Comically horrible week

[petronia]

My grandmother passed away Thursday night. We learnt she had terminal cancer in January, which is a story in and of itself, and after that her decline was shockingly rapid. Insofar as I can reconstruct the timeline, I was halfway through an 8-hour session of straight whiskey drinking and hashing out of emotional topics with an old friend (including

Comments

[aishuu]

Really sorry to hear about your grandmother - best wishes.

[petronia]

Thank you for your kind thoughts.

[petronia]

*hugs* Thanks a lot, Mare. With chronic autoimmune stuff there is a lot of try-and-see -- reasonable chance of spontaneous remission as well, so. (I have been remiss in answering comments and message, I know. ^^; I wish I'd sent you those volcano photos, because then someone would have a copy!)

[kuroraka]

I'm sorry for your loss.

And yeah, St. John's wort works wonders, without having nearly as much nasty side effects as "regular" antidepressants.

[petronia]

Thank you.

I didn't really think it would work like an antidepressant (I've never taken any, only analogues), more like valerian tea or whatever, so this is impressive.

[celestriad]

wow, that definitely sounds like a tough week. i'm sorry for your loss.

as for the herbal remedies, i'm glad you're getting some benefit from them. however, make sure you always keep your doctor/pharmacist updated on your meds/herbals/supplements, because st. john's wort is notorious for making other medications less effective.

[petronia]

Thank you for the kind thoughts.

I will definitely update my doctor, if it comes to that/I take it long enough. I'm lucky in that I'm not taking anything prescription, except allergy sprays, and even those I've stopped since it's not the season.

[flemmings]

Dear god. Yes, a week. Also your sister- yikes.

I'm glad the herbals work for you, since they don't for a lot of people. Ginkgo you can stop and start at need because it loses its effectiveness after a while; St John's Wort I just took for the duration of the trauma (return from Japan reverse culture shock/ Harris gov't IIRC) and dropped it when some kind of equilibrium had re-established itself. You with a busy-busy job may need to stay on it longer. But as celestriad says, inform anyone who prescribes you things that you're using it.

Is it possibly the negative fallout/ emotions have just taken cover for the duration, since having them is inefficient and a waste of energy needed for other things?

[petronia]

This week's at least kicking off better. Birthday party was over the weekend, and that was quite nice, actually.

I've decided to take the gingko on weekdays and leave off on weekends. The St John's wort... I don't know? I didn't expect it to actually work like an antidepressant pill, I thought it'd be like nettle tea for detox or valerian for sleep or ginger/cinnamon for cramps. (Though ginger concentrate for motion sickness works just like popping a pill, which also weirds me out.) Then again, from observation and experience I'm sure half a tab of amphetamine a day is easier on the body than four or more cups of coffee, and I was up to three.

(And yes, I'm pretty sure this effect is the pill. Without getting into the details in a public post, I know what a serotonin reuptake inhibitor feels like. XD; Weirdly enough, I was on the other kind when I found out my grandfather died a year ago.)

[flemmings]

I was thinking- and then she has a birthday, worst possible timing, etc etc. I'm glad it went well.

Staggering the ginkgo is probably a good idea. It's still a drug. Same goes for the St John's Wort. I'd tried a couple of anti-depressants prior to that, which had all the side-effects and none of the effects, so I wasn't terribly surprised when the herbal worked and the expensive meds did not. Package it up and charge $100 for 30 tablets if you like, but it's still a plant-derived something or other.