Monday, July 21, 2008

Some Snippets

Two weeks after my last 25 mg of trazodone, and I finally feel like I am sleeping normally again without it. I am falling asleep quickly, and staying asleep, and I feel much more rested and alert. I'm still taking Benadryl...but that's normal for me this time of year. I have allergies, and as August and ragweed season approach, there is no way I can leave off the Benadryl right now. Once we have a killing frost I will stop taking it.

It sounds like the Journal Workshop class will be happening this fall. Now I just have to keep my momentum going until October...I've almost finished my notes for the first of the four sessions. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Gianna at Beyond Meds posted the abstract for a very intriguing looking paper the other day, all about how iatrogenic illnesses may be caused by mitochondrial damage, and how the psych meds many of us take may be the greatest culprits. My initial response to reading it was that I'm not at all surprised, and it would be arrogant in the extreme for medical science to assume it knows everything about the ways in which our bodies function. And if it's true, well, no wonder psych meds have so many horrible side effects and can do so many awful things to people. Case in point right here...

Also of note, Philip Dawdy over at Furious Seasons is celebrating his one-year anniversary off meds. Congratulations, Philip!

Writing Prompt: What is one thing that you are thankful that you learned to do? For me, it would be sewing. My mother taught me how to sew when I was about five. By the time I was twelve, I was making some of my own clothing, and when I moved into my first apartment, I made all the drapes and home dec. stuff for it. Now I work on art quilts, things which have very little in common with the little pin cushions and doll clothes I first learned to sew. But I will never forget that it was my mother who first opened this door for me.

7 comments:

Monica Cassani said...

Hey Jazz,
If you're interested I got a hold of that paper in PDF format...I can email it to you...

Jazz said...

Gianna--
That would be awesome! I wonder if I'll be able to understand it? But yes, I'd very much like to see it. Thank you!

sbwrites said...

Jazz,
By her example, my mother taught me how to write. She wrote a neighborhood column for a community newspaper for 40 years. And from the time I was child, she wrote poetry to tell us how much she loved us, or to make us laugh! I just assumed that everyone's mom wrote poetry!

Susan

Jazz said...

Susan--
I think that is awesome! I wish I'd had a mentor for my writing. My parents just didn't get that whole creative drive thing. I was always told, "Well, it's fine for a hobby, but how are you going to support yourself?"

Kass said...

My husband has mentioned that the brain seems to be the one part of the body that scientists can't seem to fully decode. Food for thought.
----
Writing Prompt: What is one thing that you are thankful that you learned to do?

Write. When I was in 1st grade, my librarian at school encouraged me to write a children's book and submit it for a contest. It didn't win but it flung the doors open for me to realize that writing - in some wacky way - was something I liked and enjoyed... and that opened the door to editing. Somehow the editing part came naturally. Part of my critical nature, I guess.

Jazz said...

Hmmm...I'm pretty critical, too. In fact, I'm my own worst critic. Perhaps I'd be a good editor!

Kass said...

Perfectionists untie!

(mistake intended) :)