Wow - We are having a major blizzard here in Chicago. It started snowing at 1 pm, and at 8pm a neighbor was stuck in their car in a drift in front of our house. A Neighbor got stuck in their driveway. It is supposed to snow all night.
Holly got my radiation treatment scheduled early today, so we were in and out before the snow started. I also got the weekly blood work done today too. The radiation department said that they will be closed tomorrow, so we will just have one more day tacked on to the end of the six week cycle.
This last week had had to find the right dose of laxative, the chemo causes issues in this area. Too much of a good thing can be real bad. I think I found a good balance at about 1/4 of what the doctor recommended.
I also discovered how well one of the drugs I have been taking, Ativan, works. I was supposed to take Ativan for about 30 days until a SSRI drug took effect to help me sleep. I started ramping down on Ativan, and lost all ability to sleep. I felt just miserable all day. I suspected it was the Ativan, so I took one two hours before bed. My headache and miserable feeling disappeared in an hour, and I was able to sleep all night.
Given that, I asked the doctor to stop the SSRI and just let me take the Ativan. They said this was not a good idea, and I should just keep taking the SSRI. This is very frustrating. The original complaint was inability to sleep, the doctor says to take SSRI, but Ativan for first 30 days until SSRI takes effect. I find that the Ativan not only helps me sleep, but makes me feel a lot better when I am awake. The doctor says that is not a good idea. They want me to stop taking the drug that works and keep taking the one that as far as I can tell does nothing. The doctor gave me another 30 days of Ativan to give us time to straiten this out.
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I suffer from anxiety and was given Ativan "as needed". I didn't take it every day and thought I was doing ok. One day at work I became very angry and thought I should try taking it daily instead of as needed. Boy, was it a life saver. My doctor agrees. I take 1 mg ativan twice daily and I feel normal for the first time in my life. I can go outside, get on a bus, shop, etc. and not have to think about it for a while first. I just jump in the car (or bus) and go. It's wonderful having such a "normal" life. Before, other drugs like Paxil or Zoloft made things worse for me. I felt suicidal at times so I stopped them.
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