Tag: tremors


Loser Like Me

14
May

My mom wants to start couponing.  She doesn’t want to do it with as much “passion” as the neurosis-filled Extreme Couponing, but she is very interested in doing it.  Of course, this could be an idea that she has that just goes away once she has a new idea.  (If you think I’m bad about picking up new projects and dumping them, then you should know that I am nowhere near as bad about it as my mom.)

Mom has been a lot more incoherent lately.  I think it may have to do with either the cause of the tremors that she’s experienced or it may be happening because of the treatment she has to use for the tremors.  I was “helping” her do her medicine last night and I saw how many psychoactive and anticonvulsant medications (Topamax, Lamictal, Lyrica, and Klonopin) she is on.  I know that she needs to be on them, but I have to wonder if they’re having some kind of ill-effect on her system.  Admittedly, she’s been on more of them in the past than she is now, but her body has been through a lot–especially as of late.  Her memory gets fried a lot more easily now and she jokes that she thinks she has Alzheimer’s.  I don’t think that’s it, and I really hope that it isn’t since I don’t want our family to go through that illness again.  I’ve told her that she needs to go to a neurologist, but she doesn’t seem to think its that serious.  She can’t walk half the time, she has nonsensical babbling spells, she has the tremors, and she has the memory issues–I think any one of those would be a good reason to go see a neurologist and doing all four just seems like it would definitely merit a trip to see a specialist.  Maybe she’ll change her mind.

I want her to find out what’s going on sooner than later.  I know that a lot of things are more easily fixed if the person gets help in the earlier stages.  Besides, with the (somewhat rapid) progression of the problems, it seems like she could be endangering herself too much if she waits much longer.  Maybe I’m just being too much of a worrywart, but I think this is something she should get checked out now.  I want her to know what it is.  I want to know what it is.  I want it to be fixable and I want it to be fixed.

Comment » | Family, Mental Health, Purchases, Sickness and Health

Essentially Shook Up

16
March

My mom went to the psychiatrist today. Normally, I don’t discuss her trips to the nutty place, but this one was kind of an interesting/important one. She thought she was reacting to one of her many psych meds, and she wanted to figure out which one the doctor thought it might be.

The psychiatrist, who also happens to be my psychiatrist, asked her if any family member had been diagnosed with an essential tremor.  My mom told her that I had been diagnosed with one at one point.  Well, the psychiatrist told my mom that she was meaning a parent or grandparent.  Basically, she wanted to know if it was something that my mom could have inherited from someone.  She said that there was typically a genetic reason for the tremor, and that it must not be there if no ancestor had been diagnosed with it.

Now, I don’t know if the psychiatrist was having a brain fart or thought that maybe I’m not the biological offspring of my parents, but I’m fairly certain that if I have it, then there still might be a genetic link.  I know my mom couldn’t get it from me, but I could’ve inherited it from her.

Since my mother couldn’t have possibly inherited it from me, and having a child with the condition isn’t a good reason to say that my mom might have it, the doctor settled on my mom’s Risperdal.  She then tried to figure out if she could give my mom a beta blocker.  She couldn’t, since my mom is already on one.  She looked for a calcium channel blocker, but my mom’s on one of those, too.  So, she told my mom that this side effect is to be expected for anyone who has been on Risperdal for over two years (my mom’s taken it for at least 10 years–it was one of the ones she OD’d on in 2001) and that she should come back if it got worse or if she ended up having some kind of seizure-like reaction.

 

2 comments » | Family, Mental Health

We Got The Beat

17
September

First off, I wanted to say congratulations to Jennifer on the birth of Audrey Lynn.  I happened to stumble onto her blog this afternoon and saw the precious photo of her.  She’s just too cute.

Okay, so, yesterday was my dad’s moody day, which actually makes sense.  As a kid/teenager, I hated Thursdays.  Thursdays were always the days that he would act like a toddler who had had all of his toys taken away and then smashed.  So, him reverting into that attitude actually seemed rather normal for him.

