Tag Archives: doctor

Weird Health Issues (or I’m Just Falling Apart)

Posted on December 18, 2015 | 1 comment

I’ve been dealing with some odd and annoying health issues lately. I have no clue what happened to me or if these things are even related, but I’m getting really sick of all this.

Of course, I always have the issues with my hips. Those are never ending and while they are annoying, it’s expected. I’ve got my painkiller routine down to a science and I’m pretty good at managing my pain. And I’m still recovering from the calf tear, but again I’m getting good at managing that too. But those are health things that I plan will affect me pretty often.

Right after Thanksgiving, I started having the strangest pain in my right arm. It started as dull pain in my shoulder, elbow, and top of my hand. Then it turned into my arm and hand being numb each morning for a while before regaining the feeling in it (it’s similar to when your hand falls asleep but lasts longer). This has been affecting me quite a bit. My painkillers don’t really touch the pain and not having feeling in my arm in the morning isn’t good. I’ve learned how to put in my contacts with my left hand and I sometimes have to wait a bit after waking up before getting dressed for the day.

I’ve mentioned this pain to my parents, but they agree that if I went to the doctor right away, their response would be to wait and come back if the pain is still there in a month or so (very similar to what I was told originally with my hip). My mom recommended an anti-inflamatory supplement and to take fish oil or flax oil (I had a bad reaction to the fish oil so I’m taking flax oil). The pain is still pretty bad, but isn’t slowly feeling better and I’m numb a little less every morning.

I thought that would be it for now, but then a few days ago I started having problems with my right eye. It’s nothing too bad (just watering a lot and my contact lens feeling funny), but when you’ve had back to back health issues the littlest thing can annoy you.

I still haven’t been to the doctor yet because the arm pain has been less than a month, but I’m starting to think that I might need to go in to see if this is something I should worry about (when I google it nothing good comes up). I’m normally very on top of my health issues, but that seems to be more when I know what caused something. Right now, everything I’ve got going on is a big mystery and might not be related to each other. I’m trying to wait it out, but I’m impatient.

Of course, I’m betting now that I’m writing this post somehow all my weird things are going to disappear within a day or two. It’s like when you take your car to the mechanic to get it fixed because you hear a weird noise and when they look at it the noise is gone. I joked to my parents that I’m falling apart in my not-so-old age, but I’m really just hoping that these are very random and unrelated things and not something I need to worry about.

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Posted in Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged doctor, health issues, sick

Checking In With Myself (or I Need To Find New Things That Make Me Happy)

Posted on November 18, 2015 | Comments Off

Even though I think my therapist is shocked that I’m continuing to do this, I’m maintaining my daily happiness checklist. I’ve been doing this for a while now and I’m actually really glad that it’s a part of my routine. It’s good for me to reflect back on my day and make sure that I’m doing things for myself and not just because I have to.

The only thing that I’m able to check off every single day is reading. Reading makes me so incredibly happy and I could easily spend hours every day reading. But since that isn’t a reality most days, I make sure that I get to read for at least a little while before I go to bed. I can’t remember the last day that I had where I didn’t read even for a little bit. It was probably at least 5 or 6 years ago. The only thing that makes me sad about reading is when I finish a book series that I love so much and I know that there aren’t going to be any more books. But fortunately I have a very wide range of tastes when it comes to books so I’m always able to find something to read next that excites me (but I’m happy to get any book recommendations that you all have).

Reading is the only thing that gets checked off every day, but there are a couple of things that are checked off almost every day. Going to Orangetheory or working out in another way is checked off more often than it isn’t. And blogging is checked off usually at least 5 out 7 days in the week. I’m glad that I know that almost every day I’m guaranteed to have 3 things on my checklist checked off. I think 3 or 4 things out of 10 is the lowest I’ve ever been on my checklist.

