I want to go to another performance of Phantom of the Opera. Sigh. Went with my dad and my brother last night. A wonderful performance. They had a sub (not even the normal understudy) from Minnesota for the part of Christine and I'm very glad I went. The reviews of the lead actress when the run started weren't so hot. Sarah Lawrence, who sang last night, did an excellent job. And the actor perfoming the Phantom was awesome. Plus, in a wierd coincidence, the woman who sang Carlotta last night was the same one I saw in Toronto nearly 10 years ago. Huh. And, of course, now I'm listening to PotO over and over because I just can't get enough of that darn musical.

SA has a new tag.

That I do. :)

ooh, P-C... Maybe you need to change your sex prerequisite...maybe the LOYL counts on her fingers sometimes. Not that I'm offering. But some amazingly sexy women flee The Math

But some amazingly sexy women flee The Math

Damned right.

Cindy, I'm glad things went ok. You were really in my thoughts and prayers while I was cooking and baking this morning.

Also, I'm really damned proud of you for sticking things out. Go you!

I wish I understood about panic attacks, because so many cool people I know suffer from them. But I don't understand about them, so all I can do is hope they stop bothering all you amazing people.

Okay, TMI for my comfort level in some ways...but...

Cindy, for what it's worth, the only thing that got me through the really bad panic attack phase of my life was medication. Seriously, I felt weak for taking it until I started thinking about the fact that I thought nothing of taking a pill to help with physical ailments. The anti-anxiety pill would chill me out enough to be able to function--to put a bottom to the hole I was falling into. I only took it when I needed it, but it saved me. A secondary med (I took Zoloft for 18 months) eventually removed the need for the first. I've been off the Zoloft for more than two years, and my doc thinks that it altered enough that I may never need it again. It is a tremendous relief to know, though, that the help is there if I need it.

Thank you, Kristin. I am giving myself a very brief deadline before I call my doc. I am 95% certain this is tied to my cycle, and given the other women in my family who've had the same thing hit at the same age, and that I've taken lousy care of myself for the last 6 months or so, on top of that, I just want to try the taking care of myself thing first, and see if that brings me back down to where I can ride it out.

I do hesitate to take any medicines (even for other, more obviously physical issues--didn't take pain killers except Motrin after I had my babies, don't medicate headaches until my skull is cracking, didn't take the pain meds my dentist prescribed before my root canal) so my hesitation is coming from med aversion, not from any worry of stigma because it's a mental health issue, if that makes any sense.

I may have quoted this before:

"Get some devastation in the back."

- Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), quoted by the AP, to a staff photographer taking a picture of him before leaving tsunami-stricken southern Sri Lanka.