Weekdays in Review

Monday: Considerably better than the weekend. Felt energetic enough to go to the library and various other places, walking a little less than four miles total. Hurrah!

Tuesday: Scrubbed the bathroom tub & tiles a bit, though not enough to keep the bathroom from still being a bit disgusting. Hey, something is better than nothing. Went to the library again. Got lots of typing practice. Did some walking around for pleasure as well, walking a bit more than four miles during the day, which was a lovely change of pace from my recent lethargy.

Wednesday: Felt like all my limbs were made out of lead. Wondered why my arms ached so much, then remembered the previous day's scrubbing. Didn't bother leaving the house all day. Developed a nasty migraine in the evening, so went to bed earlyish in hopes that getting a good, solid eight or nine hours of sleep would help me feel better the next day.

Thursday: Was awakened after about five hours of sleep. Ugh. Migraine still nasty, so I took some prescription medication for it and ended up feeling slightly high, or possibly low (it was a little hard to tell which way was up by that point). Constantly bumped into walls as I walked through the house. Headache waned enough during the day for me to go to the grocery store for a few good foods, so that was a plus. Went to sleep relatively early, woke up an hour later to put a load of laundry in the dryer, then spent the next hour-plus in utter misery because the headache had gotten much, much worse and would not allow me to get back to sleep no matter what position I contorted myself into.

I called my doctor's clinic's answering service to find out the maximum dose of my headache medication that I could safely take in a day, enthusiastically thanked the doctor on call when he told me that yes, in a 24-hour period it was okay to take about three times as much of the drug as I had already taken. Took another pill. Promptly puked my guts out (was grateful that my body had given me enough warning for me to run to the bathroom and pull my hair out of the way first). Greeted incoming housemate with the words, "You know, intense pain and nausea really aren't conducive to sleep." Refreshed my memory of the symptoms of meningitis. Decided that migraine + muscle tension was still a better fit for the symptoms, and besides, the thought of enduring the lights of even the most dimly-lit ER for any length of time sounded like a taste of Hell. Took another pill, which stayed down this time and noticeably decreased the pain within a few minutes. Wondered if any of that relief was related to placebo effect, but decided I didn't care as long as the pain went away enough to let me sleep.

Friday, so far: Woke up after sleeping somewhere around seven hours, which was better than I'd expected. Still feeling a wee bit headachy, I took more of the headache meds as well as my usual drugs. The migraine's still there, but it's more of a normal migraine rather than something seriously making me consider a trip to the emergency room, so I'm grateful for that. I haven't braved breakfast yet, and I do have an appointment with the neurologist today, so wish me luck!

Based on the way I felt Monday & Tuesday, I'd say my good days on Keppra are better than my good days on Depakote were (at least in the last few months I was taking it). Based on the last couple of days--especially last night--I'd say that my bad days are significantly worse. I wonder if this dose of Keppra is actually helping any, or if I'm just relearning what it's like to live without Depakote's side effects.