Mama de Cleo rides again

[cleolinda]

So yesterday I got absolutely zero work done because my dogs spent all morning barking hysterically at stove repair people. The two guys themselves were nice; they've been out to our house a total of three times to install a new range for us (and I'll have to take a picture of it; it's totally space-age awesome and... a bit difficult to cook on, but we're learning). And then, right as they were finishing up, the lead guy tells me (sounding very apologetic and embarrassed, by the way) that... they need to charge us an extra $85 just for coming out there. Which he doesn't think is fair (particularly since no one told us this ahead of time), but his boss is kind of riding him to collect it.

Dear Reader, I just started laughing at them. I mean honestly just laughing in their faces. And then I dialed a number on my cell and said (and I quote), "Here's the phone, talk to my mother. And GOOD LUCK."

By the time she was done calling around, she'd discovered from the Sears rep that there is no such thing as a "trip charge," and that the stove guys' boss (head of the installation company/department) must be scamming customers as a way of skimming off the top. SHENANIGANS!

Meanwhile, my meds--and I'll go into this for future reference for anyone who might be trying Lamictal: I was on 150 mg (in addition to two other medications). My doctor wanted me to try to get up to 200 mg; that's always been the target dose she wanted me to go up to, and we've been moving towards that very slowly over the last two years. (A previous increase that was a bit too-much-too-soon sent me into a severe fit of depression, etc.) So I'm trying to be cautious; I'm trying to be careful. Two Wednesdays ago, I take the 200 mg, just to see, and that afternoon go on a crying jag. Excellent. So I went back to 150 for the next several days, because I was like, the hell with this, I've got a Fifteen Minutes to write.

Aaaaand then I went into that bizarre, overcaffeinated manic phase last Tuesday. I don't know if it would have happened anyway, or if it was triggered by the Lamictal spike, or--hell, if it was going to happen anyway but extra-triggered by a huge Coke I had on Monday. I have no idea how these things work. All I know is that I spent the next three days uncomfortably "on" (although otherwise calm and functional). So on Friday, I said, whatever, I'll try the intermediate 175 dose, just to see if that helps.

Weeeeeeell, in order to do that, I had to cut the end off the pill. We're not talking exact science here, either.

I spent all of Friday doubled up with the worst lower back pain I've ever had.

I mean, it was exactly the same kind I've had at particular times of the month, but more AUGH. I took a total of four Aleve over the course of the day and it did almost nothing. And I had read the list of possible side effects in advance, and "back pain" was, in fact, one of them--but don't tell me I had some kind of psychosomatic thing because I thought I was supposed to have back pain--that shit does not originate in your own head. (My God almighty, let me never experience that again.) So Saturday I was like, THE FUCKING HELL WITH THIS, IT'S BACK TO 150. I was still kind of sore, but: the Fifteen Minutes got finished. And I called my doctor on Monday, and she was like... well then. That... that didn't go too well. Don't do that again, I guess.

Now, just because I'm insane (and in a way completely separate from actual mental illness, I might add), I thought... you know what? Let's try the 200 again. I mean, oddly enough, that was a higher dose, but there was no pain. And maybe the pain came because the pill was--compromised? You know, cut, a bit crumbly; maybe that screwed with the time-release... thingy. Even though I was advised to cut it. I don't know.

You know what? I was completely, totally fine on 200 today. No crying at all; in fact, I was a little bit bouncy. A little flushed, a little dizzy--but that's the side effect I've had with every single med increase (or decrease! or taking it later in the day! or if I forget to take it! or if I take it the next after forgetting to take it!) I've ever had. I've come to think of it as the "Everything okay, full steam ahead" reaction. So... barring an occurrence of the legendary Fatal Rash... and, I mean, I'll have to see how continued use works out... I seem to be okay. Bizarre.

Comments

[iamnotanoctopus.livejournal.com]

There is such a thing as a trip charge with installation, but it's something Sears pays them for, not you. It's usually $35 they'll pay the installers if they come out but can't do the job for some reason. If the installers actually needed extra money just to come out, like an out of area charge, they'd tell the installation department at Sears before they accepted the job, and Sears would either okay it with you or cover it themselves.

So there's my Sears knowledge for you... yup. Unless they were repair techs. Then I know nothing.

apropos of nothing

[ellie-sparks.livejournal.com]

This might be the wrong place to put this, but did you hear about RPattz dissing Edward Cullen again? He thinks that in real life, Edward would be "an axe murderer or something" and while he agrees that nice guys always finish last, he says that Edward is "not one of those guys."

That will never stop cracking me up.

[narfzz.livejournal.com]

Your mom is completely and totally made of WIN.

I'm sorry about the med issues, hopefully it starts to work out for you. :(

[mtranc3.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're okay, but (and I'm saying this as a psychologist) it's not advisable to randomly highly increase or decrease psychiatric medication. The brain needs time to adjust to it, that's why your doctor has been right to *slowly* try to get you to the desired dose...

[zoewhy.livejournal.com]

My mom used to work for a pain doctor and I guess some time release meds are designed to make you sick if you cut them. I don't know which ones do and don't but, I wouldn't want to find out by trial or error. Also, cutting a pill any way but in half seems not so great with the whole proper dosage thing. So, boohiss on having to do that. :(

[elbales]

Your mom rocks my socks.

[shortie-3s5s.livejournal.com]

Your mom is my hero.

