"Suspected Bank Robber's Pants Explode"

[cleolinda]

Lamictal, Day 7: It's weird--I don't feel like I'm "on drugs" at all, which is a sign that it's a good fit, but at the same time, I could definitely feel an effect earlier in the week that's fading now. So I have another week on 25 mg before we go up to 50 mg, at which point I'll probably feel it again. In the meantime, though, I keep forgetting that we didn't just add a medication--we also cut my Wellbutrin in half, which I finally realized explains why I can't concentrate at all. I mean, I can, but for someone who's used to marathon reading sessions, it's disconcerting to have difficulty staying on task with a simple Wikipedia article. I have more success if I curl up with a book, but reading news or articles on the computer is a lot harder at the moment. And all of this is because I was put on Wellbutrin because it's an antidepressant, yes, and because it affects a brain chemical (I forget which one) that Zoloft doesn't, but mostly to treat attention problems, since Adderall wasn't working (or rather, it was a blunter instrument than I needed).

(Which deserves a sidenote unto itself: I was the last person, literally the last person in the world, ever, that you would have suspected of being ADD, if your idea of ADD was "hyperactive." I was hypoactive. I spent my entire childhood in a book. It turns out, however, that a lot of girls manifest attention disorders as being very dreamy--not being hyper, per se. I rarely paid attention in class; I was usually writing, in a notebook half-hidden in my lap, or under the cover of taking "notes," but there were a lot of classes where I was listening to the lecture with one ear and composing bad poetry with the other. If that makes any sense, which it... kind of doesn't. Anyway. A class like government/econ [which was taught by two football coaches anyway], I could swing it. A class like math, well... I failed a semester exam one time, let's just put it that way.)

Suddenly my habit of parenthetical digressions makes a lot more sense, doesn't it?

Linky-link:

Armitage says he was source in CIA leak.

Ellen DeGeneres Tapped to Host Oscars.

A sneak peek of "Simpsons" online Friday.

Jackie Chan wants to be respected like De Niro.

Panda accidentally crushes cub in China.

stardustshine: "I'd like to ask you to post a link to petfinder so that we can Help Petie. I came across his story the other day at yorkierescueme.com and it just broke my heart. The rescue is trying to raise money by the end of October to give him surgery to fix a bone deformity. Of course there is not an animal rescue in the country that does not need need donations of time and money, so even if your readers can't donate at this time, I hope everyone will keep in mind that there are hundreds of hard cases like Petie that need support any time you can give it."

Poor Dooce: "The only way I can possibly begin to describe this man and his office is to compare it to a graphic science fiction/horror comic book, it was that unsettling. He began by telling me that the incision that my doctor had made on my arm could have made the problem much worse, because by cutting into the cancer like she did she could have deposited diseased cells into the deeper layers of skin. When I reminded him that he was the one who had told her to just go ahead and cut it out herself, he said, 'Really? That was pretty stupid of me, wasn’t it?' EXCUSE ME FOR A MOMENT WHILE I PICK OUT AN EXPENSIVE FABRIC FOR MY CASKET."

Wandering around Flickr last night, I ended up at Madame Talbot's (she has an account.) Fantastic. I want the vampire poster so bad. Not only that, but Madame Talbot's links page is outstanding. On that page alone, I found headless historical dolls (actually, they do come with heads; the heads just aren't... attached); "Chateau Bizarre, Small Business at Its Strangest," or, "Weird Shit You Might Enjoy Buying" (and how!); Art of Adornment; Prodigies: Drawings of Anomalous Humans; old and rare books from A Grave Affair; and the cutest Edward Gorey necklace ever. Not to mention this fantastic blog. Which is why I haven't elaborated much on the primary linkspam, because I'm off reading deathndementia.com (see title of entry).

I think I need to come to grips with the fact that autumn really is my favorite season of the year. I thought it was late spring, with the cool weather and the pretty, pretty flowers, but I was so very, very wrong.

Comments

[ewacat.livejournal.com]

It's interesting you say that about the ADD. As I always understood it, ADHD is the hyperactive sort and ADD is the hypoactive sort.

Although my mum claims I am ADHD since the 'H' could stand for both. I remember being both hyper- and hypo-active at school, how randomly curious.

This is a totally useless comment. I comment merely to use the icon. I'm having a bad ADD day. I wish I was hyperactive, I'd have so much more fun.

Naked drive thru

[supermom20.livejournal.com]

http://www.deadspin.com/sports/nfl/at-least-he-didnt-biggie-size-199349.php

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

I love the Gorey cat, and autumn has always been my favorite time. (I don't know why the two parts of that sentence are connected, but they are.) Honestly, you haven't experienced autumn until you've been to New England in the fall. You NEED to see the LEAVES, man.

