I go up so fast

Today begins day one of a higher dosage of Primidone (Mysoline). Now I will be on 300mg a day (3x50 am, 3x50 pm). When I spoke to Dr. Lee yesterday, he conceded that the barbiturates can take a while to work their magic in my body, and get to the point where they are being fully absorbed (?) or something. Dr. Lee also said that his ultimate plan is/was to get me up to 500mg a day, so I'm only 60% there.
Regardless, I will have another meeting with him in a few weeks, take some blood tests, see what Primidone done to my liver.
On a bright side, I got dressed for work today and Mary said she thought I looked slimmer! No Depakote, better eating, exercise...
I am going to be a slim groom for my woman! :-)

Too much to ask?

So last Thursday I started my first day off of Depakote and my first day at my 250mg level of Primidone (Mysoline - barbiturates). I seem to have been tolerating it well; no real exhaustion or other side effects.
Until this morning.
Yet another medication where I have a breakthough. Last night (this morning) between 11:30pm and 3:30am I had three seizelets. Mary seems optimistic as the seizelets didn't end as intensely as they have in the past. She thinks (hopes) that this may be due to the new medication having a good effect and being worthwhile.
Each started like a grandmal, with twitching and ticking, but without the more serious drooling/frothing, heavy moaning and breathing that usually occurs afterwards.
I wonder... Can I adequately describe how much I hate this? I am at work today, feeling wiped, but will do my best to push through.
By the way, the CBS 60 Minutes special on the group CARE, founded by Susan Axelrod, and the story of her and her husband David's child who has been suffering with epilepsy since she was a baby, was rerun this past Sunday.
Not sure if it can be found online, but very moving.
Greg

Depa - K-O - te

Tonight is the night I say sayonara to, give the old one-two punch, and K-O my Depakote. I have really been so unhappy with this drug; the weight gain more than anything else. But since I have been coming off of it, I have noticed the shakes FAR less often (practically never, in truth), and the appetitie and weight issues seem to be improving finally! My doctor said once I am totally off the Depakote, the weight should start coming off fairly quickly.
I am hoping that the little things I am doing more often (going to the gym, eating healthier and smaller portions) will help with that too! ;-)
That's all from the land of milkshakes!

Ohhh.... THIS is why Al and Barbara don't get along!

yesterday was, quite simply, awful. I ran a 3.5 mile race on Wednesday evening, part of a large competition that numerous people in my company signed up for (or rather, I was a member of my company's team): "The JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge."
Afterwards, I went out for pizza and beer with my coworkers. THEN, Rick and I went out to a bar for a couple more.
Now, let's flashback to earlier that afternoon when my doctor tells me "be careful how much you drink. Alcohol and barbiturates don't mix well; the barbiturates enhance the effects of alcohol and you could feel drunk after just one. You should be careful. If I had my choice, I would say don't drink, but I know that is not totally realistic."
Let me just say this. The morning after (ok, the whole bleeping day) drinking WAY too much and going up on my barbiturate level, I was practically a zombie...
Al and Barbara clearly don't like each other, and should never be married! (At least for as long as I had them married!)
UGH!!!

Won't you take me to - Funky (dream) town?

Not sure if it is related to the barbiturates or just a totally unrelated phenomena, but my dreams of late have been very vivid, very memorable, very weird. Last night I actually had two dreams within dreams. I dreamt something, then my dream self woke up saying "it was all a dream." Then wild and crazy things started happening to THAT dream self before another dream self woke up saying it was all a dream. Then after further weirdness occurred, I (reality me - the person writing this blog entry as someone speaks) woke up. Freaky.
Don't know what to make of it, but as I say, the dreams have been plentiful and very intricate. Of course, I guess the reality is that you generally do (or should) get the same amount of REM sleep each night. It's simply a matter of whether you remember it in the morning, which I now (more often) am.
Hmmm....
Another thing to discuss with Dr. Lee today. Hell, I guess for a $40 co-pay, I can bother him with seemingly inane observations. For all I know they might tell him about some side-effect I am experiencing, good or bad.
We'll see!

Not your everyday Monday morning blues

Had a god-awful sleep last night. Not sure why, or I would have done something to change it. First I was having a fitful, bizarre-dream filled sleep that had me waking up totally parched and tossing a bit. Mary woke up as a result and immediately got me something to drink. (There's a reason my father gave her the moniker "Saint Mary") I went back to bed, but probably woke up every other hour or so, again to different dreams, or simply for some unexplainable reason. Chandler sat or was curled up to me virtually the whole night. He often spends a good majority of the night next to one of us or at our feet, but this seemed like an extended period of time even for him, unless I have had a seizure, when he always curls up with me. Well, while I did not have a seizure, I will confess that my dreams largely consisted of thoughts of me having seizures, which no doubt explains why my sleep was so crappy.
Maybe that explains why Chandler was next to me so often? There is no explanation for why Mary wakes up when I do and gets me water or comforts me OTHER than she is indeed a Saint (103 days til she is eternally bound to me!).
On a side note, Chandler is going to be one sorry, sorry cat night when we brush his coat. That is LONG overdue, but he HATES HATES HATES it when we do so, and throw and absolute "Hissing fit" that can be heard in Cleveland.
All for now.
Me

Missed meds

Haven't missed a dose in ages, but I missed on yesterday morning. D'oh.
What can I say. Sometimes I am a forgetful maroon. Hopefully it won't be an issue.
I have never understood when I DO have a seizure and my doctor says "did you miss any meds," why if I have, it never seems to have "likely have made an impact or been a trigger!" :-)
I'm on three medications right now, so hopefully that in and of itself will prevent any seizures or seizelets from rearing their ugly little heads.
Time will tell.
Hopefully I don't have a seizure within 43hrs, 29mins and 46hrs, 12 mins from when I normally would have taken my last dose. That could be bad. Could result in a seizure.
(Sorry to sound flip and glib. Just my mood.)

a bit more dizziness today

Not sure if it was the intense workout last night (Victor, you SUCK!), the time between medication doses, or just randomness, but yet again today I had a dizzy spell this morning. Annoying. 20 minutes of my day I want back.
This weekend we need to look for Honeymoon packages. YAY! It looks like we are settled on Hawaii! WOO HOO!!! Warm weather, gorgeous beaches, and RELAXATION!!!
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Week one is done

So I have gone through my first week with Primidone (Mysoline) and so far so good. I haven't felt overly exhausted on the primidone yet, but then, it does take a while to build up in your system, so... I will start going down to 1500 of Depakote today, and I am looking forward to combining better eating, more exercise, and NO DEPAKOTE so I can get to a better, more healthy weight!