Bipolar check-in #69

I'm doing better, just having a little trouble staying asleep and super nervous about my pdoc appointment. I wish you could come up here just for the sake of getting out of the heat though!

3 hrs until I have to get up and get ready for the vet but I can't sleep because I have to give my dog her meds when she wakes up. I don't want her suffering and me not wake up to give her her meds.

I hope everything goes well for your doggie and that she feels much better soon.

I said goodbye to my therapist in my current city. I'll need to find a new one where I'm moving to. Or maybe I'll even take a bit of a break from it. The psychiatrist, on the other hand, must be found asap. My current one will send me off with at least a couple to a few months of medication, but that's the most he can prescribe at any given time. I will ask him that if the time between finding the new doctor goes longer if he can just submit an additional one, while I no longer live in the area. The good thing about Czech Republic is that you can go to any pharmacy in the country without any hassle (need for transfers). The "Erecepts" (translates to like "E-Recipes") go into a centralized system. Any pharmacy can access it by scanning the bar code that comes to your smart phone by text message. I really like this, especially since you know when the thing is available immediately. In the US, I had to call the pharmacy to ask if they got it from pdoc, and when it would be ready. Or wait for the annoying automated phone calls saying as much. I see this pdoc four days before our move, at the end of this month.

The realtor of the seller of the property we're buying called today. We're just waiting to hear again if the seller will agree to let us move stuff in before the bureaucratic mumbo jumbo is done. I hope so, because we'd rather store the stuff there than have to pay warehouse fees, in the interim, and then have to move the stuff again. We even offered to pay a bit of money to him for the special allowance. We must do this because the new owners of the house we've been renting the past 1 1/2 years want us out by the end of the month.

Hubby is napping right now. I never nap. I'm just doing some little things to prepare for the move, like washing shoes and my hiking fanny pack, and such.

Soupe that’s really interesting how the take care of meds there. You’d think America would have something like that since we’re such a med culture.

Started a new aqua fit day. It used to be m-w-f at 9 now I’m adding in Tuesday’s at 8:30. Less people in this one, bet by next week it will be full.

We have a similar solution at my place. Prescriptions are going right into an electronic system and my GP sends me an SMS when the prescription is being sent. After that I can go to whatever Farmacy I want to go to (even if I travel to another place inside the country).

Hope everything goes well with the moving!

This day turned out to be wonderful. That did me good after the last hard days. It was sunny and I met the others early for the hike we had planned. We walked (climbed some places because it was so steep) high up in the mountain. We had a long lunch break at the top , sat there in the sun and enjoyed the view.

When we came down from the mountain we went to a restaurant for dinner and wine. Excellent!

Now I am at home. All my muscles are in pain, but that is what we call "good pain", I suppose! It was worth it. I am going to take it easy for the rest of evening.

I wish everybody a continued good day!

Thanks, GoGo2!

I have a feeling that there would be a reason that this would not be possible in today's US. I actually don't know what's going on behind the scenes, in this respect, but it is surely related to the insurance stuff and maybe even a different set up regarding pharmacies and $$$. I will say that there are some Czech pharmacies that charge a little bit more than others, but it's almost laughable the amount more. We're talking like the equivalent of $2 or so. Not the huge differences in the US. Actually, very often you don't pay any co-pay at all for some meds. The ones you do generally don't require more than $20 at the very very worst.

I seem to be having a delayed reaction to the Prestiq. I think. My moods and anxiety have really improved this last week, but I'm so tired soon after I take it. Its day 2 of not getting off the couch. Yesterday I ate a decent amount of calories. Over 1600. Plus I slept all day. Then when I weighed myself this morning I was 1.4 pounds less then the day before. I honestly don't get whats up. My mom wants me to work with my therapist on mantaining my weight if not putting on some. I emailed my therapist about my pdoc appointment and she got back to me this morning and said that we for sure need to discuss the weight loss more and ways for me to at least maintain my current weight. I mean yesterday wasn't really my fault. I literally ate a piece of cookie cake with frosting on it and slept all day. I don't know how I lost so much. But yeah I know what they mean. I am small for a dude and I am especially small for an almost 30 year old dude. I do see it myself. I hope my allergy test comes in today to give me some clue of how to go about things. The Wow Butter has been pretty helpful.

So She got more pain medication but we have decisions to make the meds cost almost $200 a month. We applied for care credit so at most we can pay for more three months Her growth is $800 to remove. I just don't know. I'm trying not to think about it.

I also got my injection and they're switching me to 30 mg abilify so I start that in two weeks and I'll have 3 months of that my pharmacy can mail it to me until I get settled.

Yay! I got the lightbulb in the garage changed. I bought a 4 plex led light for the garage but it was winter so I wanted to wait until I wouldn’t need a jacket out there. Here it is September already! The current lightbulb went dark a month ago, but I kept forgetting it. Today during daylight hours I remembered! Yay! Hooo I hate going up on tall ladders. Happy that’s done!

