Today is the day before my 17th wedding anniversary (weÂve been married HOW long?) Today, we used the equity from the sale of our Denver house to buy an Arkansas home. Bigger, newer and in a great neighborhood, and much more affordable. Today, and for several days in a row, my mood has been level and very good. Today, IÂm alive and with my family, and I feel lucky to have that.
We made a couple of changes to my meds regimen. Melissa and I have learned (actually, she learned and educated me) from our psychiatric adventures that one rule holds true always: You NEVER change more than one medication at a time. Never. I was taking Risperdal in the morning and then as needed mid-day. My local pdoc changed that to 200mg at night. It seems that Risperdal has a strong sedating effect in addition to quieting mania. Better taken at night. I did that change for a couple of weeks before changing anything else. Good change. I also switched to extended release buproprion and a little more of it. I like that change too. And then, I dropped the extended release alprazolam and went to just regular alprazolam at night. Between the alprazolam and the Risperdal at night, I have no need for the Lunesta I was taking. I usually fall asleep before IÂm ready. All-in-all, some good meds moves have resulted in some improved and more level mood days. (my life is tabulated in "mood days", in contrast to most people moving in "calendar days.")
I have decided, once we get moved and get life moving forward again, that IÂm going to continue my diving education. I hope to start working on my Divemaster rating before spring. It should take me about a year to get through that training. Hopefully, by then, I can find a way to get to some good diving water for my certification dives (Beaver Lake is closeby. Its far from a desirable diving location. The water is murky with about 6 feetvisibilitylity and a thermal at about 30 feet. The Caribbean it ain't.) Then, if all goes as planned, IÂd like to move into getting my instructor certification. Something to shoot for. Maybe, several years down the road, I can spend my winters in a warm sunny place teaching people how to dive or taking them on underwater tours of some spectacular scuba areas.
So thatÂs the latest update. Nothing much on the mood front. Lots going on in life generally. It will be nice to get this move done and be out of Âthe boxes. It seems weÂve been living out of boxes for 8 months now, since we decided to put the house on the market in April. Whenever I need something, no matter what it is, I can be sure that its located in Âthe boxes. It will be great to have a house to work on again. Lots of little home improvement projects to keep me busy. IÂm still working a very meager number of hours at the liquor store. Just enough to let me feel like IÂm out of the house a reasonable amount of time. Its good social interaction time.
We made a couple of changes to my meds regimen. Melissa and I have learned (actually, she learned and educated me) from our psychiatric adventures that one rule holds true always: You NEVER change more than one medication at a time. Never. I was taking Risperdal in the morning and then as needed mid-day. My local pdoc changed that to 200mg at night. It seems that Risperdal has a strong sedating effect in addition to quieting mania. Better taken at night. I did that change for a couple of weeks before changing anything else. Good change. I also switched to extended release buproprion and a little more of it. I like that change too. And then, I dropped the extended release alprazolam and went to just regular alprazolam at night. Between the alprazolam and the Risperdal at night, I have no need for the Lunesta I was taking. I usually fall asleep before IÂm ready. All-in-all, some good meds moves have resulted in some improved and more level mood days. (my life is tabulated in "mood days", in contrast to most people moving in "calendar days.")
I have decided, once we get moved and get life moving forward again, that IÂm going to continue my diving education. I hope to start working on my Divemaster rating before spring. It should take me about a year to get through that training. Hopefully, by then, I can find a way to get to some good diving water for my certification dives (Beaver Lake is closeby. Its far from a desirable diving location. The water is murky with about 6 feetvisibilitylity and a thermal at about 30 feet. The Caribbean it ain't.) Then, if all goes as planned, IÂd like to move into getting my instructor certification. Something to shoot for. Maybe, several years down the road, I can spend my winters in a warm sunny place teaching people how to dive or taking them on underwater tours of some spectacular scuba areas.
So thatÂs the latest update. Nothing much on the mood front. Lots going on in life generally. It will be nice to get this move done and be out of Âthe boxes. It seems weÂve been living out of boxes for 8 months now, since we decided to put the house on the market in April. Whenever I need something, no matter what it is, I can be sure that its located in Âthe boxes. It will be great to have a house to work on again. Lots of little home improvement projects to keep me busy. IÂm still working a very meager number of hours at the liquor store. Just enough to let me feel like IÂm out of the house a reasonable amount of time. Its good social interaction time.
posted by DeMental at 5:25 PM
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