I’m finally getting more checks in my acting column. Going to class once a week counts (and I count going to the shows I have to see for class as well). Getting my headshots count. And of course, auditions count but those aren’t as common and are not controllable by me. I want to focus on getting more checks in that column, but I know that that is only going to happen if it is things that I control. That is one of the things that is pushing me toward going to the next level in my improv class.

The rest of my column are super sporadic. I have a Disneyland/Outing column, but with my schedule lately there haven’t been a lot of outings. I’ll be making at least one Disneyland trip next month (I’m hoping for 2) and I know that when my schedule is calmer that I can focus on planning more fun things.

Having a meal out (another column) is another one that is pretty low on checks. I think this goes hand in hand with the lack of outings (and a lack of money). This one will get some more checks in it soon with Thanksgiving, but I’m not sure if I’m going to keep this column after I see my therapist next month.

I know that the reason my therapist had me do this list originally was to make sure that I did things that make me happy every day. But the more times I do the list, the more I’m realizing that maybe the things that I thought make me happy aren’t right. Or maybe I need to focus on different ones that fit in my circumstances better. I know that going out for dinner makes me happy, but that’s not something that would happen too often even if my money situation was different.

I’m really starting to question what makes me happy in life and if I have enough things that make me happy in my life. Maybe I need to find more happiness and that’s something that is lacking in my world. It’s weird to think that I thought that I’ve been happy when in reality I might not have been. I’m not depressed, but I might have been fooling myself with how happy I’ve been.

I’m not going to change up my checklist in the middle of it. I see my therapist is a little over a month and the checklist will remain the same until I see him. After I see him, that’s when I create the new checklist that will have the right number of days before my next appointment (usually either 60 days or 90 days later). I think reevaluating things every other month or so it’s too bad and I’m sure lots of people could benefit from doing so. Since I feel forced into it by my therapist calling it “homework”, I don’t ignore what the checklist is telling me.

I’m sure this post seems a bit like I’m rambling on. It’s a weird feeling to think that you don’t know what makes you happy and that the things you thought made you happy don’t. I’ve got a month to think about what I do in life that makes me happy and then I’ll create the checklist that will take me into the new year and hopefully I can make 2016 the happiest year that I’ve had so far.

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Tagged doctor, happiness

Following My Doctor’s Instructions (or Days Off From Vyvanse)

Posted on October 16, 2015 | 1 comment

At my last appointment with my therapist, we covered a bunch of things. We discussed my decrease in exercise due to my calf tear and the anxiety it caused me (if only I knew then that coming up there would be a week where I could only work out once). We talked about my happiness checklist and the fact that I’ve continued to do it every day as he asked me to. I’m still one of the only patients who has actually followed through with this homework assignment he has given to many patients. And we also talked about how I was doing on Vyvanse.

I’m very torn on Vyvanse. Since increasing my dosage to 2 pills a day instead of 1 pill a day, I’ve noticed that it does help me more often. But it doesn’t help all the time like I wished that it would. I know that it’s an aid and not a miracle drug, but that doesn’t stop me from wishing it was a miracle drug.

While it does help at times controlling my hunger (and I do sometimes forget to eat most of the day) it isn’t a weight loss medication so I’m not seeing a huge change on the scale. I know that I shouldn’t judge the medicine’s success by what number is on the scale, but I do.

I expressed these frustrations to my therapist when I was there last. He brought up a suggestion to me that I’ve been trying to test out. He wants me to try going one or two days a week without taking Vyvanse. He wants me to do that on days that I’m not doing anything that may put me in a tough situation with food.

At first, I didn’t want to do this. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Since this is a time release medication it’s good to have days without it so my body doesn’t get used to it. I’m close to the maximum dose that my therapist would prescribe, so he doesn’t want to keep increasing it because I will max out soon. So having days with no medication and then days with medication is a way to keep my body from getting used to the dosage.

