Roll Call Four

You're right. I should have. I'm at work now and wishing I'd stayed home. Can't breathe through my nose and my head hurts.

He called this morning after I left the house and said he was nervous about working fulltime. I'm so afraid he'll be fired. I'm picking up his Ritalin script today. Maybe that will help him focus his attention and learn the job?

I'm glad you're out of the hospital, junk! Behave yourself for now on.

And I'm sorry they couldn't give you that sample quicker, Erti. I hope you're able to keep yourself relaxed in the meantime...

Nice to see you around, Kureha. How are things with you?

Wowwwww, that sucks Cos. You can tough it out!! And I really think the Ritalin might help him. I'm sure he'll feel more confident in his abilities if he can manage to focus successfully.

I'm better today -- finally out of that anxiety funk the psychiatrist put me in. Actually meditated for the first time in ages last night!! Tried a guided meditation on the yoga youtube channel I am in love with. Slipped right into a trance with no effort whatsoever & have been feeling good since! A little stressed this morning because my M-I-L spent a lot of unnecessary money on my bf & I. But I'm trying really hard not to let it spoil my groove. I'm so frugal, hahahaha.

Have a good day, everyone!

And if anyone's interested in learning the basics of yoga, to stretch tense muscles or relax for a bit, here's a really easy video. [And if you can't do some things, fix them a bit to where you're capable.]

That's reassuring to hear. He just needs to be successful at something. Seems like he can't catch a break.

Glad you're doing better.

things will be better soon i know... just have to tough it out for a little while longer now...!!!!! *~*

thanks for the video!!!!!!

I really hope you get some use out of it! Since I couldn't meditate for the longest time, couldn't sit still without my mind going to weird ****, I decided yoga might be a good idea. You're too busy moving & focusing on your breathing/muscles. It's really relaxing. And that one isn't physically demanding, except for maybe the incline plane part. I just prop myself up on my hands instead of my elbows & it works just fine.

i have trouble (lots) with my mind meandering to places i wish it wouldnt so meditation is difficult for me as well.......

ive never tried yoga tho.. so thanks... a lot

im ok... had therapy today... T is very proud of me... i feel good

I'm glad you feel good!! And yeah, meditation is really hard for me now even though I did it every single night for 4 1/2 years. It sucks, because I used to go on such cool head-trips. Ah well!

Went totally super-manic today, felt the verge of psychosis creeping in. Started to get really paranoid & jumpy & hyper-aware of my body. Freaked the **** out. Started to act out & do some risky/uncharacteristic stuff. Took half of a Risperdal because it was getting that bad -- boyfriend's suggestion while I texted him at work. It felt really weird. It was only five minutes until I felt this huge DROP. In my head; of feeling druggy but not sleepy. Put Harry Potter on & snuggled under a blanket, ate some fruit, had to drink 3 bottles of water & a juice before my mouth wasn't dry. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I still feel "off". Took an hour & a half long nap. It got rid of the anxiety & psychosis, but my thoughts still raced a bit, particularly about the physical changes when my body got sedated. It's just something that's really hard to get used to... I don't regret taking it or anything, but I'm just glad it won't have to be every day.

Stepdad is in the hospital. He had 1/3 of his kidneys cut out. I went and got an ultra sound on my liver. My sister had a concert today and we went out to eat.

Day 5 at work for my son. He worries so much. I was starting to get worried too. They've been training all week. This company hired a bunch of people all at once, so I guess it's like a classroom experience. Lots of training, followed by quizzes. Well, my son was fretting so much, thinking he'd done poorly on the quizzes. So finally yesterday he asked them how he was doing. Turns out he got 100% on one quiz and only missed 2 out of 30 on the other. So he's doing fine.

Glad it's going ok

hi everybody. getting caught up on what's going on with everyone. glad to see everyone posting again.

And I'm glad to see you back. What's up?

Heyyy, how are you gr3tta?
Wow Cos, it's really great to hear that your son did so well on those quizzes!! I hope the positive validation for his hard work was enough to boost his confidence & reduce his anxiety. That's really awesome.

I'm finally feeling human... It took a day & a half before I felt like "myself" again. Hahahaha but at least I was in a good mood. It was my M-I-L's birthday today so I made her a semi gourmet coffee & put two birthday candles in a pound cake since I didn't plan this in advance! Lmao. Hopefully tomorrow I still feel like "me" & I don't backslide into mania... I really don't want to take that again if I can help it. Now I know why everyone here goes med-noncompliant. But I don't think I can take that chance at this point. I'm trying REALLY hard to get my **** together.

I hope this is the right place to introduce me to this part of the forum. I just want you guys to know a little bit about me. I have had paranoid schizophrenia since I was 11. I am in my late twenties now. It was bad going through middle and high school and then college with it but I made it through. Even through that, I still live with my parents as they are my legal guardians. I dealt with PS for a long time without medication in my childhood and as such I was bullied tremendously for my "weird" behavior. I came here looking for a safe place to talk since I also have other quirks of a psychological nature. I hope to get to know you all and have a good time. I socialize mainly with my guardians and my psychological team so it will be great to talk to others that actually have schizophrenia.

I think it has boosted his confidence a bit. He knows he can do the job. He's still stressing, though. It's just what he does.

He lost weight last week. Normally he has very little appetite. In fact, he sometimes feels like eating is 'gross.' So to keep from losing weight he has to force himself to eat a little bit here and there throughout the day. This past week he was focused on work, so he didn't think to eat enough. He lost 2.5 pounds, dropping from 140 to 137.5. 140's kind of the minimum we have set. Ideally he should probably be mid-140's, but it's just too much work for him to stay that high.

