Friday (9/6) was a fairly busy day. I started off the day at the Langhorne Coffee House with Paul (my brother) – which is always a pleasure…and the food is good too. From there I headed directly to the psychologist I’ve been seeing for a year or so now. He is in his seventies, has a background in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which is the preferred treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and has been an encouragement to me.
I headed back to the house and shortly thereafter had a Skype session with another counselor – this one specializes in working with pastors. I’m in the process of shifting my counseling from the one to the other – though I’ll continue occasionally meeting with the first for the time being. The session was difficult. He asked me, “Does it help to talk about this?” And I replied, “I don’t know. I’ve talked about it a lot…but there doesn’t seem to be a resolution – just a lot of pain. Right now I probably feel more depressed than before we started talking.” Probably not what a counselor wants to hear – but he took it well – and in spite of the pain I do respect this counselor and look forward to future sessions. I think he has a lot of intelligence and insight and a passion for God (and he is trained in EFT, which I’m interested in).
A few minutes after that meeting concluded my psychiatrist’s office called asking if I could come in early (right then) rather than at 2 pm like I was scheduled. Sure, I could do that. So I headed over. I told the psychiatrist about my experience over the past few days and he indicated that it was likely serotonin syndrome.
(I did finally receive a call back from the psychiatrist’s office earlier in the week – but they told me to continue taking my medications as prescribed. I guess it is a good thing I didn’t – doing so would have worsened the serotonin syndrome significantly and without a doubt I’d have needed to be rushed to the ER…and if I was alone [which is likely], if I had passed out before I made the call…I’d be dead.)
We agreed that instead of the 150 mg once a day I had been taking in the past, and the 150 mg twice a day which had caused the serotonin syndrome, I’d take 100 mg twice a day – and instead of the instantaneous release (in which the medication is all released at the same time into the blood stream) I’d take the extended release (which releases over a period of time, and which I prefer anyways).
I’m still planning on getting a new psychiatrist…
Afterwards I went to the pharmacy and picked up my new prescription (I’ll start taking it tomorrow…err, today). It was mid-afternoon afternoon by the time I got home and I hadn’t even begun work – but that is okay when you don’t have anything scheduled for a Friday evening…
I had a productive evening and am looking forward to another productive/busy day tomorrow (err, today). Have a Nomads event in the afternoon, but otherwise will likely be plowing away in preparation for Sunday’s service.
Emotionally, I felt down Thursday evening and then again throughout the morning and early afternoon today, but as the day progressed I began to feel better – I think largely b/c the Wellbutrin was back in my system. I’m not feeling as well as I was at the beginning of this week or late last week – but hopefully on the way back.