Sunday, August 2, 2009

Square one, redux

The Zoloft gave me massive brain fuzz.  The SAM-e worked really well for the depression, but made me sick to my stomach (as in, doubled over in constant pain and unable to sleep) at the recommended dose.  So, I took a couple days off and restarted at 1/4 dose, to see what I can tolerate.

Other than that, vacation was good.  Summer's ending.  Good riddance kinda, I think.  Except there's another couple of summery things left to do.

We saw a wonderful free local Shakespeare production with 3 of the kids.  R&J done as manic, hormone-drenched all-nighter.  There were several "interesting" adaptations that nevertheless worked really well.  It's so rare to find theater productions that use novel ideas without turning them into gimmicks, or snarky self-referential distractions that submerge the wonder of the Bard.  But this really worked.  The urgent pacing, cross-gender casting ("Nurse" played by a stocky middle-aged man whom you very quickly "believed" in the role), and loose-cannon physicality of even the more traditionally passive roles (Juliet!) added a freshness I haven't seen in R&J in a while.  It's so FUN to find great arts freebies!

2 comments:

kudzu bob said...

Is your SAM-e the kind that comes in blister packs or in bottles? If it's the latter, the stuff might be spoiled, since it is notoriously sensitivite to air and light. That could maybe explain the stomach issues.

In any case, a different brand or simply another try might work. And you now have a clue that methylation agents help your brain chemistry , which means that even if you can't take SAM-e that you ought to consider high doses of folic acic, B-6, B-12, and this weird stuff from beets called trimethylglycine or TMG, all of which is pretty cheap.

Also, think about taking a couple of rhodiola capsules each day. A lot of people I know tell me that they feel better when they use that particular adaptogen, and I like it too. It gives me the strength of ten men, which, if added the tenfold strength I already have on account of my pure heart, makes me a total badass.

anjoo said...

It kinda weirds me out that everything you're recommending is already in Vasant's daily regimen for autism related stuff. He's been taking Hi-B's, Folic Acid and TMG for years. Also Cod liver oil, enzymes, and sometimes Vites C/E. We've also tried Co-Q10, Acetyl L-Carnitine, and a few other tihings but gave those up. Feels like the poor kid is a human pharmaceutical dumping ground, but at least we try not to give him anything dangerous. Haven't jumped on the chelation band-wagon yet, but looked at some gentler detox options.

As for me, it's the SAM-e in the blister pack, not spoiled, and I seem to avoid stomach cramps at the 200mg level. Hoping to work back up to 2x/day which seemed to work before.

By the way, do you know anything about glutathione and/or zeolites for safe detoxing? And what's your opinion on this push for everyone to get the Swine Flu vaccine?

I generally shy away from optional vaccines for the kids and have been very slowwwww about getting them "caught up," (no flu, gardasil or varicella vax for us yet) but my oldest is in high school this year and they're saying the H1N1 is expected to hit school kids hard. I'm just trying to collect info for mah babies. . .