Beth's Keeping Track Post

Anxiety level is remaining low. I am stoked!

Still doing very well on Trilafon. Going to double the dose tonight.

Hugs and respect to you

The Trilofon is excellent. Level of anxiety much lower. I am immensely grateful.

Surgery might not happen on 4/7 due to the pandemic. Tough to take, as I'm in so much pain.

Have you tried Naprosyn? It is prescription strength naproxen (aleve). They gave it to me after my ankle reconstruction and it honestly worked better than the percocets I'd been taking. Might be worth a shot to ask about it. It won't take care of all the pain but maybe a little?

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow Have you tried Naprosyn? It is prescription strength naproxen (aleve). They gave it to me after my ankle reconstruction and it honestly worked better than the percocets I'd been taking. Might be worth a shot to ask about it. It won't take care of all the pain but maybe a little?

No, I haven't. Only Advil, which usually relieves pain. It doesn't do a darn thing for the leg/foot pain, though. Thank you for the Naprosyn idea! I'll definitely follow through on that.

Pdoc increased my Trilafon dose to 6mg/day. Since it's been helping the anxiety at 4mg I'm hoping for the best.

My achilles surgery will almost surely be postponed, which is hard to take. What can I say...all of this is hard to take. I feel really angry when I see people in other states hanging out at beaches, in restaurants, whatever. I don't know when I'll see people walking on the sidewalks, or see the inside of a store or restaurant again. Or see my therapist, for that matter. Why are people permitted to fu*k it up for others?

The Trilafon is a good one. I hope she raises it even more.

Everything is hard to entirely gauge, though, at this crazy time. If we just knew when this will be over. I'm a little bit worried that the demons have caused this. Which scares me because I do not want to go there again.

No tp left, time to start using the paper towels...sore tooshie time

Naproxen sodium, as mentioned to you above, also helps my pain more than major pain meds. Check with your GP on this: If the OTC dose is not enough, there is a prescription dose, as well. Please do check with your doctor on using the higher dose, please.

The anti-inflammatory effect can be quite helpful.

Please do watch your GI effects. Can really irritate the GI.

Thank you so much, WC. I will find out on Tuesday whether or not I'm having the surgery. If not, I will speak with my ortho doctor about Naprosyn (my GP isn't very good).

oh! there is still a chance you might have surgery?
Yes, you don't want to touch naprosyn if headed to surgery soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wild Coyote oh! there is still a chance you might have surgery? Yes, you don't want to touch naprosyn if headed to surgery soon.

I doubt they'll do my surgery. But, I live in a small town, so maybe not shortages...maybe. I'll find out on Tuesday.

I hope you can get your surgery whenever it is safe to do so.

I wouldn't say that COVID-19 in U.S. was "100% preventable" after the outbreak happened in China, but I do think we could have been better prepared to at least delay the shock and reduce the initial spread.

I wonder if perhaps your doctors may end up volunteering at hospitals due to shortages of staff? Lots of staff are dropping like flies, unfortunately, and they need more replacements as time goes on. Or they may be donating masks and other supplies to hospitals that need them. So those things could also delay surgery.

Ughh, this is a royal mess...

I'm sending hugs and respect

No surgery. Too risky at this time. The pain is driving over the edge. Nothing to do but wait.

Scary panic attack last night. Fortunately was able to sleep for 3 hours after taking meds.

8mg Trilafon. Ir's working really well! Getting rid of the relentless spinning anxiety is such a relief. Only 2 side effects; Some dizziness and (unfortunately) stronger appetite.

Still with the 8mg. What a relief, to be without the sharp, spinning anxiety. I will talk with my pdoc on Friday; I'm hoping she'll raise the dose to 10 or 12. The reason I'm hoping for that is because I still experience a low level of anxiety that I believe the Trilafon can help bring down to "normal" anxiety.

