem.
I've been wondering also how Linkage was doing on the clomipramine. I'm not sure if it's a good sign or a bad one that we haven't heard anything from him in a few days. I'm crossing my fingers that this helps him a lot.
Interesting that you've been able to detect so much effect from chromium supplementation. I'm still taking it but am still not sure it's helping. I think I should probably take it for a while and then stop to see if I notice a difference.
> -- That's the way I look at it. Once I replace bad memories with good ones, I will be ok. The problem I was having and trying to make the pdoc understand is that although I would put myself back into the situation where the panic occurred, I couldn't put it out of my mind no matter how much CBT I did. So, my weird reasoning is that if I use something like Klonopin for a month or so, it will be like a nice security blanket and I won't obsess over a "what if" situation. I am also nervous about work because I do have a tendency towards workaholism, and my fear is that I will get right back into my old habits again. Oh well, only time will tell. I just have to put the fears and the anxieties behind me and move forward.
I think your plan is very sound. Hopefully your pdoc will agree. It sounds like you're back to thinking that you'll go back to work on time. That's great. I bet that the nort. had something to do with that. Hopefully you'll also be able to keep yourself from working too long hours so you don't burn out.
> -- And who knows. If you decide to try Anafranil, it may turn out to be the right med for you and then you won't have to worry about a beta blocker. It would be a shame to have to change pdocs since you seem to really like the one you have now.
Hopefully, that'll be the case. I'm more than a little bit afraid of adding a beta blocker to the mix anyway. I will temporarily not be using my pdoc since I'll be starting at a free clinic soon. I can't keep bothering my pdoc to help me over the phone when I'm not even paying him for anything. Once I have a job and health insurance, then I'll be able to go back to him.
> -- My mom sounds like a hoot! My mom was always different than the other mom's as well. She was one of those mom's that never forced us to eat things we didn't like or made us sit at the table until we finished the food on our plates. And, as we got older, we started trying things on our own and eating things that at one point we wouldn't go near. There was a method to her madness I guess. I remember going to a friend's house for lunch one day when I was a kid. The mother gave me a glass of milk with my meal and I told her I don't drink milk because it makes me ill. She said all kids drink milk in that house, and if didn't drink my milk I wouldn't be welcome for lunch again. I packed myself up and left and never went back. Screw her! :-) Although I was shy, I still did my own thing even at a young age.
What nerve your friend's mother had! She could dictate what her children have to eat and drink, but what right did she have to tell you what to do? I'm the same way. Always marched to my own beat and quite headstrong but still on the shy side.
> -- I must have been crazy to give it up! The first month was rough, but after that I didn't even notice a difference in my energy in the morning. I think I must have been in a vicious cycle of high adrenalin (I have spelled that wrong) for years - peaking and crashing - that once my system was given a break my natural energy stabilized. Who knows. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. But, now I think if I can drink coffee in moderation, then I will reap some benefits from it. I love the taste and the smell - Ahhhhhhh - especially the smell of coffee beans being ground. Even the smell can give me a boost of energy :-)Too much coffee is definitely counterproductive but I think that a couple of cups a day is very therapeutic. I'm not a connoisseur of it. My favorite is the flavored stuff esp. hazelnut. Here is southern California that is considered very tacky, to say the least, but I don't care.
> -- I have taken 50mg two nights in a row now, and so far, so good. I am going to try taking it a little earlier in the evening though (like around 9 p.m. instead of around 10:30 p.m.). I find I sleep really well on it. The past two nights I didn't wake up even once in the night (which is unusual for me). But, this morning I slept in. So, I think I will try 8 or 9 p.m. tonight to see if it makes a difference.
What dosage are you aiming for? I think it will probably continue to help you sleep. It did for most people I've known who have taken it (other than me). I was so wound up on it with my heart beating so fast that I had the hardest time getting to sleep on it. Have you talked to your doctor yet? Is he surprised that you're tolerating it so well?
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> Take care,
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Kara
poster:KaraS
thread:456548
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050305/msgs/469407.html