Just because I know you’re terribly curious:

I’ve stopped taking Clonopin on an “as needed basis”. I am now taking Buspar daily. For now it’s making me a tad light-headed, but I’m already feeling a lot more calm and in control of my emotions. I think it will really be good for me.

I’m also going to be chatting with a counselor, at least once a month. This not having friends that live in the same town is getting tiresome. My husband is as supportive as he can be, but gods heaven he deserves a rest from my troubles sometimes. And, there are days when all I want to do is just talk to a friend. Friends sometimes have greater understanding than spouses do, because they aren’t living with the circumstances. So, hopefully this will help. The counselor is going to try and talk me into joining a Lupus Support Group for Women at the Women’s Center. That pretty much depends on where the center is.

I have joined an online support group for Lupus; it scares the bejeezus out of me, but also answers a lot of questions for me, too. For example, that tingling I’ve been having? That can be caused by low thyroid, Lupus, or high blood pressure. All conditions I have. So, we (me and the doctor) eliminated the BP because my higher dose med is working and now we’re checking my TSH levels. I’ve been on the same dose for 5 years and considering the changes my body’s gone through since the hysterectomy and with medicines, it’s probably too low.

If anyone is interested, the suppot forum is We Have Lupus. It’s not a huge group, but it’s a busy board with a ton of helpful information. I do warn you, that if you’re newly diagnosed there is information and stories there that are scary. You just need to keep your own situation in perspective and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

I was lucky I found the place before my visit to the doctor because this time I went in armed with questions and got everything taken care of. Including an approved referral to a Lupus doc.

My health is doing better than some, but I’m still struggling to find a way to have some control someplace in my life. Whether it’s my body or these damn computers.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 1st, 2006 at 10:26 pm and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.