Effexor and Clonazepam: WEEK TWO!

Monday:
So I didn't mention that last night I had a temporary partial paralysis episode. That was fun. Luckily, I was skyping my boyfriend at the time so if I needed help he could call my friend across the hall. Basically, my whole body refused to move. I couldn't even really talk, just make noises that sounded like words. Eventually, I could move my fingers and feet, and I realized my door was locked and Morgan couldn't help me if she wanted to. So I champed it out, and used my fingers to grab things and maneuver my arms and moved my feet around to maneuver my legs. Eventually, I pulled myself up and was able to army crawl/wiggle to the door, pull myself up, and unlock it. Then I somehow got back into bed. That was impressive. My limbs just all felt really heavy. It was like my joints could work but they didn't want to because of all the effort because my body was HEAVY. But eventually all my movement came back. Speech, then arms, then trunk, then legs.
 Today was basically another tic fest, I had a horrible day and couldn't concentrate on anything Even if I wanted to, my eye rolling tic wouldn't let me. awesome.

Tuesday:
Today I had a stats test and my tics mostly behaved, which is awesome! Also side effect alert: WEIRD DREAMS. I don't usually remember my dreams but I have been and they've been strange...
First full-word vocal tic: Baguette. yup, baguette. why? I have no idea. I think it was coincidence, because my main syllable tics are "baa" "geh" and "t." So it turned into baguette, with a weird inflection.

Wednesday:
Had a mental breakdown late last night. Wanted to pull my hair out and tear things off the walls and break things. It was just...bad. Really, really bad. I called my boyfriend and calmed down quickly after talking to him though, so I guess that's a positive, because usually nothing can calm me down.
Today was an okay day. Morning class was a tic fest and my neck really hurts, but after that they calmed down and were fairly mild the rest of the day.

Thursday: 
Tics were really mild most of the day. Got really bad around 5 or so. Felt fine until I got some bad news about my classes next year, then was in an angry/depressed state the rest of the night. Several mini panic attacks/staring episodes.

Friday:
Felt totally fine, tics were minimal, just really tired. Maybe my body's almost adjusted?

Effexor and Clonazepam: Week 1

Monday:
I took the effexor at about 7:50. It says to take with food but I'd rather not lug around my pill bottle all day so I take it right before I leave for breakfast. I wasn't that hungry this morning...
I was super drowsy today. It was the first day of Statistics. I had a hard time staying awake. My tics have become really mild though, and I don't really notice them  much until later in the evening. I'm not nauseous and I haven't had a headache, so that's good. Those are my most common side effects.

Tuesday:
I slept so well last night! Thanks to the clonazepam. The drowsiness doesn't seem to go away. I slept 8 hours last night, fell asleep in stats, took a nap during lunch break, fell asleep in stats, napped afterwards, and was still tired. I'm feeling really "out of it" and I'm still ticcing. It's a nice break because my tics aren't constant, but when they do happen it's in spurts. I like to call these "tic fits" and they're sometimes more painful than normal tics. Not sure the trade-off is worth it...

Wednesday:
Feeling a lot less drowsy, but had a 20 minute tic fit today! It probably looked like a seizure. I shook my arms and legs and my eyes kept rolling back. That was painful and exhausting. But outside of class the tics seem pretty under control.

Thursday and Friday:
Vocal tics are really bad, but tics in general seem to be settling down...but oh, so so so sleepy. I sleep every chance I get...

Saturday and Sunday:
TIC FEST. They were so painful I cried from about 8 pm until I fell asleep on Saturday. Started way earlier on Sunday than usual. Usually, the bad tic fits don't start until after dinner...today I didn't even want to leave my room because they were so persistent and painful. Couldn't do my homework because of my eye rolling tic. Vocal tics are ever-developing. They used to be squeaks and sounds but are now syllables, mostly "ha" "pa" "ga" "beh" and a "ck" sound.

Changing medications!

Huzzah, I'm changing meds again! In the past month or so, the Paxil has not been nice to me. I've had severe nausea, headaches, and a huge rise in tics, adding to more pain. So we switched. I need to log my days, so this is where I'll do it.

I now take two medications instead of one. I take Venlafaxine HCL (generic Effexor) in the morning with breakfast and Clonazepam before bed. The Effexor is mainly for anxiety, although I have had some intense depressive episodes as well, so hopefully those will be curbed. The Clonazepam is to help me sleep (I've had some intense insomnia lately) and hopefully make my tics settle down. I'll be logging the time I take each and if I take it with anything. Each night I'll also log a brief overview of my day and how my symptoms were. I'm going to start tomorrow, because I added Clonazepam on Friday and switched to Effexor on Saturday, and I know I need a day or two to adjust before I make a judgement.

Again, this isn't to promote a drug. It's mostly for my own good, because I need to track side effects, and I always lose my journals.  But I know people read these, so I try to make it conversational. =]