A Shitty Saturday

A Shitty Saturday

It’s another dreary, cold day, despite the sun being out. It could just be that I don’t feel well and my ankle hasn’t stopped hurting me since I woke up this morning. I had a good dream that I woke up from, weird but good.

I planned on making Shepard’s pie today but my mother is making pork chops so I will make it for tomorrow. Besides, I am not really up to being on my feet. Just making coffee killed me. I had two pieces of my cranberry cake for breakfast and that has been all I have had to eat today, so far.

My cold is quickly moving towards my lungs as my cough is getting worse. I hate being sick. My Buckeyes are losing right now so I am in a mood. This game will determine whether they will go to a championship game so they really need to win.

I got an alumni high school hoodie I have been meaning to buy but was waiting for it to be on sale. Then I found out this morning one of my high school teachers passed away last night. I feel really sad about this. She was a good teacher, always had energy that rubbed off on you. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family.

I also bought a couple of SE Hinton books and a DVD. Next I need to buy Christmas gifts and I will be all set. I just plan on getting gift cards for my family. I will get them tomorrow when I go to Walgreens to pick up my prescription. If I didn’t feel so shitty, I‘d go today. I hope I feel better tomorrow.

I don’t get why my damn ankle/foot is hurting when I rested for at least nine hours straight. It doesn’t make any sense. Any slight movement I make today bothers it. I am so sick of this gnawing pain. I just want it to go away and stay away. It just feels so hopeless because I know it won’t. There is nothing I can do about it anymore. What used to work doesn’t. It’s really depressing. I am sure having a cold isn’t helping it, other than keeping me off my feet. But even that hasn’t worked. If I lie down, it flares up worse than sitting. All I can do it take pain pill after pain pill. I am so tired of fighting this bullshit. I just want to fucking die. Why is that so difficult? I mean, it was never easy to begin with, but dammit. People die all the fucking time, why can’t I be one of them?

bewitching hour has hit

Bewitching hour has hit

It’s now 0200. I can usually fall asleep within the next half hour or I will be up all night. It’s an either or battle that I face. As I am not really tired, I say that I am going to be up most of the night. I just took some Neurontin as my foot is starting to burn. I was having a conversation with a Canadian friend of mine about this drug. She take 1800 mg/day and still has nerve pain in her foot. That is an adequate dose. I take any where between 600-1200 mg or more a night. I find that taking the dose all at once is helpful for me and keeps the nerve pain away for at least 24-48 hours. Of course, if I am in a bad pain flare, that can be less coverage and I will need to take it on a regular basis for a while.

The drag races have started in my area. I don’t know why cars must have their tires screech in the midnight hours. It’s so stupid. I just hope no accidents occur or people get hurt. If I knew exactly where they were racing, I would report them. I don’t know what the police would do because by the time they would show up, the cars could be gone. So annoying.

I had fun watching my niece tonight. We didn’t watch a movie like she said we were going to. She just played on her tablet and I napped. I was in a pizza coma so slept for about an hour. Probably why I am still up. I played on my phone or on my laptop. There was some funny shit going on about Pence and his experience at the theater for the musical “Hamilton”. People are so creative in creating memes and stuff that I am just in awe. There was also some stuff going on about the president-elect and his business that is still going on. I am really afraid for this country and what is going to happen in the next four years. No wonder I am so suicidal. I honestly don’t want to be around should this country go down the toilet after all the stuff Obama did to get us back on track.

My psychiatrist didn’t ask me what my plans were for ending my life and I didn’t tell her. I just told her flatly that I was suicidal. She made me tell her that I would page her should that change to acting on my feelings. I told her that only time it really becomes a problem is when my pain levels are through the roof and I can see no way out of it in sight. Sure I have a date set and will have the pills I plan on using but I have a feeling my dorky therapist is going to be watching me like a hawk. There is no longer going to be any wiggle room about this is in therapy. It just depresses me because it just makes me feel defeated. And I don’t want to let my psychiatrist down by attempting. She is trusting me a heck of a lot. I have never lied to her. That is why our relationship has always been a good match. I have always been straight with her and she knows this. I am wicked torn. Part of me just wants to say fuck you and end it and then part of me doesn’t because I know I will lose the trust of my two professionals that care an awful lot about me. That trust is what is keeping me from being inpatient right now.

My psychiatrist and I did go over going in the hospital but I told her there was no “treatment” there anymore. I would just be babysat and that is not what I need. Besides, with the holiday coming up, I really don’t want to be in the hospital. Maybe afterwards. I don’t know if it would help. The biggest thing is the admitting doc always asks “what set you off” and honestly, I don’t know. Why am I choosing now to be inpatient rather than last week? I don’t know. I hate being inpatient only because I hate being on their schedule for meds and stuff. I rather be on my schedule but that isn’t how it works.

My pillow is calling me. I hope I am able to sleep through the night without waking up in pain. It’s late enough so I hope to be awake enough by the time the football game starts. But who knows, I might be sleeping all day because I have been up half the night.

Run around day for nothing

Run around day for nothing

I thought I had an appointment at 0900 this morning. I set my alarm at good time to get dressed and brush my teeth. I unfortunately, didn’t get up right away and when I checked my watch, I was late. I left the house hurriedly to catch the bus or I would have been screwed. I had to get coffee or I was going to be a bitch. I was fifteen late only for the secretary to tell me my appointment was canceled and rescheduled! I was so damn pissed. The appointment was reschedule on Halloween so I never got notified. Then I thought maybe an email was sent and I just never read it. My ankle was smarting so I decided to go home before my next appointment, which I thought was at 11 but it was at 1. I was all screwed up today.