[guinevere33.livejournal.com]

Panda accidentally crushes cub in China.

O.o Between crushing their offspring and their inability to figure out sex, pandas are just not meant to survive. Evolution has let them down. If they weren't so damn cute, I'd be all for letting natural selection take its course.

Pandas

[stardustshine.livejournal.com]

The panda link made me think of the crazies in the Pandas Unlimited (http://www.flickr.com/groups/pandasunlimited/) flickr group. If it is, was, or in the vaguest possible sense ever could be connected to pandas, it's there.

I am at work and can't search for the video right this minute, but if you can find one, you should look for the birth of Tai Shan at the National Zoo. He squirted out of his momma and, I kid you not, bounced off the wall practically head first. Also, given the size of a newborn compared to the size of an adult panda, it is amazing that more new moms do not accidentally hurt their babies. Baby pandas are the size of sticks of butter when they are born, and their mothers are several hundred pounds.

I have also heard like fourth-hand (my boyfriend's mother, techmuse (http://www.techmuse.org/musings/), is an Asia Trail volunteer and has attended lectures by the panda's head keeper, who worked with zoo employees that were sent to China to learn about breeding & rearing practices) that panda reserves in China are under a lot of pressure to produce many babies as quickly as possible. Their funding is tied to the number of successful births per year, so baby pandas are often taken from their mothers much too young and develop odd behavior quirks as a result. Mothers will often skip a breeding cycle after a birth because the cubs stay with them for some time, so by removing the cub before the next breeding cycle is due, they can breed the moms again. Not that I think the baby's death is their fault or anything, but it's interesting to note. I'm actually really surprised that it even made the news, since cubs must sadly perish for dozens of reasons every year. Part of the reasons the panda breeding programs are so important is because pandas really just aren't that smart when it comes to breeding; half the time they don't want sex and even when they do want it, they don't quite get it right, and then you have things like this happen...poor pandas.

I don't know if you had any interest in knowing any of this whatsoever, but I figured what the heck, I'll share what I know. ;oP

P.S.

[stardustshine.livejournal.com]

I am lame, I meant to thank you for the link. BTW didn't Lucky have burseitis or something like that a while back? Is he doing any better?

[notemily.livejournal.com]

I think it's all just called ADHD now, even though the hyperactivity may or may not be present.

[reynardine.livejournal.com]

When we gaze upon
foliage in autumn hills,
we can pick the leaves,
red and yellow, to admire.
As for the green ones-
lamenting, we let them stay.
Green leaves must be regretted,
but I choose the autumn hills!

Princess Nukada (7th century) from Man'yoshu, an ancient Japanese poetry anthology. Part of a longer poem where she compares spring to autumn.

[ewacat.livejournal.com]

Well, that definitely makes it easier, lol.

[underalilacmoon.livejournal.com]

Oh that hypoactive thing is interesting... I have been following this whole depression/medication thing with interest, because I've been depressed (and am a writer) but never on medication, it scared me snotless to think of those uncontrollable ups and downs. And I don't think mine was chemical permanent really, more life issues.

I am fairly daydreamy and do digress into brackets like mad! But could usually pay attention in class unless I already knew I knew the stuff. Then I'd be plotting the screenplay in the background. And I was always reading. And not wanting to be involved in rest of life stuff, don't know if that fits or I'm just an avoider. :)

All that said, and not one bit of bracket proof, I do admire you tremendously for going through all this. I thought I was going to break alone (once) over ... (well who can compare?) certainly nothing like this medication mess. :)

Oh

[sqrrlsrant.livejournal.com]

It turns out, however, that a lot of girls manifest attention disorders as being very dreamy--not being hyper, per se. I rarely paid attention in class;

That may explain..a lot. Thank you for posting this. I could always focus to read or watch television, but trying to focus in class (and now at work), has been difficult. My brother was diagnosed with ADD, but I never associated my inability to concentrate in class with it because I was always able to sit still and read.

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

I was hypoactive. I spent my entire childhood in a book. It turns out, however, that a lot of girls manifest attention disorders as being very dreamy--not being hyper, per se. I rarely paid attention in class; I was usually writing, in a notebook half-hidden in my lap, or under the cover of taking "notes," but there were a lot of classes where I was listening to the lecture with one ear and composing bad poetry with the other.

God, if that's really how ADD works, I wish they'd invented it when I was a kid. They could've given me a shitload of drugs and fixed me, and maybe I'd've grown up able to function.

