3/12: what I learned this week: ALWAYS taper your SSRI

[ixchel]

Ugh the last two weeks have been CRAP!!! But, some good has come of it. I'll share some good, bad, and ugly.

This week, I have learned:

1. Lexapro is a hell of a drug.

2. My body will crash my brain after 7 days of insomnia, and I will hallucinate by day 10.

3. My spouse has the patience of a saint.

4. The kickback of a gun is nowhere near as forceful as it looks.

5. I'm good at shooting!

6. I may or may not have a job right now.

7. I never expected to feel so indifferent regarding my employment status. It feels revealing to me to realize how unattached I feel to it. Maybe my dislike for it has really grown that much.

8. I feel like the Boy Child has suddenly grown more mature and its freaking me out a little. I know he's in the pre-teen zone, but I'm not ready for this. I find myself checking in on him often and smothering him with mama love just to make sure my boy is still my boy. *sigh* This poor child is stuck with me.

9. If you tell them to stop building....

They will.

(I find this hilarious to an inappropriate degree.)

10. The A-Hole Dog only likes the dog park if she's on her leash. She also acts like she feels incredibly violated when another dog sniffs her butt.

11. Go to the following thread. Go to top comments, find on page, type "Robb Stark". Only do this if you are caught up on GOT. Also, only do this if you are not offended by politics, and if you do not plan in any way to come back here and blast me for sharing a comment that compares Trump to Joffrey and Balon Greyjoy.

Link: Bernie opposing Auto Bailout, delaying Clean Power Plan, supporting Minutemen militia, Koch brothers endorsement, Reagan HIV/AIDS "activism" and today's Sanders healthcare support in the 9s are 6 things Hillary Clinton blatantly lied about in a single freaking week. : politics (Mid-way through comment begins with "The way I see it, Bernie is...")

12. I like my ellipses with 4 dots, just like I like my lights (THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!!!!). Farawyn, we can take this outside if you want....

13. The spouse and I owe so much money in taxes that I can't even. We changed exemptions when we got blasted by state last year. Didn't matter. We owe thousands to federal and the state we live in. As in, we owe thousands to federal and thousands more to state. Can't wait to see how much the state I work in swindled. I swear to the Bearded Commander Riker that we had more money on one crappy income than we have now, with me working, too. Maybe I need to not work during grad school. :\

14. I am so excited for grad school!!!

I know I'm forgetting stuff. Boo! I'll remember right after the edit window closes, I'm sure!

What have you learned?

[nutella, MSN, RN]

FAFSA not FASFA. Got it. *facepalm*

hehe - sounds exotic the other way though - like a mediterranean dish ! "One Fasfa with hummus and vegetables to go please "

[Purple_roses]

Haha. I reread it & it does look off. I fixed it. [emoji39]

I thought it was more accurate the other way

[SarahMaria, MSN, RN]

ixchel, I tapered Lexapro over 3 months and I still got brain zaps, euphoria and huge crash afterwards.)))))

Wow!!! The brain zaps! I thought I was crazy when I experienced those, and nobody knew what I was talking about.

[VampyrSlayer, CNA]

I got the zaps when I accidentally forgot my celexa while moving. I learned that celexa works better for me than Zoloft. I learned that you can quick cross-taper from one to the other in about 12 days so that you go from 125 Zoloft to 0 and 0 celexa to 40. I learned that mental hospitals don't have fun padded walls or jackets that let you hug yourself. I learned that apparently a full water bottle can be a weapon but a guitar supposedly can't. And I figured out two new coping skills...mandala coloring books and loom knitting!

[Farawyn]

Wow!!! The brain zaps! I thought I was crazy when I experienced those, and nobody knew what I was talking about.

I liked them. They were little, but you could feel and hear them.

[dream'n, BSN, RN]

I learned that my body and mind are tired of my job, but the job market here still isn't recovered. Moving to a small, isolated mountain cabin sounds fabulous at times.

[kiszi, RN]

I learned that I'm terrified of antidepressants after reading here and various places about the withdrawal sx. But still curious.

I've learned that St. John's wort is helpful but somewhat overrated.

[kiszi, RN]

I learned that I like to start sentences with words like "And" and "But".

[Farawyn]

I learned that I'm terrified of antidepressants after reading here and various places about the withdrawal sx. But still curious.

I've learned that St. John's wort is helpful but somewhat overrated.

SSRIs do work and have made the difference for millions of people.

Yes, there are side effects, and withdrawal must be tapered.

[cracklingkraken, ASN, RN]

DKA and HHNS both suck. Lesson learned - diabetes prevention. If you already have diabetes, make sure it's controlled.

It's a depressing possibility that I won't have a real chance for interviews until after I pass the NCLEX (at least in MI). And MI has terrible roads and expensive auto insurance.

This is the most confusing, yet interesting, political debacle ever. I'm still not sure how I feel. A mixture of horror and awe?

Less than 2 months until I graduate, and several of my classmates have secured jobs at their current facilities - I'm truly happy for them, despite the uncertainties of my own future.

[Dogen]

I learned that I like my partner's kid, which is good. I also learned that my partner's kid likes me, which is also not bad.

I learned that a friend of a friend who I hung out with a few times has recommended me for a job that sounds really cushy... which has me conflicted with another job I was offered (both contingent on me graduating and getting licensed as an NP). Not sure what I'm doing, except thinking about it some more. It's like they say in carpentry: think twice, act once.

I learned that yurt camping is "the whitest camping ever." Which means it's not cool. But I'm doing it anyway (yurt is in the woods just off a beach, which is all I need to hear).

I learned that my NP preceptor is the president-elect of the local chapter of a national professional organization and she's asked me to join specifically so I can help her plan the annual conference next year. Did I mention I helped run a conference for the IHI last year? I didn't foresee using that experience so soon. $135 membership fee is a lot, since I'm only considering it because she asked.

I learned that they're building two psychiatric facilities in the area and have a proposal for one more. Which means more psych jobs, if anyone is interested.

I learned that Daniel Tiger is a cartoon based in Mister Rogers' Land of Make Believe. There's no Mr. Rogers, just the Land of Make Believe, and its human and animal inhabitants who spend all their time learning lessons about friendship and cleaning up. Meow meow. Also, there's an entire show (Nina Needs to Go) about a little girl who needs to pee. She always has to hold it for one reason or another for the entire episode, and her grandma (who is kind of a super spy pee helper, for some reason) has to help her find somewhere to go. TV is weird.

[kalycat, BSN, RN]

I liked them. They were little, but you could feel and hear them.

I know a couple of people who liked them too. SSRIs are not compatible with me for some reason, and perhaps not my offspring either...

I have a kiddo who had such problems with lexapro that we ended up with multiple admissions to inpatient psych. She was not only having command hallucinations, she was starting to act on them. It was a really, really bad med for her. We tried a few other SSRIs but all had untenable side effects for her, so we had to go another route.

OC and Ixchel I'm sending you tons and tons of hugs and just hoping things start to work out on all fronts. Depression is awful, as is debt. I've been deeply engrossed in both and I'm sending all the good vibes I can muster.

I've had a really rough week (seems like I'm saying that a lot lately) but I had better not get in to venting about it or I may never stop.

I've learned I love mandala coloring books too!