Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted. As you could probably tell, it was due to my fibro having me feeling so low, go figure eh? Couldn’t post on my fibro blog because of my fibro. Heh.
As to my last post, I have yet to try the CoQ10 or Mila due to medicine changes for other problems and am trying to adjust to those before throwing something else in the mix.
In addition to the Lexapro I mentioned I was taking for my depression, I also took a blood pressure medication that could also be used as a migraine blocker called Verapamil, due to suffering from intense migraines from a young age.
I was still having mood issues, so my psychiatrist put me on a mood stabilizer called Lamictal, which I had to take time to adjust to, but which has done wonders to help me. But then, unfortunately, my Verapamil quit helping me after me taking it for over two years and it controlling me headaches completely that entire time, so I’ve been switching around on meds for headache blocking for the moment, and trying to find one that doesn’t cause adverse side effects that were like the conditions I had/have (such as depression and such), so I’ve had to put off adding even more stuff to the mix so that I’ll know if something actually helps me while I’m taking it.
But in an interesting development med-wise, I saw a segment on 60 Minutes about college kids who were taking Ritalin and Adderol, the ADD/ADHD meds, in order to help them focus for studying and taking tests and such, and it got me thinking that if normal people who don’t have those conditions are taking these meds and are able to function, could they help someone with fibro who suffers severely from fibro-fog?
Fibro-fog, which I don’t think I’ve mentioned before, is where you can’t focus or concentrate, either due to lack of energy or exhaustion, or some other unknown reason that’s because of fibro. It’s why a lot of people can’t handle school and work. We can’t remember things or forget what we’re doing while during it and can’t follow conversations or thoughts and are spacey and flighty and absent-minded, in ways we didn’t used to be.
And for someone like me, who used to do really well in high school, having this part of fibro has been especially hard for me, because I was so good in school. I feel like I’ve lost a part of my intelligence in not being able to have the deep conversations and intelligent conversations because I just can’t concentrate or even think long enough to have these kinds of convos.
So I decided to be my own science experiment, and try Ritalin to see if it would help me in dealing with fibro-fog. I’ve been on it about a week or so, and so far I’ve noticed that it gives me more energy and I tend to be restless and more talkative and wanting to be up and doing stuff, as opposed to just lying around all the time.
But as to concentration and focusing, it’s more difficult to determine if it’s helping because the Ritalin is also causing me some sleep issues because I’m taking it so late, since I don’t wake up until the afternoon due to needing more sleep than normal people because the fibro robs us of our ability to get restful sleep, no matter how much we sleep.
So I’ve been staying up later, unable to sleep, regardless of taking my sleep medications (another med I’m on because of the sleep issues caused by fibro), or just because I’m wired and not quite yet “ready” to go to sleep and feel I keep wanting to do more and more and keep pushing my bed-time back later and later. I’m hoping to start getting up earlier and taking it then and hopefully being able to go back to getting to bed earlier. Hopefully, once I start getting enough sleep, I’ll see some effect on the concentration and focus issues.
I do also try to exercise more to get the energy I have out in order to try to be able to sleep as well.
I still have pain, but it seems it’s taken a back-seat when I’m thinking more about being tired yet still having energy, though when I do feel such exhaustion, it tends to exacerbate the pain or just make it tougher for me to deal with because I just don’t have as much of the ability to deal with it mentally or physically. It’s a weird combination of restless energy and exhaustion.
But I’ll hopefully be more diligent now about keeping up with this and letting everyone know how my journey with Ritalin goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment