Thursday
Bernadette called last night to adjust my meds down! Too much myfortic in my system, so we are dropping to two in morning and two at night. Good news. She said, "too much myfortic increases chances for infection..."
This morning on Morning Edition, a story on live transplant procedure that decreases rejection: check it out at Treatment Boosts Survival Rates For Some Kidney Transplant Patients.
Also, I've been writing on a post reporting on my leaving behind my long-term anti-anxiety meds, paroxetine. Never finished it cause of busyness in other venues... so, here it is from the draft. Now it has been two weeks or so without any paroxetine!
If I had continued my July 13 report I would have said that the only real difference I have noticed since quitting is having very vivid dreams that seem so real that I am not sure I am dreaming. In one instance I woke up when Liz nudged me to let the dog out at 4:30 or so... got up and took her (the dog) downstairs, let her out, stepped out onto the back porch and felt the hot muggy Austin air. I felt the breeze, gazed around at the completely familiar scene before coming back into the house and wandering towards the fridge for a cold glass of water. Then back to the squeaky door to let Chelsea in and follow her back upstairs. I got back in bed an fell back asleep.
A few minutes later Liz was shaking me again: my whole last paragraph was a dream! Most of these vivid dreams are run-of-the-mill daily living dreams rather than my more usual weird dreams. They are marked by brilliant color, clearly feeling proprioceptive sensations, and sensing that the dreams are lucid dreams.
In general, my behavior has been okay, according to Lizzie. If anything, in my attempts to watch my behavior and not "fly off", get irritable, or act crazy, I have been less demonstrative. I think she called it "in my self", but maybe she should put in a comment on this post to clarify her reactions to my reactions to quitting paroxetine.
More to come!
July 13, 2011
Wednesday
In the News: I think I have been mentioning over the past six months or so that I have been in the process of lowering my paroxetine dosage with the hopes of quitting completely. Partly this plan was instituted to decrease my overall meds use and save money, but also: I have been wanting to stop being on this anti-anxiety medication that Dr. Moritz prescribed for me sometime around 2002 or 03 (based on review of my meds lists), as I was adjusting to freaking out about having PKD and the prognosis of eventual dialysis and transplant.
# What are the withdrawal reactions occurring with paroxetine?
These symptoms may occur upon stopping treatment with paroxetine. Typically they can include dizziness, altered sensation (eg. numbness, “pins and needles”, “electric shock sensations”), sleep problems including intense dreams, , anxiety and headache.
Less common symptoms include agitation, nausea, tremor (shaking of parts of the body, eg. hands), confusion, sweating, diarrhea, palpitations, emotional instability, irritability or problems with vision (eyesight).
In some patients withdrawal symptoms may be severe in nature or prolonged. Usually, however they are mild to moderate and self-limiting and should resolve within 2 weeks of stopping paroxetine. Patients treated with high doses, those treated for longer duration and patients whose treatment is abruptly stopped may be at an increased risk of withdrawal symptoms.
1 comment:
In fact, what I've been noticing is "increase irritability" or um, crankiness. Love you honey.
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