[cosmorific.livejournal.com]

I was hypoactive too, which is probably why I didn't get diagnosed with ADD until several years ago. I didn't act out; I just spaced off. And like you, I've heard that's highly prevalent with girls.

[rebel-waltz.livejournal.com]

they didn't figure out that i was ADD until my junior year of high school because i wasn't hyperactive. it also took them that long to figure out i had a learning disorder in math and an extremely above average IQ, and should have been in their "talented and gifted" program. it sucks 'cause i barely made it through school and i could have been excelling. my mom was really angry 'cause apparently every year she'd tell my teachers there was something wrong and they would just tell her i was lazy and wouldn't apply myself, which so wasn't it, and would never tell her what she could do to find out.

Re: Oh

[cosmorific.livejournal.com]

The flipside to ADD, I've read, is that people who have it can "hyper-focus" on tasks they find particularly interesting (e.g. reading) to the point that they tune out everything else.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know, but they definitely told me I was ADHD, which was super-confusing. It may be like the other commenter is saying, though, that they're just using it as a catch-all term now.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

I rarely paid attention in class; I was usually writing, in a notebook half-hidden in my lap, or under the cover of taking "notes," but there were a lot of classes where I was listening to the lecture with one ear and composing bad poetry with the other.

Wait. Wait. What?

That's not right?




Oh, damn.

Re: P.S.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

BTW didn't Lucky have burseitis or something like that a while back? Is he doing any better?

I can't even remember. I'm going to blame it on the drugs. Unless that was the sore joint he had--he's still stiff every now and then, but he seems to be a lot better. Of course, I say this before the cold weather's set in.

[metonymy.livejournal.com]

Those dolls are amazing. I want a bloody Caesar and Agrippina the Younger to decorate my office someday!

However, I showed it to my sister and told her I want one for Christmas, and she is grossed out. Darn.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

"(Which deserves a sidenote unto itself: I was the last person, literally the last person in the world, ever, that you would have suspected of being ADD, if your idea of ADD was "hyperactive." I was hypoactive. I spent my entire childhood in a book. It turns out, however, that a lot of girls manifest attention disorders as being very dreamy--not being hyper, per se. I rarely paid attention in class; I was usually writing, in a notebook half-hidden in my lap, or under the cover of taking "notes," but there were a lot of classes where I was listening to the lecture with one ear and composing bad poetry with the other. If that makes any sense, which it... kind of doesn't."

STOP STEALING MY MANIFESTATIONS OF DISORDERS, KTHNXBAI ;)

You just wrote a perfect profile of my youth.

Re: Oh

[guinevere33.livejournal.com]

Oooh, ooh, me! :: wave hand in the air :: On one extremely memorable occasion, I was so absorbed in the book I was reading that I didn't notice my teacher *beating on my arm* with a wooden ruler. I remember becoming vaguely aware of a dull thudding. Then I came back to earth and it really hurt (it was red for about a day afterwards). Amazingly, she didn't get fired - she just got moved to the high school.

[bibliotech.livejournal.com]

It turns out, however, that a lot of girls manifest attention disorders as being very dreamy--not being hyper, per se.

...really? I have to ask my doctor about that--one of the reasons I'm putting off going back to school is because I have so much trouble paying attention during lectures...I tend to start writing, reading a book, even falling asleep when I'm not even tired. I can do that and still pass English and Science-related courses, but there's no way I can sleep through Math.

Re: Oh

[sqrrlsrant.livejournal.com]

Now that you mention that, once, on the hour-long bus commute from my middle school, my best friend and seat-mate spent the entire time putting stickers on my bare legs and peeling them off and I never noticed.

Hm. Guess I should go and talk to my doctor. If it is</> ADD that makes it so hard to concentrate on tasks at work, perhaps they can put me on a low dose of something. It would be lovely to not worry anymore about the problem anymore.

Re: P.S.

[stardustshine.livejournal.com]

We bought this thing (http://www.amazon.com/Snuggle-Safe-Heat-Pad/dp/B00008AJH9) for our elderly dog (the one in my icon) before he passed away to help his stiffness in cold weather. I think it worked but it is definately best to have a fairly thick bed over it as it does put out quite a lot of heat.

[kpachayagolobka.livejournal.com]

So, the whole female manifestation of attention disorders? Yeah, hi, my name is Meg and they just thought I was being a bitch for ten years before my mom read an article online and was like, "Wait... that sounds like Meg..." and went and got me tested. Then I wrote very poetic letters back to my old teachers telling them to screw themselves. Not really, but it would have been nice. I did get one teacher fired for how she treated me, but that's another story... anyway, yes, very normal. Now, just to be cliche, I think I had something else to say but I'm not sure at this point so I'm going to go back and read linkspam...