Lots accomplished, lots to do and think about... and drug number 18 and counting...

Well I've accomplished quite a bit. After lots of trouble, it now appears that I will be getting medical insurance from the state, and that within the month I will have the actual card to carry, which will open (hopefully) a lot of doors to more expensive treatments and tests, while also giving me and my family the relief knowing that if I get in an accident we'll be able to handle hospital costs. I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch, but it looks like it's really going to happen this time.

After getting that taken care of I met with my therapist. I was very unsure of myself going to see him, because I had so many things I wanted to get off my chest and talk about I couldn't think of any way to cram all that into a 45 minute session, and I couldn't decide on a smaller issue to discuss. But, in my opinion it turned out to be a great session. One that will give me a lot to think about and keep me real busy for some time to come. For more details, check out my new page called "Anger Management and Defense Mechanisms - Just a sad game?" now listed under my breakthroughs in the left-hand column.

Then I got to see my psychiatrist. First, he told me that there is another version of Xanax available, a sustained release version. The Xanax I'm taking now is a generic form, but still very expensive. Many drug companies are doing this kind of thing now in order to make more money - after a patent on a drug runs out and becomes generic, they then come out with a new patented version of the drug that is the same thing, the only difference being is that the chemicals are released more slowly over a longer period of time, so you end up taking less pills per day, and you have a more even balance of the chemicals in your body. He told me to take the prescription to the pharmacy and see how much this version would cost me compared to the generic standard release version, and if it doesn't cost too much more, then I should switch to it. I'll have to wait another week or so until my social security money comes in before I find out if I can handle affording it or not. In the meantime we're increasing my dosage back to 8mgs a day, up 1mg from where I was for a while.

He also added a new drug in addition to the Xanax called Lamictal. (the 18th new drug for me) An intersting drug I have not heard of before that is approved for epilepsy and bipolar disorder. Bascially, it acts as a mood stabilizer and an antidepressent. What really peaked my curiosity is how this drug is thought to work. Unlike all the other medications I am aware of, this medication works on the sodium molecules found in neurons. Sodium is one of the molecules that help propogate the electrical signal from one part of the neuron down it's "legs" to the end of the neuron, which then trigger the release of the neurotransmitter chemicals which send "signals" to nearby neurons. All of the other medications I am aware of specifically target the "ends" of the neurons and are designed to "block" some of these neutransmitter chemicals, like serotonin. The side effect profile for this drug isn't too bad compared to others I have taken, and I was also happy to find out that the clinical trials of this drug actually lasted 18 months - much longer than most other drugs, which makes me more confident in this drug since they spent more time watching patients to see how the drug worked over a longer period of time. Plus, I was lucky in that the doctor was able to give me a month's worth of free samples. I'll see him again in three weeks to guage my progress. As with most drugs, I'll start out at a low dosage, then after two weeks double the dosage, and then if nothing bad happens, after another two weeks I'll double the dosage again to finally arrive at the standard treatment dosage level.