I’m sorry to hear of your dilemma. You and your sweet doggie are in my thoughts and prayers.

I hope the medicine helps you out.

Well, it seems I've yet again ran into problems. I'm doing my best to handle it the best I can but honestly I'm kind of freaking out on the inside about it. I'm doing all I can to stay calm, and at least those involved are being courteous, helpful and respectful. I saw my doctor on Friday via telehealth. He is rather oldschool and won't make his own appointments, so I have to call the clinic to schedule another appointment. Only one person is allowed to make his appointments apparently, his secretary. She was busy and was supposed to call me back on Friday but did not. Monday was a holiday so I needed to get a hold of them today to get that squared away. That's really issue two though, I'll come back to that in a second.

I called my pharmacy to have my Adderall filled and I was planning to pick up all my medicines today. Because of a dosage change, there is a prior authorization required. What's worse is that no one accounted for this and as of today, I am out of medicine. My doctor future dates my prescriptions to be picked up exactly 30 days after the previous. My pharmacy suggested I call my clinic and see if I could get them to get that in. It's a tossup to when it can be approved 1-72 hours. Backup to problem number two.

I knew this was going to be an issue, I had been calling the clinic since they opened at 9AM and no answer. Finally, after call number 76 (no joke...) someone answers, I wait for about 30 minutes, and around noon someone solved my appointment problem and told me they sent in the PA right then, and to give it a few hours.

I called my insurance to ask about it, if they had it, or if it could be expedited because I do need my medicine -- they haven't received anything. I'm not entirely freaking out about that because I've worked in a call center before, I know they delegate work. The person I talked to probably can't see anything more than what I can see from the website they instructed me to use in the automated portion of the call. They aren't over approval, or review, or incoming PAs. My pharmacy said they'd try to run the insurance after lunch (thats 2pm for them), and let me know.

I know it sounds stupid but I really hate the idea of going without medicine. I've already missed my morning dose and my evening dose is supposed to be 3PM. So, here is to day one without medicine. I really don't have the money to pay out of pocket, so I'm just going to have to go without I guess until the PA is approved. Here's to hoping it's sooner than later. Here's to hoping I can pick it up today and not have to go without. Here's to hoping....

Adderall isn't a core drug I have to have in the grand scheme of things -- it's a quality of life improvement drug for me, but it's not my core mood stability drug. I'm going to be OK in the end. I missed a day's worth of Adderall on a trip and I know I'll have some side effects-- specifically excessive sleepiness... but maybe it'll help the time pass. I know I'm complaining about something rather trivial. Like I said -- my mood stabilizing drugs I can pick up no problem. I should just be grateful for that much.

Repeating myself for the 4th time.. here's to hoping.

Just met my new pdoc. She seems OK. Probably still a serial killer, but at least she's a nice serial killer that thinks my cat is cute and laughs at my jokes. She's going to ween me off the Invega with tablets (but I am to stop cold turkey and call if the rash comes back), up my Lamictal, and add prazosin, keep taking the Thorazine, and only take half of the non-prescription substances I've been using (yeah, right! it'll probably be easier just to stop because I have no ability to control myself once I'm in that situation, especially with drinking)

Also I might be moving (again!) in with a friend. She has a lot of pain issues and said if I can cook, clean, and go shopping for her she'll let me live there rent free as long as I'm not a PITA. Seriously considering it because it kinda sucks here.

Oh, another thing I liked about my pdoc was that she asked about specific symptoms like hallucinations, racing thoughts, etc rather than just "are you manic/depressed/psychotic?"

@WindsThatBlow I hope for you that things go as smoothly as possible as quickly as possible. I encounter similar frustrations with that type of medication from time to time.

Good. Took me a second to figure out PITA. Ha! Hope that works out.

The whole system is different in USA. We pay a monthly price at our tax- card and that is it. We have many private pharmacies, but, as far as I have understood it, they don't have different prices. I don't know how they compete with each other, but for us who use their services it is very OK that we can chose the nearest. We also have a roof for how much it shall cost us to be sick, (hospitals are always free for everybody). When we have used about 300 $ on a doctor (all kinds), a clinical therapist or a physiotherapist or only at medications a person needs (like antidepressants, neuroleptica (anti-psychotics) bipolar, diabetes, chronic heart disease and so on), all these services are free for the rest of the year. You enter the doctors office and the paying machine refuse to take your money. The same happens at the pharmacy. This electronic system is very intelligent. I am glad that the medical engineers worked it out. This year I don't have to pay for doctors or necessary medication for the rest of the year. If I need, painkillers, benzos or something like that, I have to pay for them. They are not included under the "roof of payment" for necessary health expenses. In 2023 the paying starts again until the roof is reached.

That is expencive (at least in my eyes)!

