I’m alive! How about you?

It’s been an insanely long time since I gave this site its due. I suppose the real problem with blogging about health problems is that the people who know them best, by definition, have health problems. I’d love to find someone with whom to co-write this thing, so we could cover for each other!

Anyway, I had an insanely long bad period but I’m feeling better now. One factor in the improvement was stopping Effexor XR, which I’d taken for years. I didn’t actually do that on purpose—It was due to an utterly irresponsible doctor who refused to see me because of a screw-up in his office’s procedures, not anything I’d done wrong. I had to just stop taking it, cold turkey, which led to seizures and other problems. On the plus side, though, I’ve been far less drowsy and don’t need nearly as many hours of sleep as I did before. (I’m actually experiencing some insomnia, which isn’t good, but it’s a change.)

Anyway, my Social Security disability claim was finally approved after over five years of waiting. They haven’t started paying anything yet, but that’s supposed to happen Real Soon Now. I have to tell you, though—the Medicare thing is a confusing maze of choices, obviously designed by bureaucrats. You almost need to become a Medicare expert just to know what benefits are available and how to get them!

For now, here’s a link to an article I found interesting:
Do Fibromyalgia Pain Killers Make You a Likely Crime Victim?

I don’t agree with all of the advice. People in Georgia have been arrested for having legitimately prescribed medications because the medications weren’t in prescription containers. It’s a real nuisance to carry the bottles instead of just what you need, and it probably does put us at greater risk for crime—but is it worth being arrested? That’s a Catch-22.