Lessons abound!!

Happy Sunday morning all!! It is an amazingly beautiful, sunny day in Cowtown. I can hardly wait to take advantage of my back yard, fresh air and cross stitching galore!!

But I would be remiss if I did not tell you about the new lessons I have learned this week. Wednesday was another exciting, amazing visit with Dr. T. I had only just recently blogged about my anti-depressants and how I am accepting of the fact that I may be on them for the rest of my life. Well... the story has changed somewhat.

I had blogged how I had been feeling unusally irritated and agitated. Top that off with some headaches and crazy dreams and you have a person that may possibly be in need of an anti-depressant dosage change. One of the crazy things about being on anti-depressants is that when your body doesn't need as much, you get the same symptoms as if you need more. True story!! A lot of people will go to their doctor saying their anti-depressants aren't working, they are still sad, lifeless etc and so what does the doctor do? Up the dosage. A little while later those same patients are back in complaining of the same thing and the doctor responds the same way. This can remain a vicious circle until the patient finally cracks... not good. In reality, if the doctor had tried to lower the dosage... the patient very possibly would have started feeling better.

Soooo... when I explained to Dr. T how I had been feeling she said it sounded like an anti-depressant dosage change time. Now here is where Dr. T is an exceptional doctor. She did not say which way we had to change the dosage but as I have noticed such amazing success with my vitamin levels getting better she figured maybe the old hormone levels that control depression are improving too. So starting Thursday we dropped my dosage by half. I will remain on this dosage for two weeks and see how I'm feeling. If I am feeling better but not perfect... then I start the half dosage every second day. Now... on the other hand... if my symptoms get worse after two weeks, I will go the opposite direction taking 1/2 a dosage over my norm. Of course, this dosage change-up is going to be accompanied by a weekly phone call to Dr. T to let her know how things are going. This is probably the most important step to making sure we are on the right track.

I have noticed improvements in the last 3 days. I am not so easily irritated, my anxiouxness seems to be improving and my sleep is definitely improving. But it is early days so I will just keep diarizing my feelings and thoughts and keep the doctors in the loop.

People, I can not stress enough that treatments I undergo and lifestyle changes I make are ALWAYS done under the supervision of either Dr. T my fibro specialist or Dr. Lassila my family doctor. I by all means recommend you talk to your doctor about my experiences and see if my changes are right for you as well. Please do NOT just proceed with treatments I am undergoing without consulting your docctor. If your doctor is not willing to listen to you then you most definitely have to find a new doctor, but talk to your doctor and listen to what they have to say.

So that is the newest, biggest change I am doing right now. All my blood work came back with improvements but not always the improvements I hoped to see. But I am not going to get discouraged. We are staying on the same course of action as I've been on for a couple of months now. My body has to get used to all the new vitamins and minerals I am introducing before we change any dosages of those.

Pain is remaining extremely manageable without medication, some days it is even nonexistant. Energy is through the roof and my attitude remains positive. And really... what else can you ask for?