Going home to Mum with the girls will fix it!
Picking this thread up again as I have news!
First the bad news. I am again inflicted by the 'itch', technically it is called pruritis. It sounds like something you need to sort out with an enema...
I am waking up about twice a night with a raging itch!! Not on soft and delicate parts (thank the lord!), but my arms and legs and hands. Maddening!
I scratch. I bleed. I get cross-infections. Bad.
I finally started to check out the condition. There is a whole medical science devoted to skin, dermatology. It is also a subject that lets you see some of the grossest images of skin complaints possible... yeech.
As this doesn't appear to be either a dermatitis or an allergic condition - I start to follow up my medications in MIMS. Counter-indications for both of them are:
pruritis!
OOH MY!!!!!!!!
POOOR Stilly! I would hug you, but it seems you are purulent....
So, today I go into the State Library of NSW (my old workplace) for a bit of research. After greeting everyone I used to work with and distributing half a bag of jellies I get some on-line time at the HIAC (Health Information Access Centre). Very revealing!
It turns out that for my hypertension medication there has been reports of side-effects including itching. But for the AD (anti-depressant) medication it's a very poorly kept secret!
I am pulling up dozens of hits for adverse reactions. When I get real specific about the one I take (and the class it falls into) we are still finding plenty! Am I actually poisoning myself?!
OK - less of the dramatics!
What would be a reasonable explanation is that I have managed to rein in a lot of the stressful parts of my life. Perhaps the actual need to keep myself medicated has actually been reduced? The excess serotonin that the meds are keeping in my system are causing the reaction that triggers the itching? I so goddam hope so!!
I'm going to relay this info to my therapist and suggest that I start to lower the dosages. I'll bring up the literature I have found and she will tactfully remind me that she is a one-woman operation and of the two of us I am the one who can do the damn research! So do it already and send me the articles!!
Occasionally, being a librarian and mad just goes hand in hand....
Hmmmm....
could be - the incidence of itch, rash, etc., is about 2% on all drugs.
Reducing the dose may help. Or you may need a different drug. Just because you get a reaction on one drug, you may not get it on another - and you may well maintain the other gains.
Well said Margo (she-of-the-cat-of-the-South) - as always, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
One week later, the result is:
-a.... sort of... reduction in symptoms - less itching and better sleep. Less reaction to heat-reactive symptoms
-huge, huge symptoms from withdrawing from medication. This is for real folks, there are any number of them - I actually left a work function on Friday for the reason that:
A. I could not stand to be around people
B. I was terrified that the pervasive smell of fish in the place was somehow connected to me (yes, I had washed and they do serve sea-food) and,
C. that I would say something offensive to some-one (even more terror)
Kind of sad, really. BUT, if I do not find out what my limits/tolerance is then I am in a worse position than anyone who has not yet tried such medications.