I've been learning to ferment vegetables. I made my own sauerkraut last week, and I have to say I like it better than the store-bought stuff. So last night I started some pickled carrot and ginger. And I was looking over the recipes for pickled pearl onions and pickled garlic and pickled beets. I'm going to have a fridge full of pickled things soon!

Anyone know anything about aromatherapy? I tend to think it's bunk, but I found an article about a study that showed improved cognitive function in elderly dementia patients after a month of aromatherapy. So I was looking at the aromatherapy section of our health food store. I don't know if it really has any therapeutic value, but it kind of looking interesting. I bought some grapefruit essential oil and put some on my wrist. I smelled like a grapefruit the rest of the day.

Never posted in this thread before... hi everyone!

costello, can I come raid your kitchen? Love me some pickled foods.

Welcome!

Sure. I love pickled foods too.

A little disappointed by the sauerkraut. The recipe called for caraway seed, and I think that's what I'm tasting that I don't care much for. This is only my second attempt. The first one was an unmitigated disaster, so I guess I'm moving in the right direction.

Trying to work the kittycam at the Wichita shelter: http://www.kshumane.org/kittycam.htm. Disappointing. You have to wait so long for your turn. Then you only have two minutes. And it's so slow to react. And I can't find any cats. And I was confusing my small cat Linlin. I kept calling that I wanted to see a cat, so she'd come running up and stare at me - I guess trying to oblige.

Hey Cos, if you don't like the Caraway, I'd try a different type of fennel. I'm not sure what type I use, it's a light gold rather than a dark brown. I use it to spice up this dish I do with kielbasa, sauerkraut, & potato dumpling. It's got a hint of sweet, almost like clove, but it's nowhere near as strong.

Thanks for the tip. The type I used is dark. I'll see if I can find the lighter kind.

I love kielbasa and sauerkraut!

hi costello. if you don't like the caraway seeds, you could also try rye seeds, or even celery seeds, which have a milder flavour.
on the aromatherapy note - as far as anything major, or curative, i thinks it's just silly. however, that doesn't mean that you get no response from smells at all. i know that i find the smell of peppermint calming. which seems strange to me because it's a sharp smell. but a lot of smells just give me a headache. i like the peppermint a lot though.

Ahhh & I meant to comment about the aromatherapy earlier! Eucalyptus & Oregano really help my boyfriend when he's having asthma -- they seem to open his lungs right up. Citrusy scents make me feel more alert. Cinnamon, coconut, vanilla, & musky scents calm me right down. I mean... Most of it is psychological, really. What you find personally comforting & pleasing. But there are some that can help with headaches, breathing problems, & the like. I always like having a few different essential oils on hand for different things. Rosemary oil with apple cider vinegar & honey is great for my hair; tea tree oil & shea butter oil makes for good accupressure/massage therapy; rose oil or neroli (bitter orange) are good facial astringents while sweet almond or jojoba are good moisturizers... GEEZE -- I could probably write a book by now. Hahah!!

Argh! I was in the middle of writing a lengthy thing about what I've learned about aromatherapy in the past few days. There's more to it than the placebo effect or psychological aspects. I lost my post, though, and haven't the will to rewrite it. Maybe some other day.

Ok, let me try a short bit on aromatherapy.

I've always thought aromatherapy was all placebo. Since I have a really poor sense of smell, I never had much interest in it.

Then I was reading that spices like clove have a chemical called eugenol which is a scavenger of peroxynitrite which has been implicated as a potential cause of Alzheimer's. One good way of getting that chemical into you is by inhaling it. It doesn't matter if you can smell it apparently. People with Alzheimer's tend to lose their sense of smell anyway, and there are some studies which indicate aromatherapy can help them. (In fact, in the study I was looking at, the patients with Alzheimer's were helped, but the patients with other forms of dementia weren't.)

The NIH maintains databases of alternative or complementary treatments - like suppliements - with available information about research. It does include information about various essential oils used in aromatherapy. Some of them effect medications or they have contradictions or adverse effects. So the aromatherapy is doing something. If certain aromatherapy treatments can make your diabetes or high blood pressure medications too strong, then they're affecting you.

My mom told me yesterday that her doctor says she's hypothyroid. He's prescribed something for her. Could this be the cause of her memory problems? I'm cautiously optimistic that treating the thyroid will help her memory. Or at the least slow down the problems.

costello - you do the best research on things! thanks for always sharing your findings.
thyroid out of whack causes all sorts of weird things, so that is a possibility. just a thought - did you know that speech language pathologists (speech therapists) offer treatments for improvements in cognition? including memory? some people don't know that, it's often covered by insurance, including medicare a or b, and it's often an option even in patients with things such as brain injuries and dementia. (not that your mom has either of those) just thought i'd suggest it as a possibility.

i have got rats running all over everything right now, but it doesn't especially bother me. rats are neutral. i just have to keep reminding myself not to react to them. it's possibly effecting my reactions to real-to-everyone stimuli too, but i'm not sure how to tell. (the rats are real-to-me only)
one of my dogs is in the hospital, she is getting iv fluids for her kidneys (basically doggy dialysis) i am hopeful she will be ready to come home tomorrow. her values have come down a lot, which is excellent, and can be seen to be making her feel better. i miss her though.