I wasn’t sure when I’d try doing this at first, but then when I got sick I just forgot to take my medicine (despite the alarms I set on my phone). There were 3 days in a row that I didn’t take it. Those 3 days were pretty much a blur to me due to how sick I was, so I can’t say if I felt that different compared to when I’m taking them. I tried another day without medicine this past Sunday (it wasn’t a busy day for me so it seemed like a good day to try it) and I did notice a difference. It’s almost as if my anxiety got worse because I was terrified on how I would feel without the medicine.

But I got through the day just fine and since then the past few days have been better days for me. I don’t necessarily feel like the medication is working more. But it feels like the concerns that I have in my head every day are a bit quieter for me. It’s not going to be easy to find days that I’m ok with not taking my medicine, but I’m going to try to find one day a week that I can do it. If I can’t, that’s ok but at least I’m making a real effort in trying it. And knowing how much better I feel this week is motivation to keep having a day off.

Of course, I still wish that Vyvanse works more than it does. It’s unrealistic but I can dream. But at least now I have a much more positive opinion of Vyvanse than I did before and I think that will help with the success of the drug.

Are any of my readers on Vyvanse? I’m curious about your experience on it because when I’ve done Google research it seems like I’m having a unique experience. If you don’t want to comment (and be public about being on it), feel free to use the contact page to send me a message privately.

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Posted in Food, Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged binge, binge eating, doctor, eating disorder, medication

A Full Doctor Afternoon (or Pain and More Pain)

Posted on October 1, 2015 | 1 comment

I’m trying to be a good health advocate for myself. I take the medicines I need to take on a regular schedule (I have an app that helps me with that), I go to all of my annual doctors appointments, and I follow all of the recommendations that I can that my doctors make.

Sometimes, these recommendations aren’t fun, but I still try to do them anyway. And this past Monday, I did a bunch of not so fun doctor things all in one day.

First up was my mammogram. While my mom’s geneticist recommended a baseline mammogram (which I did last year) and then start annual ones when I’m 40, my hospital had the recommendation to do annual ones starting now. The one I did last year was pretty painful, so this year I took a painkiller before going in.

Because of a patient issue, the hospital was running about an hour behind, so I had a long wait in the waiting room. There were a lot of other women waiting too, and we all started talking. We had a pretty nice chat and soon enough it was my turn to go in.

The mammogram was still painful (the technician told me that it’s likely that it will always be this painful for me or possibly get worse in the future), but it was over pretty quickly. And fortunately, I’ve already gotten an email from my doctor that I had normal results.

After the mammogram, I moved over to the medical offices next door for my next painful doctor recommendation.

Immunizations.

I knew I needed a flu shot since I get them each year. But I usually can get the nasal spray vaccine from either the medical offices or one of my jobs. I hate needles, so the nasal spray vaccine is a great option for me. But this year, nobody seems to have the nasa spray. So if I wanted to get a vaccine, it would have to be one with a needle.

I also needed my tetanus booster. My last tetanus shot was less than 10 years ago, but there are some discrepancies in my medical record on what shot I got (with whooping cough or without) so it was recommended that I get a booster shot earlier than necessary to make sure I’m covered.

I’m happy to announce that I didn’t faint with the shots. I did start to black out, but I never completely passed out. The shots weren’t fun, but I got them done quickly.

The only bad thing that happened was it turns out that I’m the rare case who gets pretty significant flu-like symptoms after the flu shot. The night I got my flu shot, I woke up in the middle of the night sweating like crazy and with a really high fever. The entire day after the flu shot I was like a zombie. I barely could stay awake during work.

But I was able to nap after work from 3-7pm and then went to bed at 9pm and slept until 7am the next morning. All that sleep did help, but I’m still feeling a bit off. I’m sure in a day or two I’ll be totally better, but it still wasn’t fun to feel so out of it for a few days.

Even with the flu shot making me sick, it’s totally worth getting the vaccination. What I dealt with is way less severe than the real flu.

And at least I don’t have to do any more shots or mammograms (hopefully) for another year.