OT, Bryce Dallas Howard replacing Rachelle Lefevre as Victoria in "Eclipse" (http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1617156/story.jhtml). I wonder how the crazy fangirls are gonna take it?

[ahirutwin.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhhh, bless. You know, your mom makes me reminisce about all of the insanity my dad has objected to over the years. Except with him, the cops are called instead of Sears reps. XD

The highlights of his adventures include refusing to take off his hat in a public government building and almost being arrested for doing so (the officer's justification for asking him to take off his hat was that "there is a judge working here at the moment and proper respect must be shown", to which my father said, quite politely, "I'm not in her courtroom, I have no reason to remove my hat. I would like a police report on this and if you insist on arresting me, please notify my wife to come pick up my daughter while I'm in jail." I was with him at the time; we were running errands that day and he had come to the building to pick up a copy of his marriage license. Cherry on top is that the first officer called over another officer to assist her; one thing led to another and my father was in a room adjacent to where I was and of my line of sight. The first officer was with me, the second with my father. The first officer then asked me to WAIT FOR MY FATHER OUTSIDE. I was fourteen at the time. We were in the middle of downtown. I, thankfully, told her I'd wait for my dad).

And then there was an incident at a Wendy's. My parents and me were in the drive-through placing an order and the manager who was taking our order WENT BALLISTIC. She wasn't hearing our order properly and my father repeated it for her very calmly, but she though were insulting her or something and she called the cops. So FIVE COP CARS come zooming into Wendy's ten minutes later. XD They were not pleased to learn that the manager had called them for nothing, I'll tell you what. Also, she locked herself in her office and refused to come out. Her employees told the cops that she told them to not let anyone near her.

Good times all around. So yeah. Sorry for rambling like that; your mom rules, was the point I was supposed to make and I went off somewhere there. :D

While I know nothing about medications like what you're dealing with, I'm really glad to hear that it's working out for you. My mom (she's a psychologist) has told me how hard it can be to find the right balance of meds sometimes.

[ahirutwin.livejournal.com]

Er, by "wait for my dad", I meant inside the building where I was standing already. D:

[akarikiwa.livejournal.com]

Look upon her stove, ye mighty, and despair.

Lamictal

[ilanka.livejournal.com]

Hrm...My psych has suggested I take Lamictal along with my zoloft [75mg] to see if we could get my anxiety AND ADD (-not- ADHD) under better control. When my anxiety is largely well controlled and I'm not worried and crying about everything, I can't concentrate on anything I don't find -really- interesting (ADD). If I can concentrate, usually an anxiety fit is not far behind.

What has the lamictal evened out for you, if I may ask? We're running out of options that will work for me here, and I've been reluctant to try Lamictal because my Psych actually SAID "This is really strong shit, and I'd like to try you on higher zoloft first..." [I love my psych, he's very straight-forward and funny].

At any rate, I hope yer feeling better over the next few days.

Also, I will be private messaging you RE: Update on Chocolates That Have Not Appeared.

Re: Lamictal

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, the thing is, it's hard to tell what would be happening if I weren't taking it. But as an anti-seizure drug, it's supposed to even out the highest highs and lowest lows--to regulate the mood cycle somewhat. What prompted the decision to raise my dose was me telling my doctor about the depression I'd gone through this spring/summer (as y'all saw). Lamictal has done really well for me, but apparently if it doesn't work for you, it REALLY doesn't work for you.

That said, be careful on Zoloft (which I'm also on)--increased doses have been linked to severe depression and suicidal thoughts, which I can tell you happened to me* the last time we tried to raise mine. (We tried Lamictal for the first time after that, and I had it again. So it could happen with either one. You just need to really need to keep an eye on that and talk to your doctor about possibly stopping the dose if it happens.

* In case anyone sees that, I don't want them to freak out--I don't believe in suicide (I know, like it's Tinkerbell or whatever). I would never harm myself. But for the purposes of talking about side effects, yes, I have really, really hoped that I would somehow not wake up in the morning.

I will say, I was put on (and still am on) Wellbutrin for the anxiety component of my depression. Have you tried that?

[piccgirl.livejournal.com]

...for vindication, and a refund, shall be hers!

Re: Lamictal

[ilanka.livejournal.com]

I have tried Welbutrin. I think it was...150mg? It didn't do much for me. I felt slightly less anxious, but the other side effects that lingered didn't make the very slight uptick worth it for me. We took me off of it after about 4-5 months =/

Interesting...If that qualifies as a suicidal thought, then I have too, in the past. I don't think about hurting myself - I have an irrationally strong fear of pain. But I have in past downswings thought "Heh...it wouldn't be so bad if I just never woke up" or the ilk. Maybe I should mention that to the Dr. as it never really clicked with me that it was anything more than apathy/tired of feeling like shit.

I have one of the starter packs of lamictal. I may try it here soon. I'm over my surgery [Gastric Bypass, for those who missed that episode] enough that I can take my zoloft again and I'm still pretty scattered. Interesting aside: The amount of pain I was in was bringing on full-out panic attacks (rocking, crying, sobbing, hopeless), and I'd only been off my zoloft at that time for 5 days o_O I may ought to wait to start the lamictal, however, until I'm off the pain meds. I....imagine they wouldn't play nice.

Thank you for sharing, that has given me a lot to chew on [and possibly things I need to bring up with the Dr when I see him next month].

[smadronia.livejournal.com]

So that's how they work? Thanks for that, I've always wondered if that's how they were made.