Is it just a blah day, or am I worsening?

I quit Lexapro on Friday and switched back to Celexa - cost reasons.

I felt GREAT on Lexapro, but really no different than when I'd been on Celexa. Not sure why doc switched me in the first place.

Today I just feel sorry for myself, and yesterday I felt irritable, but that was mostly because I was having work difficulties and my cat kept jumping in my lap at the worst possible times and stepping all over the keyboard. I hope that's why I was feeling testy. I can't imagine that the med change would have me feeling this way in a matter of three days, when it's basically the same drug to begin with.

I was paying the bills this morning. They're the same amounts they always are. That's the problem. They.....never.....go......down. I'm just not seeing a light at the end of the financial tunnel. I'm renting a 3 b/r house with a yard and a garage, and I love not having people above and below and on both sides of me, but I'm tired of having to jiggle the toilet handle and sidestepping the blistering hot furnace grate in the LR floor and navigating the skinny basement stairs to reset the circuit when it pops because I used the microwave while the kitchen light was turned on. At $400 a month, there's no way I want to give the space and privacy up, but I'm afraid to call my landlord about the electrical issues for fear that he'll jack up the rent after repairing things, like a previous landlord did.

I want my own place. I don't want to rent for the rest of my life, but buying a house isn't in the cards for me. I see the credit card bills continuing to come in and no break in sight. 12K on one, 5 on another, 4 on another, a $300 car payment for three more years, back taxes in the range of 30K and another 10K every year because the bills I have take nearly 100% of my income, definitely more than the 70% that I'd have left after setting aside 30% to taxes every paycheck......

I feel trapped right now.

Do you have a lease? If so, he can't jack up the rent on a whim. (I guess there's always that chance when the lease needs to be renewed, but that risk already exists.)

-Ben

I've been here for 2-1/2 years past the lease expiring. He never renewed it, never upped the rent. I kind of want to let sleeping dogs lie, you know?

The jiggly toilet handle I can handle, the floor furnace is an annoyance, but the electrical thing has me worried. I imagine one of these days I'm going to drive down the street and see the place in flames from wires shorting out.

I called T and said the meds seemed to be doing OK, except I'd had two irritable days but I thought it was circumstantial and I'd let him know next week if things seemed to keep going downhill.

Then the dentist called with a reminder 22 hours before an appointment I don't remember making back in August and said if I didn't cancel within 48 hours I'd be charged $40 for a short-notice cancellation. I snapped and said "I don't have $150 for an appointment right now. And what sense does it make to call 24 hours ahead of time to remind me, when I have to cancel no less than 48 hours ahead of time? Just charge me the frickin' $40." and hung up.

I called T back and left a voice mail "uh, yeah, you might want to call me back after all."

In many states, there is language in the lease regarding increases. And there is some regulation about how much they can increase it -- they can't double it or anything like that. Usually limited to a percentage.

Really? He couldn't raise it by 50% or anything? That's good.

you know, you can fix the toilet handle for under $10 and about 30 minutes in the worst case. As far as the electrical circuit...if there's nothing else on besides the light and the microwave, the breaker itself is probably bad. Again, not expensive to fix, but a little scarier, though pretty easy and not dangerous. You might want to pick up one of the how-to books at Home Depot or Lowe's, they'll tell you how to do these things. Plus, it will give you the satisfaction of having taken care of it yourself. Also, if you ever do get you own home, you'll have to do these things yourself, or pay someone to fix them. Go for it!

DJ

Thanks DJ. I'll look into the wiring thing. It just seems really odd to me that I'll have a couple of 60 watt bulbs lit and the microwave, and the darn thing pops. It hadn't done that up until a couple of months ago. The light in the ceiling fan, which is on the same circuit, won't light. The light started flickering if the fan was running, and now it won't light unless I'm holding the bulb in just the right position.

The toilet....that one I've tried and tried. It's an older toilet and the newer replacement parts don't fit it quite right. I think I need to wrap some Teflon tape around the bolt that screws onto the handle. I can tighten it back up and within a few days it's come unscrewed so the handle starts falling off and you have to finagle it around to get it back in place.

actually, I just checked -- in Wisconsin, there are no caps on increases.

But, it could be in your lease. You should check.

And in the future, insist that a rent increase clause be included in your lease. Definitely!

Here: Wisc. Tenant Rights

i'm sorry that you're feeling blah right now. you've got a lot on your plate! ask around and see if anyone that you know can look at the electrical. how about your stepdad?

i'm scared to death of electric and gas, so i'm no help whatsoever. i do have a readers digest "how to" book that tells you how to do those things. it's packed or i'd copy pages for you. library might have one.

I was trying to heat up a cup of water for tea. I have one of those Sunbeam Hot Shots. You pour the water in the top, hit the "heat" button and wait for the red light to go off. Takes all of about 30 seconds to reach boiling. It popped the freakin' circuit breaker. The only other thing turned on was the kitchen light. It's a 20W (I think) fluorescent bulb. The TV's on it, but it's turned off. The phone and answering machine are on it. How can the circuit not handle that? Grrrrrr I checked the breaker box; it was installed in 1997. The number on that particular switch is 20, whatever that means.

Does anyone know if they would have replaced the wiring at the same time? Wouldn't that be kind of negligent if they left the original wiring in place? It was installed by an electrical contractor. This house is pretty old. I wouldn't be surprised if the original wiring was that cloth insulated stuff.

