Phase 2: Clinic Visit 3 (Lexapro plus "mystery pill")

I guess I haven't told you guys how my clinic visits have changed since I got randomized and put in phase 2 of this study.

Well, I have had 3 of them so far, and they've gone about the same way:

1. Fill out forms I filled out for phase 1, plus a whole new set of forms that ask some different questions and have me rate different things (different side effects, mood effects, pain levels, etc.).
2. Sit with Research Assistant (been seeing Research Guy lately for some reason) and they ask me the same set of questions as from Phase 1, plus a whole new set of questions about different side effects (like the twitching....weeeee!).
3. Sit with RN to talk about how I am doing on the medicine and tell them about any side effects I am having as well.
4. Have my blood pressure/pulse rate taken and step on the scale for a nice dose of weight loss motivation.


I also had another EKG at my 2nd clinic visit, but they said I won't have to have another one of those til right before Phase 3.

So I had one of these visits today, and basically they want me to keep doing what I am doing and just see how it goes. twitching is getting less intense, but dizziness is still pretty intense for a few hours, so hopefully they both go away. SOON.

I'm still waking up at 8:30...which is fun. Also, last night I lay down for a nap at about 4:30, set my alarm for 6....and woke up at 1:30am. yup. also fun.

Beginning to wonder if all this crap is worth it (even though I haven't felt depressed in like 2 weeks). I'll give it a few more weeks to see if things even out.

weight: 201 (*sigh*)
depression symptoms: a little bit irritable with people...
possible medication side effects: twitching, dizziness, blurry vision, erratic sleep patterns

Equillibrium

So I have been taking 1 pill a day for a week now. It's kind of evened things out. I still start twitching a little about an hour or so before I'm supposed to take my pill, and still get a bit blurry and dizzy a couple of hours after I take my pill, but between when the dizziness stops and the twitching begins I feel pretty good. My mood is a TON better than before the mystery pill. Motivation is a lot better, too.

I've been gaining weight. But that could be due to the copious amounts of stuffing, green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes and gravy I ate over the holidays. Not to mention any game playing snacks. So I'm trying to regulate my diet and see if I start losing weight again. At least the holiday weight.

Sleeping has been really weird. My body keeps waking me up at like 8am. no matter when I go to sleep. Which is fine if I went to sleep at 10...but if I go to sleep at 2am and wake up at 8...not so much.

Anyways, I have a 7:45am staff meeting tomorrow so I need to get to sleep. Just wanted to update while I was thinking about it.

Twitching revisited

Started twitching again today around 11:30 or so...

just took my pill for today, so hopefully it will stop in a couple of hours.


It's kind of disturbing to me that I started twitching sooner after my last pill than last time.

good times

almost exactly 2 hours after I took the pill, the twitching stopped.


dizziness has returned a bit, but it's much better than the twitching.

*sigh*

withdrawl part 2

Been on and off the phone with RL since major twitches/general feeling like crappiness started.

She just called me back with male nurse to give me a game plan.


Just took 1 dose of "mystery pill" (although I feel like it's not such a mystery anymore).


Going to pay close attention to myself for the next couple of hours to see if twitches end/lessen and if dizziness or anything else returns.


Take another dose tomorrow (so 1 a day instead of 2 a day basically).

Call them back on Friday.


what a way to ring in the new year.

will probably be back with more later today.

Withdrawl?!? wtf!?

This is me. twitching uncontrollably. feeling like utter shit. nauseous. twitching. freaking out. hot and cold at the same time.

Keep in mind that I am trying to sit completely still during that entire video.


I'm gonna go ahead and guess that I wasn't on placebo.


either that, or something else is going majorly wrong with me about 27 hours since taking my last mystery pill.

this. sucks. big. time.

Dizziness.

Dizziness so severe that I had to leave work early. It's been pretty consistent the past week or so, but seeming to get worse.

Called RL. Stopping mystery drug for 2 days to see if symptoms clear up. If they do, then I restart the drug in two days and see if they come back. If they come back, we know for sure it's mystery drug causing them. If not...who the hell knows.


*sigh* trading depression for severe dizziness. good stuff.