Now that I’m back on the interwebz and all, I thought I would once again promote Urban Sunrise, the 18+ forum that I run with Haley, Kara, Ashley, Angela, Jef, Natasha, Bren, Kate, etc.  With my absence and everyone else having real life obligations, the boards kind of slowed down.  So, if you’re over 18 (or a really mature 17), then please go join.  If you’re not into boards, but know someone who is, then please spread the word.  I would really like to have them be a lot more active.  Plus, we don’t bite.  Or, I know I don’t.  I can’t guarantee that the rest of the staff doesn’t.

I forgot to eat yesterday almost all day.  I woke up yesterday at around 9.  I didn’t eat until 5 in the afternoon, which was about 20 hours since the last meal I had had.  Needless to say, I was about to fall over from weakness, tremors, etc. because my hypoglycemia was not very happy with me.

I’m glad that my computer is back, but it still seems to be different.  Maybe once I find a decent wallpaper to use, it will feel more like home.  I had been using the ones that Melody had made for my TFL Secret Santa–one with Alexander Skarsgård in black & white (for my artsy account) & the other with Eric & Sookie from S2 (on my main account).  I know that I could’ve backed some stuff, but I honestly didn’t think it would ever get lost.  I’m also going to have to find a whole new set of fonts & brushes, since those are all gone.

I hope that Kate doesn’t get offended, but this morning I changed up my livejournal look.  It had been up since February, and, though I loved it, I kind of wanted a new look.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to come up with something better than the look it has right at this moment, but I think it looks fairly nice.

I got a little annoyed today at Technorati.  I had requested that this site be put back on their index.  Apparently, when they reviewed it, they determined that it didn’t meet their guidelines.  I sent them an email back asking why my site didn’t meet their guidelines, yet so many others (that have similar content, use similar scripts, and even go a little more commercial) are okay’d.  It seemed a little fishy.  I don’t even know why this site was taken off their index to begin with.  I know that not being included in Technorati is not the end of the world, but it would be nice if they would at least explain better what was “wrong” with this site.

I’m really thirsty today, which I think may have something to do with weather…or maybe I’m not drinking enough. I don’t really keep track of it as well as I used to.  I think I’ve begun slacking on my Sjögren’s issues.  The sicca symptoms have been pretty bad lately.  I have to be careful in the fall, because it starts getting drier and slightly cooler and I forget that I still need to keep myself just as hydrated.  One day I will remember how to do all these things.

I’ve begun obsessing a little about what to do in February of next year, when the site turns 10.  I want to celebrate, but I just haven’t decided how to do that.  Any suggestions would be great.

2 comments » | Family, Fanlistings, FPS-Related, Friends, General, Internet, Message Board, Rants, Sickness and Health

Long Time, No See

6
December

I’m not dead. I haven’t gone through any of my moderated messages (all 1370 of them) yet, but I’m sure that someone asked if I was okay. The truth is that I don’t know. This past month has been hectic, but I’ve survived, which I guess is a good thing.

Do you remember how I had to go on Inderal to reduce my tremors caused by Lithium? Well, since Inderal is a blood pressure medication and my blood pressure tends to run on the low end of normal, which is a weird thing for a “fat girl”, the Inderal was causing me to feel faint and to almost fall several times a day. I cut down to one pill at night. Well, since I cut that down, the 1200 mg of Lithium started doing a number on my tremors. I couldn’t handle money or anything valuable. I could punch in my PIN number or sign my own name. My mom and I decided that it was time that I lower my Lithium dosage until it’s time for me to go see my psychiatrist. It’s kind of working. I still shake, and now I’m more depressed.

