Dazed & Confused

For the last week or so I've been in multiple muddles. I've had occasions where I felt very light headed, almost dizzy. I've had severe mood swings and bouts of melancholy. I've had sporadic moments of abdominal/kidney pain.

I didn't think too much of any of this. I thought perhaps the physical symptoms were due to a cold or flu bug that's nastily been working its way around the neighborhood. I attributed the mood swings to the gloomy overcast that often leads to seasonal depression or "seasonal affective disorder" which usually hits me in October or November and lasts until March or April…though usually not nearly as abrupt or extreme.

Anyway, a discovery was made yesterday which helps explain the various symptoms.

Amid all of the joys of my daily routine, I have two medication that I take each night…let's call them A and B. About 6 months ago, the doctor modified my prescription of A so now it is A+. I still had a couple weeks worth of A at the time, so I held onto it as a backup in case it was needed.

Somehow in the recent past (I'm not sure exactly when, but I can suspect at least 12 days because of the number of pills I had left), my medicine shelf was altered so that instead of having my A+ and B at the forefront and ready to be taken each night, I now had A and A+ sitting side by side and B was tucked back where A had been sitting as a backup.

The actual composition of A and B were fairly similar (A+ is a much larger pill and easily distinguished) such that I didn't realize the mistake…and so, for the past two weeks, instead of taking A+ and B as I should have done, I've been taking A and A+…thus significantly increasing my dose of the active ingredients for A and removing entirely the medication in B.

I chatted with the doctor's office yesterday and, along with a blood test, they assure me that I should have no worry about long term harm and everything should go back to normal now that I'm on the proper meeds again. I certainly hope so (and my family hopes so just as much…as I've been unpleasant to live with the past couple of weeks).

So…I'm now on the trail to de-fogging my head and body. And naturally, now that I've made that change, it appears I'm catching the flu bug that's going around. Hopefully I can kick it quickly…what a season.