I know this isn't really about depression any more, but I will be depressed if I have to move or pay higher rent on this place that isn't worth more than I'm already paying.

shirley , are there replaceable "fuse things" in the breaker box? some old ones have those. they look sorta like shotgun shells. i still want you to get your stepdad to look at it. i'm scared you're going to end up getting hurt. i have a hotpot too and i can't'see how it could blow a circuit!!

lightbulb moment! check numbers and such on breaker and go online and see if you can find info!! brand name also!

In Portland, electrical inspections are evident because the city slaps a blue sticker containing the inspection date on the electrical box. Is there any evidence of an inspection?

It is VERY possible that there could have been a new box installed but the original wiring left, even with an inspection. What you are describing is a fire hazard, if so -- I'm not sure it's worth the risk.

Did you ever dig out your lease? Did it say anything about increases?

It says the last day of the lease term was Sept. 6, 2003, and it's not automatically renewable. We're supposed to agree in writing if the tenancy is to continue. We've just had a verbal agreement ever since then. He's a decent guy. The grocery store has their lease with him too. He's not even in the state anymore. He moved to North Carolina.

I'm just gun shy about asking about repairs because a landlord I had five years ago upped my rent after he had to replace the furnace because it was leaking carbon monoxide, then took me to court to try and get me to pay him more towards the security deposit to make up the difference between the original rent and the new rent. When I had water leaking through the roof and into the ceiling lights, he told me "it wasn't that bad." He also didn't disclose that the former tenant shot himself in what was my bedroom. Kids had nightmares for a long time after they found out about that one. I went to court and the judge dropped all of his financial demands. He still glares at me any time he sees me in the stores because I'm the only tenant that he didn't suck more money out of.

Anyway....there's no sticker on the circuit box, but all of the wiring running to it is new. It's that really heavy duty coated kind.

I just called the contractor who installed it. He said it's just that it's an older house and the wiring can't be split. I've got four rooms on one circuit - kitchen, living room, bathroom, and my son's room. He said now they put in 4 circuits for the kitchen alone. He said if it pops when nothing with a big power draw is turned on, then it's something to worry about, but when it pops when I've got something running, it's actually doing it's job and preventing a safety hazard. Damn nuisance, that's what it is.

I realized that it started popping around the same time I bought a slightly more powerful microwave and plugged it in to a different outlet than the old one. If I plug it into the outlet with the fridge, which is on a different circuit, it doesn't pop.

Again, the circuit breaker can be old or simply defective...I had one that drove me crazy for a couple of years until I figured it out.. It is really pretty common. Get another breaker of the same ampacity and swap it out.

DJ

I think I need to go back on Lexapro, or else up my Celexa. I used to think I did OK on Celexa, but after feeling really OK on Lexapro, now its feel worse in comparison.

I'm feeling irritable more. Maybe it's because the kids have been home all day because of the blizzard, or because the cat jumps on the keyboard a lot, or every time I stand up for a second to stretch my son takes over the computer and then won't get off so I can get back to work.

It's been a semi-stressful day. I don't do well with work when my son is confined to the house. I've only managed half a day's work so far and it's already 6:30 p.m. Chances are tomorrow will be more of the same because of this damn blizzard. We have a severe winter storm advisory in effect until 11:00 a.m. Friday, which means no school again.

I'm frustrated with all the work yet ahead of me and could easily start heading into a downward spiral if I don't nip feeling sorry for myself in the bud. Money is THE stressor that can send me into a tailspin if something interferes with the ability to earn it, like today. Earlier in the week we had server problems, so I was involuntarily unable to work for half a day, and now this.

I don't know if it's the circumstances, or the med change, or a combination of both. I just know I don't want to worsen.

((( WI-FIGHTER ))) I am so sorry its been a hard time and today is very frustrating..we are under watches and watchings too...but I do not work nor need my isp...I think anyone in your place would be upset and down..hang in there

Storm is over, sun is out. My driveway was totally drifted in and I got stuck while trying to get my daughter to school. I managed to rock it enough to get it back in the garage, and luckily the neighbor was out snowblowing and opened up the driveway for me. I was going to pay him but he disappeared too quickly.

Our San Diego office has been having firewall problems this week, so we keep getting kicked off the server. Then they send e-mail last night saying because of accounts getting backlogged with the downtime, we need to step up the pace and put in extra hours. Well how the hell are we supposed to put in extra hours when the server keeps going down?

I just called and left a voicemail for T about wanting to go back on Lexapro, or maybe upping Celexa to 40 mg. Does anyone know what the Lexapro to Celexa ratio is? I had been on 20 of Celexa and felt OK. Then I was switched to 20 of Lexapro and felt great. He put me back on Celexa at my request and now I'm backsliding in comparison.

Even if it drives me bonkers this weekend, I'm going to move my work desk out of the kitchen and into my bedroom where I can shut the door. I know, I know, you aren't supposed to have your sleep and work space in one area, but being in the wide open space where I am now just sets me up for constant interruptions when the kids are here. i'll set up my folding screens to block the computer space from the rest of my bedroom.

If my cat jumps on my lap and walks all over the keyboard, I think I'm going to have to ..... I don't know. I love her, she's my baby, she just wants some attention. She doesn't know she's making things harder for me. Maybe I just need to take 15 minutes and have some petting time with her and she'll be satisfied.

I picked up a computer on eBay last night for $79. Now the kids (mostly my son) will have something to keep them from bugging me to get off my work computer. I figure the cost will be worth the diminished stress.

Things appear to be better at the moment, but I still feel down. I just don't want to work. I'm frustrated.