Friday, March 16, 2012

Thank God for Valium

Hello All,

It really has been too long. I have to remember to post! Life has just been so busy, and I've been so stressed. There has been a lot on my plate.

So what are the highlights of my life lately?
Well, as you all know, I have my new prescription, Valium. I have had to use it about twice. Last Monday, in the middle of the night my leg muscle tightening tic got out of control. It was unbearable. It was one of those nights that I felt the need to crawl out of my skin, and my body was not my own. Do you know what that feels like? To not want to be awake. That's what I have to do sometimes. I have to knock myself out in order to stay somewhat sane. So, I took the Valium and it worked pretty well. The night was very choppy, though.
At first, when I started repetitively tightening my muscles- virtually unable to stop, I started letting out some screams because I couldn't bear it. My mother came to my aide and started to rub my back in order to calm me down. She started to fear that I may have been slipping into another 52-hour tic attack. I hadn't thought of it like that, but thankfully it was not that bad. My mom had gone downstairs to call my doctor and ask what we should do, so she made me wait in my room. I couldn't stay still, so I walked downstairs. I tried sitting down on the couch, but I couldn't do it. I paced around the downstairs while my mom left a message for my psychiatrist. Eventually, I ended up sitting down on the couch with my mom rubbing my back while the medicine started to kick in. Thankfully, I was able to get to sleep that night, but at a really late time. In result, I got to go to school late the next day. Yippee, a positive side!
Always try to find a positive side to everything. It helps a lot.
Last week was a bit of a rough week for my tics, but this week has gone averagely. Yes, that is a word. I didn't know until I typed it and there was no red, squiggly line under it.
Yesterday, I had to get a facial done at the Skin Institute. It's a spa-like dermatology center. I had to leave my former dermatology office because I didn't understand the doctor's accent... oh yeah, and the medicine they prescribed never helped, but I like to think that it was mostly because of the accent. Anyway, I had been anxious since during a facial you have to hold a bit still. I mean, they put needles in your face to extract nasty stuff! It's not like you can just move all over the place while they poke you with needles! Or so I thought. It actually went pretty smoothly. I was able to relax during the steam mask even though it basically suffocates you, and then when the lady was poking needles into me, I still furrowed my eyebrows together, and I was able to! She didn't object to it at all. Probably since people knit their eyebrows together because of the slight pain. Thank God the procedure went smoothly; I wasn't very worried about it, but that was because I had forgotten about it until yesterday.
Next week I go to Atlanta, Georgia with the rest of my chorus! It's going to be tons of fun; I just really hope my Tourettes doesn't act up. I don't want a night like I had last Monday, especially since my mom will not be with me in Georgia. I'm going to take my every night medicines, PLUS my Clonazepam and Valium! I tend to over pack a bit, but I never know if I might need both. Hey, it's better to accidentally bring too much than too little.

Thanks for reading!

Emma<3