Amazing the changes a month can bring

[thrihyrne]

So much has fallen into place since the darkness of mid-November, as well as me aggressively taking steps to ensure my long-term emotional and psychological health. One of the best things that happened recently is discovering that contrary to how I understood it, I'm not limited to 6 visits with my current psychiatrist— I can continue seeing her until my medications are all sorted out. It does mean that at some point I will need to find someone else, but it doesn't have to be at the front of the list right now. And she does what I want this person to do: work with me in support of the Sinclair Method as well as finding an effective anti-anxiety medication. She's starting me out on Effexor which has a lot going for it: it's an SNRI (which I haven't tried before- the SSRIs I've tried in the past did nothing) and it supposedly has a side benefit of counter-acting some menopausal symptoms. SCORE!! I'm in this for the long haul, so I'm going to start a kind of mood journal as I've done in the past to be able to see patterns and any new effects over weeks and months. It's all very positive.

This past Friday Evan and I went to the Airbnb holiday party and I had a successful, fun time. That's also a huge win for me. Appropriate amounts of alcohol were had, we stayed only as long as we wanted (and took our leave as the general volume in each room was becoming more than I could tolerate), and I was fully present for getting to see many friends and colleagues who'd come in from their 'remote' locations to join the festivities. This trend going to events and having a good time without being sloppy is one I'm very happy about.

I have a lot of reading and then beta'ing upcoming, plus finishing DotW. My totally manageable goal is to have the first rough draft done by the end of my week off around New Year's. At that point I'll reach out to a couple of people to read it and give just general feedback. Then I can decide whether or not to do more of an overhaul or to send it to a particular literary agent. Once that happens, I can think about writing the third and final novella with Reggie and Kelp, I suppose!

Comments

[the_rck]

I'm sure you already know this, but don't start Effexor unless you're going to be around people fairly consistently for a few days. It made me suicidal when I tried it about fifteen years ago. I've known people for whom it worked wonders, but, like all psychoactives, it can have bad side effects.

I really do hope that it works for you!

[thrihyrne]

Thank you so much! Your body's response to it sounds quite worrisome- my psychiatrist didn't mention that, but did note that going off of it should be monitored. Thanks for the well wishes, though!

[sara]

Do be careful to consult a doctor if you decide to go off the Effexor. I went off it mostly on my own (the side effects, which for me included losing interest in food to such a degree that I quit cooking and subsisted on cereal for the best part of three years, had become too much to bear). That was stupid of me and you should learn from my bad example.

It did work very well on the anxiety though. The subsequent things have been less effective in that department. But at least I usually eat now.

[thrihyrne]

Hi there! Yes, my doc did mention not to go off of it without being monitored- since that's what I've done with my SSRIs and nothing seemed to change or have effects, and she didn't want me to end up in a bad way. I do love breakfast cereal and ate a lot in college, but losing all interest in food doesn't sound good. :(

Glad to hear that it worked on your anxiety, however!