Coincidentally, I spent an hour this morning at my HMO talking with a nice woman about drugs to make me less twitchy and let me sleep. She seemed appalled that no one had prescribed me any sleeping medicine. I didn't go into the whole story about how the oncologist didn't want to prescribe anything because it could be habit-forming. This being the same oncologist who gave me all the gloomy statistics. My feeling is that once I've had more time to adjust to the whole cancer thing I'll be happy to work on the minor annoyance of getting off sleeping pills. I think the anxiety is partly the fact that I finally feel better from all the treatment, so my mind is now free to run in "now what do I do" circles, and partly from the tamoxifen, which is known to cause anxiety and depression. I do wonder about whether tamoxifen really causes anxiety, in that most of the women taking it have had cancer, and therefore might not be all that cheery anyway.
The HMO now has a system in which you get to spend a lot of time with a fancy nurse (her card reads RN, MS, CS), who then consults with the doctor, rather than 10 minutes with the psychiatrist. She was trying to figure out how to work around the tamoxifen, two blood pressure medications, two asthma medications, one allergy medication, and my tendency to have every medication on earth keep me awake. Sigh. At least it was good to talk to someone who seemed determined to make me feel better. It was like talking to a nice grandmother with a prescription pad.
We hates MAOIs, yes we do....
Yes. Poor Emily had to also deal with my lack of food options when on that one. I think she was just as thankful as I was that I went off of it.
It was like talking to a nice grandmother with a prescription pad.
That sounds realy great, Ginger. I hope she can come up with something that helps.
Actually, it was kind of fun, trying to remember what all was on the list.
Yeah, it was pretty bad when we'd go out to eat, and you'd be like, "You can't have that!"
a nice grandmother with a prescription pad
Oh man. I want one of those more than I want a wife.
Hey, Emily? Remember what I was doing when you left? Well, I haven't moved. Make the UPS man come!
GIRL SCOUTS!!! He stole $320 in COOKIE MONEY. Ripped the envelope right out of their little hands while they were selling him a box of cookies.
I think we need a special circle of hell reseverved just for this asshole.
Agreed. That is so evil.
Awww, what a cute little boy, Heather!
Ginger, I hope she finds you something that works.
If I can't make departments follow clear instructions on a form, I doubt I'm gonna have any power over the UPS lady.
most of the women taking it have had cancer, and therefore might not be all that cheery anyway
Hubby was once given a despression screening. His doc looked at the results and said, "Well, duh. Of course you're depressed." I don't know if he was offered anything for it. He shares with me an intense distrust of anything that might play with brain function.
(Yes, I know there are many examples of people benefitting from such drugs. Personal issues are not amenable to logic and good example.)
a nice grandmother with a prescription pad
"Oh, sweetie, here, take this to the drug store and have some of these brownies. I just made them. Yes, the special ones in the green pan, they'll be good for you."
