Have you noticed anything about my blog post recently? In the past few weeks, they've been frequently late and noticeably short (it's weird to think that it wasn't that long ago that I would write long essays just because a topic was on my mind). The fact of the matter is, I've been exhausted lately and it's been getting progressively worse. It's gotten so bad that I haven't been able to make it to the gym regularly in nearly a month -- and this week, I couldn't even make it there once. I assumed that I wasn't getting enough sleep, but even after several days of going to bed early every night, I was still sleepy all the time. Yesterday, I saw a connection I missed before: my new medication.
While I still feel that the oxcarbazepine is helping as far as my depression is concerned, I can't really enjoy it because I'm always pooped. I talked to my neurologist today and she recommended that I scale back my dosage, to help take the edge off that side effect. She also recommended that I talk to my regular doctor about exploring other options, including seeing a psychiatrist. I suspect that she's a little frustrated that I asked to switch medications just a couple of months ago (she even said that fatigue is a better side effect than depression), but what I'm dealing with is seriously affecting my life, including my productivity at work. For now, I've lowered my dosage according to her suggestion and she's ordered another round of blood work to see how my liver's doing. I'll call my doctor on Tuesday and I guess we'll go from there.
I realize that when it comes to required medications like anti-convulsants, there's rarely a perfect fit; it's usually a matter of picking which side effects you hate the least. Maybe it's time to consider levetiracitam again, but combine it with an anti-depressant...
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