Texts

Doing rather a lot of this now. Never used too. Couldn’t see the point.

I have recently discoved the benefits of predictive text and now have extended conversations with friends over a period of days. I send a text one day, then they reply a couple of days later, then I reply a couple of days after that. Cool.

Some texts make me laugh. I go to great lengths using all my characters in a text to my brother (160 – I have to get my 10p’s worth!), and then he generally sends one back using one word!

Mind you he did manage a few more words on Shrove Tuesday. He wanted to know if I was free for a charity pancake race that evening. Apparently, they had the pancakes and the pans; all they wanted was a tosser!

Drugs

I came back up again Sunday after a 10 day down, so not as long as the last one. I thought it would prehaps be a good idea to contact my GP and was able to see her yesterday.

I haven’t seen her for a while as she has been on maternity leave having had a baby girl. I like my GP, she’s very good; my ten minute appointment lasted a full half an hour!

I have been prescribed some meds by my Psychiatrist and I had to see my GP to pick up the prescription. To be honest, I am really fed up with having been down for long periods recently and so decided I should at least try them; though I do have an aversion to medication as nothing has yet worked for me and one anti-depressant put me in hospital a few years ago when I had an illergic reaction to it.

“I’ve seen your notes,” said my GP yesterday whilst discussing my new medication’s alarmingly similar side-effects. “Did you know you very nearly died?”

My Psychiatrist has prescribed Lamictal (Lamotigine) which is drug used by patients with epilepsy. It isn’t yet licensed for BiPolar Affective Disorder in this country though does appear to have had major success in a few trials.

The drug regulates the build up of sodium in the nerve cells in our brains. Sodium is needed by the nerves to release electrical signals – too much or too little electrical activity and the brain can’t function properly.

It’ll be a while before I can report on any difference these make. I’m only on a 25mg dose and will have to up this to 150mg by increasing the dose 25mg at a time every two weeks. By my calculations this will be in 10 weeks time!

Rock’n'Roll

And finally for today’s post, I’ve discovered a new hobby. Well sort of.

I have a singer/songwriter friend with an electric guitar and I’ve started writing lyrics for him. Great fun.

Because I think in a creative character/storytelling sort of way (useful for a playwright!) I have found it very interesting to channel this into short bursts – ie: using the limited number of words needed in a song to tell a story and develop the character of the story-teller.

I love finding new rhymes and have a penchant for illiteration too. I also have an interest in music (though I don’t play and can’t sing) and would dearly love to own a grand piano, but that’s another post.

Very early days yet as I’ve only written four songs in the last couple of weeks, but we’ll see what comes of it. If it works out I may well publish a few here.