To Sleep, Perchance To Dream....

I've been really tired lately. Not just the "can no longer function on 3 hours sleep like in college" tired, but the "needing a nap of van Winkle caliber" tired. Despite the fact that I get the recommended 6-8 hours most nights, I have a harder and harder time getting myself out of bed in the morning. I have trouble concentrating at work because I'm fighting the urge to put my head down on the desk and drift back to dreamland. My lunch hour is more often than not spent sleeping in the car. After work I come home and lay down on the couch. Now that the weather is getting nicer, I'd love to take the puppy out to the park more often, but these days I barely have the energy required to lift the remote and change the channel on the tv. I can't tell you how many nights I've opted to skip dinner because just the thought of going in and throwing something in the microwave is too exhausting.

Being tired has made me cranky and sore. Not that I mean to be cranky, but I find that my tolerance and/or patience for other people, traffic, my pets, sounds, etc, is severely limited. Like I usually reach my limit by the time I hit my morning shower and everyone else is just standing on my exposed nerve after that.

And blah. I've been feeling blah and void of emotion lately. Never a good sign.

This has been going on for about a month or so. It was time to seek some medical advice. So yesterday I went in to see my doctor.

He said that from what I described, it sounds like depression. I've been on medication for two years now for depression, so I was a little surprised to hear that, but he said that sometimes people taking Prozac over a long period of time start to notice a decrease in it's effectiveness. That's what is going on now. He had me on a relatively low dosage, so he increased the prescription by 10mg. If I'm not noticing a difference in energy and mood in 6 weeks time, I will go back and see him again.

(I think it's important to point out here that while I am once again exhibiting signs of depression, I have managed to take care of it before it got to the suicidal stage again).

I felt a lot better today. I know that one day isn't enough time to feel that kind of improvement from the extra 10mg of Prozac, so it's probably more of a placebo effect, but regardless, I was able to concentrate at work and actually ate lunch rather than napping. That felt good. Of course, by the time I got home, that burst of energy had faded and I was back to drowsy and tired. But it's a start.

I wasn't the only one who went to visit the doctor yesterday. My grandpa has been in the hospital since Friday for pneumonia, Derrick went in and found out he has strep throat, and Jade had her 10 day check-up after her surgery (we got her fixed).

I have a new theory: St. Patrick is Irish for "doctor".

Need further proof? Okay, we wear green on St. Patty's day. Green is the color people turn when they get sick. Sick people go see the doctor to feel better. Coincidence?

As if I needed another reason to dislike the color.....