I send my best wishes for your dog's healing!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nammu Yay! I got the lightbulb in the garage changed. I bought a 4 plex led light for the garage but it was winter so I wanted to wait until I wouldn’t need a jacket out there. Here it is September already! The current lightbulb went dark a month ago, but I kept forgetting it. Today during daylight hours I remembered! Yay! Hooo I hate going up on tall ladders. Happy that’s done!

That kind of thing can seem small, but in reality it's a huge accomplishment. Good job, Nammu!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuddyBoots I'm doing better, just having a little trouble staying asleep and super nervous about my pdoc appointment. I wish you could come up here just for the sake of getting out of the heat though!

That is so, so sweet of you Thank you. Actually, I would love to visit NH.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuddyBoots Just met my new pdoc. She seems OK. Probably still a serial killer, but at least she's a nice serial killer that thinks my cat is cute and laughs at my jokes. She's going to ween me off the Invega with tablets (but I am to stop cold turkey and call if the rash comes back), up my Lamictal, and add prazosin, keep taking the Thorazine, and only take half of the non-prescription substances I've been using (yeah, right! it'll probably be easier just to stop because I have no ability to control myself once I'm in that situation, especially with drinking) Also I might be moving (again!) in with a friend. She has a lot of pain issues and said if I can cook, clean, and go shopping for her she'll let me live there rent free as long as I'm not a PITA. Seriously considering it because it kinda sucks here. Oh, another thing I liked about my pdoc was that she asked about specific symptoms like hallucinations, racing thoughts, etc rather than just "are you manic/depressed/psychotic?"

Sounds like a terrific appointment! And hey...serial killers can be incredibly helpful, when they're in the right mood. Did you know that Ted Bundy worked a suicide hotline for a year? The woman he volunteered with, and was also friends with, wrote a book about working the crisis line with him. The book is called "The Stranger Beside Me."

I've often wondered how many lives he saved when compared with how many lives he took. One wonders...

I'm sending you love @Miguel'smom. The situation with your pup is as hard as life gets, imo.

I got good sleep last night. I took 10 mg ambien and fell asleep quickly and woke up 15 minutes before my alarm went off. Was able to easily get up and go to aqua fitness. Then I changed the bulb. Made a huge loop to pick up supplies at Walmart, a bubble envelope and litter among other things. Something else I’ve been procrastinating on because I didn’t feel up to it. Groceries and mailing my uncles book to him. All that on a good nights sleep!

Aqua fitness added a Tuesday morning class to the line up, which means I’m back to 3 a week again. I was hoping the Friday instructor was just for the summer but she seems to be permanent. I no longer go on fri because it’s impossible to follow her. She’s in the deep end and hard to see let alone lip read. I’m not the only one that can’t follow her but I’m less willing to present it’s fine. So now I have swimming m-t-w and if Christine goes back to Thursday nights I could do that. But it’s hard to get myself out the door for the 6:30 pm class.

My mom's GI ailments were resolved! The OTC meds I got her helped! I asked her about my Hadestown idea. She thinks it will be fun, but she wanted to wait for a resolution to her eye situation. (She has cornea surgery around Halloween.) Totally understandable and the troupe comes back to my general area in January, so it would still be feasible. My dad was listening in this time around as well and is still mad (36 hours later) that I'm not indulging his "What about?" and forgetting about the idea of having a nice time with my mother because there might not be a lot more coming. His possessiveness over her (and spitefulness towards me) is positively Freudian.

What I don't want is to be strung along until two weeks before when I've bought the tickets and in deference to my father's "judgement", be canceled on.

People have asked me before why I do so many things alone. Going to the movies, going to concerts, going on trips and vacations. Number one: I'm happy keeping my own company. Number two: No one's ever interested, but they can't bring themselves to tell me. Some do. Other times, I'll ask again and again just to have them go "Next time." again and again. I mean, EVERY FREAKING TIME!

I finally got tired of waiting, so I just up and did it. Now, a friend or coworker is one thing, but can I have a fun evening treating my mother to a Broadway musical without having to pull teeth? Again, EVERY FREAKING TIME!!

I took most of my night meds and ate a bowl of soup and I feel a lot better then I did earlier. I had some minor anxiety about the lump in my throat my doctor keeps saying I'm imagining. I'm still super tired though. The couch seems like a good place to go to when I need an hour of sleep around 5AM. But I've mostly been up since 11 last night. My calories are super super low. I'm 830 below my goal. I'm just tired and unable to get out of bed at the moment. Plus I don't want to eat anything that might set me off again. I like the plant based butter but I swear it does almost the same thing the eggs do. It makes me feel weird like I'm going to go insane. How does that even make any sense? Idk. I'll either figure something out or just give up for the day.

I do have pain in my throat thats getting worse and it could easily just be allergies but when I get actually sick it always starts with a sore throat first and it gets worse around this time of day.