I got home and took my meds. I checked for an email and there wasn’t. Now I was really mad. I woke up for nothing and rushed out of the house for nothing. I shouldn’t have come home though. I was getting lazy and comfy so I didn’t want to go out again, but I had to see my psychiatrist. So I brushed my teeth and then left to go to the bus stop. I left really early and so waited. There was a homeless guy at the stop and we made conversation. I felt really bad that I didn’t have any money on me to give him. I knew they were going to give him grief on the bus. I tried to use my pass twice for him but it wouldn’t work. He had to use whatever change he had. I felt really awful.

I got to my appointment okay. I was feeling really tired and hungry as I didn’t eat anything and all this running around was making me tired. I was glad my psychiatrist’s office is the building closest to the train station so I didn’t have to walk too much. I flatly told her I was suicidal. I didn’t say that I had plans but we came to an agreement. I told her that during my pain episodes I am likely to kill myself but am getting worried that not being able to walk might override my walk three feet to the bureau to get the meds I need to kill myself. She wants me to page her, at whatever hour, to talk about it. We briefly discussed the hospital but I told her I wanted my mother’s turkey and I didn’t want to be inpatient as that just sucks during the holidays. I also told her I would go in but they mess up my meds so much that I would be at the med counter forever taking pills. Plus, the way my pain meds are written, I wouldn’t be taking them the way I take them at home. I would be screwed and that might send me over the edge when I got out.

She reiterated that she wants me to page her when I feel suicidal or just need to talk about things. She wants me to be in contact with her more frequently and wants to know how my Thanksgiving went. I told her I would send her a blog. I apologized for not sending her blogs because they have been shitty lately and I know they would worry her.

Despite drinking a lot of caffeine today, I feel really tired. I had four shots of espresso this morning and another two this afternoon when I had my lunch. You would think that would keep me up and not feel drowsy. Yeah, right. I guess I needed the caffeine to help offset all the running around I did today. I just hope it doesn’t back fire on me and then I am up most of the night due to restlessness. Being in pain is going to be a given because my ankle is already sore. There were no seats on the train ride home so I had to stand a few stops before one became available. Then the next stop, a large woman sat next to me, invading my personal space. I was not happy. The worse part was that she was on her damn phone so I couldn’t move. I hate people like that. I know I am not a thin person but at least have respect for the person sitting next to you.

I told my psych about how my therapist’s anxiety is interfering with our sessions. I just feel like all she does is talk and I listen, not speaking what I want to say, which leaves me feeling frustrated and useless. I didn’t tell her that my therapist forced a session on me yesterday. That might not have gone too well. My therapist is nuts though. Sadly, she admits it freely so there is no hope.

ASAD: Acute Suicidal Affective Disturbance

ASAD: Acute Suicidal Affective Disturbance

http://www.mdedge.com/clinicalpsychiatrynews/article/100017/depression/aas-acute-suicidal-affective-disturbance-proposed

I read the above article with interest. One of my Twitter buddies shared it with me and wanted my opinion on it. I think that it is right on queue and I hope that Dr. Joiner eventually sees this as a diagnosis. But I worry that if the stigma of suicide is not dealt with, it might just be an admitting diagnosis and thus cause more harm than good.

According to the criteria lined out, I meet this diagnosis, though at this time, I am unable to rule out whether a medical condition or conditions exclude the diagnosis. There have been many a times that while I am in excruciating pain, this condition is activated and I am acutely suicidal. The only thing that has saved me from actually making an attempt on my life is that I physically cannot walk and have refused to kill myself in my own home. Then in the morning (most of these attacks have occurred in the midnight hours), I no longer feel so suicidal.

It used to be that what I would call a “switch” would be activated and I would be suicidal until I fell asleep. Now I know that it’s this disturbance that occurs and it makes sense to me. But in every suicidal occurrence that has happened over the past two years, it has been because of physical pain or some kind of dissociative state brought on by physical pain. Very rarely has it occurred solely with psychache or psychological pain. Granted not every episode is psychache free and physical pain free. I will have what Shneidman calls the three Ps, Psychache, Perturbation, and Press as well as physical pain that causes me to be severely suicidal. These nights, I swear to myself I will end my life the next day when I can walk again. Fortunately, I don’t feel as suicidal the next day because I had a few hours or more of respite from these kinds of pain and perturbation. That isn’t to say that I won’t be activated the next night or come up with a suicidal plan to end my life the following day. These plans are usually a few weeks away to give me time to think things over and essentially put off today what can be done tomorrow. These plans have also given me time to work through my feelings and usually by the time that date comes, I no longer feel suicidal enough to go ahead with the plan.

Suicidality is a tricky business and not everyone’s suicidality is the same. What triggers my suicidality might not trigger someone else’s. There are mitigating factors that might be similar in nature like the criteria states but I would love to see the data in the context of ruling this a diagnosis. Just because I find this disturbance fits my suicidality, doesn’t mean that it will someone else’s and that is the difficulty with the nomenclature I think Joiner talks about in his article.