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Posted in Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged breast cancer, doctor, mammogram, sick

Trying To Go With The Flow (or Staying Calm And Remembering To Breathe)

Posted on September 25, 2015 | 1 comment

I hate when I have a bad day. Obviously, everyone hates bad days, but I feel like my bad days take it to an epic new level. And when that happens, I get sucked into how bad it is and feel like I can’t dig out of the hole of awfulness.

This past Tuesday was one of those epically bad days. It didn’t start off too bad. Work got off to a good start, but then it just took a direct downhill turn. The majority of my shift I felt pretty horrible and really debated if I want to stay at my job anymore or if it’s time for me to move on. To be honest, I’m still debating this issue. I don’t really get time off at my job and when I have taken time off it’s made me feel guilty because my co-workers have to cover my share of the work. There are more and more things and opportunities that I’d love to do, but they happen during my work time. I have no intention of leaving my job anytime soon, but I’m also not going to ignore options that come my way.

The worst part of my work shift that day was the last customer I had to work with. It wasn’t the customer’s fault at all. They needed a confirmation resent to them, but it didn’t appear that the type of order they placed could have been done. I got this customer the last minute of my shift and I ended up working 30 minutes after closing trying to figure out their situation. One of my co-workers stayed on too and was a huge help, but we still had to manually search through every city that our show runs in and never found their order (it ended up being an error on the location’s side so there was no way we could have helped the customer).

After working 30 minutes late, I was late for my next thing which was a meeting with my therapist. It was a pretty standard check in appointment and we’ve decided to continue on the dosage of Vyvanse that I’m currently on. He re-wrote my prescription and I was on my way.

Once I got to the hospital to get my refill, I found out that my doctor forgot to write today’s date on the refill order (since it’s a controlled medication, I need to have a handwritten refill request every time). I wish I could have just gone outside and added the date or shown them the bill from seeing my therapist, but they needed an entirely new refill request.

Of course, because of traffic, there was no way I could drive all the way back to my therapist to get another form. So I called and asked if one could be ready for me to pick up another time. I did manage to go at 7am yesterday and got the new form, but now they are out of the medication at the hospital and it will take at least 4 days before I can get my medication (I’ll run out before then).

After that day, I was ready to just sit and home and be in a funk. And that’s exactly what I did. I felt like nothing was going to go right with my day so I didn’t want to bother. And fortunately, I didn’t have anything else that was urgent to do that day, so I could indulge in my bad mood.

I’m lucky that it seems like these epically bad days only last one day (except for the fact that yesterday they ran out of my prescription at the hospital and I can’t get it refilled for a few days). I’m totally in a better mood now. I wish that I could control how I deal with bad days better, but I don’t think that I handle them horribly. I just want to be able to get out of the funk prior to going to bed for the night.

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Posted in Health, Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged doctor, job, medication, work

Another Therapist Check In (or Showing Off My Happiness Checklist)

Posted on July 23, 2015 | 5 comments

I had another appointment with my therapist this week. Last time I was there, he gave me homework to do over the next 90 days (the number of days between my appointments). I was to make a checklist of 10 things that make me happy and track how many I do each day. The goal wasn’t to do all 10 every day (I don’t think I ever did that), but it was to try to make sure that I at least do some every day.

I did this for 90 days (my appointment ended up being on day 89 so I finished it the day after my appointment). And my checklist looked pretty full.

I brought my (almost) completed checklist with me to my appointment to show my doctor. It was the first thing we discussed and honestly I think he was pretty surprised that I did it. He said that many patients start one and only keep it up for a couple of days and others never actually do it. But I wanted to prove that I’m taking this seriously and I’m not just going to therapy to get medication (although that is what started this process).

He told me to continue my checklist for the next 60 days (again, it’s the length of time between my appointments). I had to make a new checklist and I was allowed to keep any or all of the previously happiness items on the list. I decided to keep all but one of them. I changed shopping/beauty because while that does make me happy, my financial situation prevents me from doing it as often as I’d like. Nothing else on my list is restricted by money so I figured that that one was meant to go. In place of shopping/beauty I put binge free day. It’s a bit controversial that I listed lack of eating disorder symptoms as something that makes me happy, but hopefully my therapist will be ok with this.

