After 46 entries to this blog dating back to August of 2009, I had just about run out of topics when something unusual happened a few days ago which has provided me with a whole bunch of fresh material.
Last Tuesday was an unusually busy day for me: first a car trip to a town about 15 miles away to check out a power wheelchair, then lunch at a local restaurant, a return home to clean up in preparation for a monthly Condo Board meeting where a proposal of mine was to be discussed.
The meeting began promptly at 4 pm and progressed as usual. The next thing I remember was coming around in the ER of our local hospital. I remembered bits and pieces of the meeting but nothing of what took place afterward or going to or being treated in the ER. Fran tells me I was exhibiting most of the classic signs of a stroke, except the numbness - but definitely the slurred speech (more than usual), the forgetfulness, the blank stare, and a lack of awareness about one’s surroundings. After comprehensive blood tests and a CAT scan (neither of which I remember) and a call to my GP by the ER doctor, I was sent home with an order to see my GP soon to evaluate what happened.
My GP saw me yesterday morning and he did a full neurological workup that, along with the tests at the ER, pretty well ruled out a stroke. What probably happened, and why I titled this entry, ‘Breaking Up is Hard to Do’, is because I forgot to refill my prescription for Paxil and decided, on my own, to replace it with a some of my surplus supply of Citalopram which is in the same SSRI family as Paxil. Naturally, I didn’t check with my GP first, or I would have learned that Paxil is very “hard to break up with.”
BTW – My GP has written me an order to refill the Paxil which I have already filled and starting taking. Hopefully this foggy sensation, which comes and goes, will clear up completely. I’ll report back next entry.
Note:(4-6-12) Concerning Post 47 - I've resumed taking the prescribed dosage of Paxil and everything is back to normal. Lesson learned!
*My apologies to Neil Sedaka, the Julliard graduate and popular singer from the 60s and 70s who twice had a Top 40 hit with a song of this same name.