Speaking of being depressed, which is something my Art of Interviewing doesn’t really understand, I’ve spent a lot of time sleeping and not wanting to stop sleeping. I’ve just been trying to avoid reality and pain and stress. It didn’t work, but I feel a little better rested than I have in a while. That doesn’t mean that once I finish this entry that I won’t go get on the couch and go back to sleep. Actually, I can’t go back to sleep today. I have my last final and my last speech to prepare for for tomorrow. Bleh.

I also need to type up a letter saying how bad my Art of Interviewing teacher has been. I have to remember how she had a “strict dress code” that only applied to people who weren’t a part of her clique. I have to remember the extreme favoritism that she showed towards said clique. I have to remember that the woman who said she didn’t cuss anymore used several profane words when yelling at us over a test that a lot of us failed, except members of said clique. I have to remember when she said that being gay was wrong. I have to type up how she wanted verbatim answers when she said she didn’t want them, and then turned around and told us that she wanted us to answer the questions verbatim. I have to remember how she picked on certain students. I have to remember that when she was giving our Chapter 11 test that she hadn’t even read the chapter. I have to remember that she changed Jenny’s and my interview appointment time without telling us. I also have to remember that she said she was too busy to make it up, and then on Friday, I saw her eating candy upstairs with nothing to do. Basically, it’s going to be a long letter. I just don’t know how to put it all together.

The test that most people failed in AoI was one that I got a 36.5, despite studying a lot for it. This leads to the teacher saying that if we failed we didn’t study. Then, I turned around and made an 81 and 82 on the next two tests. I think I got a 100 on the last test we took. I’m not stupid and I am studying. The only big difference between those tests and the ones I failed were that they were basically over 1 chapter at a time, instead of 2-3.

Another school related thing–I got a roommate. She seems nice, but I was quite shocked that she came into my room mid-semester, no past mid-semester. The dorm counselors thought that I would automatically be okay with it. But how can you be okay with something you didn’t know was going to happen so soon? How can you just smile and say that’s great? I’m having to get used to her stuff and her being there. Next semester she’ll have to get used to my being there more, since I’ll be staying over Monday and Wednesday nights.

There has been some happy news. For the first time that I can remember, I bought a present for everyone who regularly spends Christmas with me. I also got gift cards to send to my cousins’ children on Daddy’s side of the family. I hope everyone likes their presents. I’m having a hard time keeping my dad from knowing what he’s getting. He hates for his presents to be spoiled, so I have to bite my lip to keep from telling him.

There is other happy news on the Christmas shopping front. With my Pell Grant refund, I bought lots of stuff for a Salvation Army Angel. Her name is Lexus and she’s 6. Instead of filling the one small bag that the Salvation Army gives to adopters, my family filled 3 of those bags plus 4 pretty large garbage bags. I hope that she’s an only child because if she got a lot of stuff and a sibling didn’t get much, it wouldn’t be fair.

I checked my weight over Thanksgiving and I’d lost another 10 pounds. That means that I’ve lost a grand total of about 30 pounds since the end of September. Only 70 more to go. The weight loss has been pretty evident. I’ve had to retire three pairs of jeans because when I’m in them, they fall off or almost fall off. One of those not only almost fell off, it caused me to trip and fall while walking to class a couple of weeks ago. That wasn’t fun. The only bad part, other than the wet and grassy leg, was that my hip hurt for a few days.

I plan on checking my e-mail after I get my finals done. It’s going to be crazy since I haven’t checked it in a month. Not checking it for a half of a week leads to like 1000 new messages on my main account. Most of them are spam, though. Since I haven’t been on so long, I probably have lost a few of my fanlistings, but I’m not really concerned with that right now. I got on and approved the pending members. That took quite a while.

I need to make a Christmas theme for this site. I wanted to make one for Autumn and Thanksgiving, but I was too busy with school and too depressed. I should probably make a general winter theme as well. I better not start making a list of what themes I need to make because then I’ll end up with like 100 themes to do and I’ll get burnt out.

7 comments » | Alabama A&M, Fanlistings, Friends, Internet, Mental Health, Sickness and Health

     

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