After going over my checklist, we discussed how I was doing on Vyvanse. I’ve been very torn about the medication. It has helped a tiny bit (I’d say I’ve had many a 5% improvement) but I don’t want to take something if it isn’t making a significant change in my life. There are side effects that can be dangerous and I want to be in a place where the benefits outweigh the side effects.

My therapist seemed to understand my feelings and how I don’t want to give up on Vyvanse but I don’t know if continuing to take it is the right choice. So we are going to try changing up my dosage to see if that helps. I’m now going to take one pill in the morning and another pill right before lunch time. I just started this yesterday so I have no idea yet how it will really affect me or if it’s going to work a lot better. But I am very hopeful. I have to be since I know that many things can be affected if you are positive or not. So I’m going to remain positive about this and give it the best shot I can.

My therapist said that the best plan is to take the medication and forget about it. I shouldn’t make it the focus of my day (I wonder how he feels about me writing an entire blog post about it?). So if I’m supposed to forget about the medication, I’m going to focus on the happiness checklist and seeing how much I can get checked off in the next 60 days.

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Posted in Food, Health, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

Tagged binge eating, doctor, eating disorder, happiness, medication, positivity

Update On My Checklist (or Working On Being Happy)

Posted on June 19, 2015 | 2 comments

At my last appointment with my therapist, he wanted me to make a happiness checklist. On that list, I was supposed to track 10 things that make me happy and check off if I did one each day.

I don’t know if he really expected me to make a checklist and check off things every day, but I have been doing just that. And I’m beyond the half way point so I figured I should update you all on how I’m doing.

There are a few things that I pretty much do every day without fail. Every day I get 10,000 steps in and I read. Those are pretty easy for me to get done since I make sure to do my 10,000 steps every day (those Fitbit challenges really help me!) and I can’t imagine going to bed without reading. Honestly, I would read more if I could but I don’t have the time. I also blog almost every day as well as workout most days of the week, so those columns have a bunch of check marks on them as well.

Where I’m not doing as many of my happy things seem to be the social things. They are the outings, meeting friends and family, or having a meal out. I’m working on trying to do more of those things, but sometimes once I’m done with work and going to Orangetheory, I just want to put on my PJs and be lazy in my house for the evening. But on the evenings I’m not working out, I really am making more of an effort to be social when I can.

I’ve also got seeing movies on my list. This is something that I love but I don’t seem to do often enough (at least often enough for me). I did go see “Jurassic World” this week by myself and had a great time. It was a really fun movie. The only negative were the people who decided to bring their toddlers in the movie and didn’t seem to shush them (or think it was inappropriate to bring a toddler to that movie). But beyond those little annoyances, that was a fun afternoon out.

The acting column on my happiness checklist is a little empty. I chose to only mark it off if I had an audition or an actor related event. But I do do tasks related to acting every day (like self-submitting or research). I just figured I’d only count it if it was more than something I could do alone in my house.

I’ve got just about a month before my next meeting with my therapist. I will be bringing in my checklists for him to look at. Mainly because I think he will be impressed that I actually did the homework he gave me for 90 days (although my appointment is actually on day 89). But I also really am trying to take my appointments with my therapist seriously. I’m trying to not just be there to get the medication. That might have been the reason I started, but that doesn’t have to be my motivation for continuing.

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged doctor, happiness

Over A Month On Vyvanse (or A Meeting With My Therapist)

Posted on April 23, 2015 | 3 comments

I had an appointment with my therapist this week to discuss how I’ve been doing on Vyvanse. Honestly, I went into the appointment thinking that I would probably be stopping the medication.

While almost all the side effects I experienced the first few days have ended (racing heart rate, shaking, intestinal issues), I started to experience some new side effects in the past few weeks. Mainly, losing more hair that usual.