The only disappointing symptom is that I do crave sugar. It's a difficult symptom to live with - but I'll still take it over the manic anxiety.

sorry to hear that. APs can definitely cause sugar cravings...

One interesting thing one of my pdocs told me... Sometimes people are more "ravenous" when they take meds that lessen their anxiety. Basically, when the patient was experiencing crippling anxiety, that anxiety would affect (typically suppress) their appetite to a degree and then the patient would adapt their eating habits to match the lowered appetite. Then when an anxiolytic (or whatever med) is introduced, the hunger comes back and the body is not used to metabolizing as much food, because it had adapted to the lower caloric intake. So... BAM, weight gain.

Now the worst part is that antipsychotics in general cause sugar cravings, so it's like an additional thing you have to deal with.

But anyways, I don't have any sources that talk about anxiety and weight gain/loss, because I am just repeating what one of my pdocs told me. However, that's what I was told and it kinda makes sense to me. I mean, when some people are anxious or depressed, they don't eat. So, it's natural to expect that someone may feel "hungrier" when they're not as anxious, because that anxiety is no longer suppressing the appetite.

Absolutely true, blue. When I'm anxious I cannot eat. I'll force myself to eat some crackers.

Kicking myself for opening my mouth!

I had a telephone appointment with my pdoc today. I told her that the Trilafon is working really well. I told her I haven't noticed any side effects except that it has slightly increased my tremor (definitely hands, mildly in my jaw).

Well, she flipped out about the increased tremor. She told me that I have to drop the dosage back down to 6mg/day.

Why, why, why did I tell her about the tremor?! The crazy part is that just today the jaw tremor is almost gone, much better than it was. I'd do almost anything to stop the severe anxiety...why can't she understand that?

I wanted to increase the dose, not drop it - or at least keep it at 8mg. I'm really, really upset about this. I don't know what to do. I have a telephone appt. with my therapist on Tuesday; I will talk with her about this and get her feedback.

Yesterday was rough (anxiety/depression). The hell with it, I'm taking 8mg today. If the jaw tremor returns, okay; I'll drop down to 6mg. But I want to stay with the 8mg for now - especially at his extremely stressful time when I cannot even see my therapist.

Sorry to hear that, BethRags.

Getting help for mental health issues is especially challenging during these stressful times. I wish you could see your therapist and have her comfort you.

I hope this whole COVID-19 situation just blows over by summertime. I think there are many people in the same boat as you with wanting to see their mental health providers in person because they are hurting over this. It really sucks and I wish there were a magic wand to make things better.

Anyway, good luck with keeping your 8mg dose. I hope it works for you.

I’m sending hugs

I so appreciate the support blue and fuzzy.

Well, I'm an anxious mess. I cannot seem to stop obsessing over the garbage my pdoc told me last week about needing video to communicate with her and all that (which is not true by clinic standards).

I don't know, it could be 6 or 8 weeks until I can actually go into my T's office again. I am grateful for her phone sessions, but I'm also not a phone person and find myself very anxious when using the phone.

I have tremendous relief because California is doing pretty well despite this pandemic nightmare. Still. Guess I didn't realize how much freedom I had before, to go places.

I've taken several Klonopins today; I have got to do something to calm down...I can't be like this. I'm so angry at my pdoc...I can never entirely trust her.

Sorry to hear your pdoc is being stubborn like that. She is being VERY unreasonable about all of this. It sounds like she wants things her way and her way only, and so she's coming up with excuses to make her way happen.

Not sure if you've done this or not, but have you talked to the front desk about your pdoc's recent excuses? Can you tell them why you cannot do video, and ask them why it's "illegal" for a doctor to practice psychiatry over the phone? They're of course gonna say, "no, it's not illegal to practice psychiatry over the phone. What makes you think that?" Then it makes them realize that your pdoc is feeding her patients a bunch of lies, and they will probably intervene.

As for therapy -- if you feel that talking on the phone is very anxiety inducing, have you talked to your therapist about your nerves?