Now, I have no clue if this is due to the medication. I was diagnosed with alopecia when I was 14. Then, I had two pretty large bald spots behind my ears. I did injections and my hair grew back. But every so often I get new bald spots (and usually they grow back on their own). But now, I’m losing my hair on my head all over and there aren’t any visible bald spots. And when I looked up side effects of Vyvanse, hair loss is one. There’s no real way to prove what causes my hair loss (even with it being caused by the alopecia), but if there is something that I am doing in my life that is causing it, I don’t want to keep doing that.

So when I went into the appointment I figured it was the end of my journey with Vyvanse. It hasn’t really been helping with my binge eating episodes. I do experience reduced hunger at times, but it’s not what I was expecting or hoping. I had felt such a great lack of hunger and disinterest in food for the first few days, and now that that feeling is gone I’m a little sad. I wished that that would be how I feel every day.

I went over all of my side effects and concerns with the therapist. We both agreed that increasing the dosage would not be a smart idea. If it did help with the hunger/binge issues it might also make any side effects worse. And it’s really an unknown right now if the Vyvanse is causing the hair loss or if it is the alopecia/stress.

So right now, the plan is to continue the dosage that I’m on right now. As far as not feeling like the medication is effective, my therapist explained that everyone feels that instant “cure” when they start the medication. The receptors in your brain aren’t expecting what the medication does, so it goes into overdrive. But once your brain gets used to it, it feels like it isn’t as effective. But that’s where things can get scary.

Some people will tell their doctors how great they felt right away and then the feeling went away. So some doctors will increase the dosage. The patient will have those few days of awesomeness again and then that will go away. So the dosage is increased again. There is a limit to how much of this medication you can take each day, and you don’t want to get to the maximum dosage if you don’t have to. So the plan is for me to stay on my current dosage for 3 more months and then we will reevaluate. If my doctor feels then that I should have a higher dosage, we will increase it. But for now, he wants to see what happens over the next 90 days. And he and I will meet again after those 90 days to discuss things again.

My therapist also wants me to track how often I’m doing the things that make me happy every day. He feels (and I agree) that the best way to stay on top of my eating disorder is to not try to get rid of the binge episodes but to make sure that I’m doing things that make me happy every day. Eventually, my time will be focused on those happy things and not on bingeing.

I’m going to work on making a chart of my happy things (he wants me to come up with 10) this week and start tracking them either on Sunday or Monday (I’m going to make my chart a calendar so I can look back at each day easily). I’m hoping that if I make an effort every day to include these happy things that I will almost “forget” to binge.

I’m not sure if that will work, but it’s worth a try. And hopefully the next 3 months on Vyvanse will go smoothly and anything that I think might be a side effect will go away soon. But as always, I’m trying to stay positive and hope for the best.

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Posted in Food, Health, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

Tagged binge eating, doctor, eating disorder, help, medication

No More Late Nights? (or Is My New Medication Making Me A Party Pooper?)

Posted on March 31, 2015 | Comments Off

I’ve been taking my new medication for a little while now. My heart rate is almost back to where it used to be (even in workouts) and all the other side effects that I was feeling are gone.

But I still don’t feel totally back to normal now. And it seems to be only affecting me at nighttime.

This past week I had been going to bed earlier than usual, but I didn’t think much of it. I’ve been dealing with a cold or allergies lately and whenever my body is fighting something like that it needs more sleep.

Then on Saturday, my day started pretty normally. I worked my morning shift and then went to a workout. After I got showered and changed, I was supposed to head out to Chris and Marie‘s house for another party (seriously, they are the best party hosts ever!).

I got to the party around 4pm and was feeling fine at first. But I was starting to feel a bit worn down. I thought maybe I was hungry so I ate some food, but I was still feeling off.

I decided that it wasn’t worth it to me to stay out super late so I set a goal that I was going to stay until at least 9pm. But by 8pm, I was starting to feel so exhausted that I worried about how safe I would feel driving home in another hour.

I ended up leaving just before 9pm and as soon as I got home I fell asleep.

Maybe I’m still dealing with this cold/allergies thing, but I’m starting to wonder if it’s the medication. I’ve looked it up online and the medication is a time release medication that is typically out of your system about 12-14 hours after you take it. On Saturdays, since I have an early shift at work, I take my medication no later than 7am. So to be exhausted by 7pm makes sense.

I know that I’m still in the testing/trial phase of the medication. Things still need to be adjusted for me if I’m going to stay on it long-term (which I don’t know if I will). I see my doctor in just under 3 weeks from now and I know that this exhaustion thing will be something I mention if it continues.

I don’t want to put the blame on the medication, but it’s really the only thing that has changed in my life (except for the heat in LA lately). I can’t figure out what else might be causing this. And while I’m not normally a night-owl, I do like to be able to go and hang out with my friends in the evening. Hopefully when I speak to my doctor, something can be adjusted with this so that I will be able to do that again.

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Posted in Tough Stuff

Tagged doctor, medication, party, tired

1 Week On Vyvanse (or Hoping To Answer Some Questions)

Posted on March 20, 2015 | 4 comments

I’ve been on Vyvanse for a week now. Since I’ve been so open about both my eating disorder and being put on this medication, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about it.

First of all, Vyvanse is an ADHD drug that the FDA approved for people with moderate to severe binge eating disorders. I’ve heard for years how ADD and ADHD medications have helped with my type of eating disorder, but the rule with my health insurance is that my prescription coverage doesn’t cover prescriptions that are being used for something that the FDA hasn’t approved it for yet. So while I wanted to try some other options, this is the only one that my insurance will cover.

To get prescribed this medication, first you have to be diagnosed with a binge eating disorder. I was first formally diagnosed with it even before it was a recognized eating disorder by my hospital. Since there really weren’t any treatment options at my hospital (they were going to consider me a non-purging bulimic), I went elsewhere for therapy. This included the RFO program which did have group therapy. I had to be re-diagnosed with a binge eating disorder to get the prescription.

This is not a weight loss drug. I know that those are out there, but I wasn’t looking for that. This medication helps to reduce the number of binge eating episodes that I have. To me, that is way more powerful than a weight loss medication.

And yes, I have felt some side effects. I had a racing heart pretty much the entire first few days. But now, that is gone. I also had issues with shaking hands, but that is also pretty much gone (that sometimes comes back when I work out). Beyond the first two days, almost all the side effects have stopped. The only side effect that I’ve felt every day is a little dizziness for brief amounts of time (maybe less than a minute) a few times a day. It feels very similar to vertigo (which I have so maybe that is what the dizziness issue is).

I’ve had a lot of people ask me how it’s going so far. Well, I’ve been on the medication for a week. And I’m taking less than half of what the dosage usually was for patients with binge eating disorders. I’m even taking less than the recommended starting dosage. I’m not sure why my doctor did it this way, but I will be meeting with him in just about a month to reevaluate (and I’m sure to up my dosage if I’d like to continue taking it). It’s hard to tell how much it’s working right now. I have had moments where I have no appetite, and I know that is something that this is supposed to do. But it has not reduced my binge eating episodes down as much as many of the trials stated it did for those patients. Again, this might be due to the low dosage that I’m on.

My plan going forward is to continue taking the medication and evaluating if a higher dosage would give me better results when I meet with my doctor next month. That’s it. I can’t really do much more than that. I’ve been warned that it can take several months to figure out if a medication is right for me and what dosage I need to be on. I just have to be patient and see.

If you have any questions about Vyvanse (I’m not paid to talk about it, just sharing my experiences with you all), let me know. I’m happy to help answer what I can. It makes me so happy that by me allowing myself to be open and share this with the world that others feel comfortable enough confiding in me. If I get nothing else out of this medication, I will know that I might have helped at least one person be less ashamed about their eating disorder.

4 Comments

Posted in Health, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

Tagged binge eating, doctor, eating disorder, help, medication

Tag Archives: doctor

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