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[C. J., Cool yet firm like ice]

Been on Risperdal myself. Boy, was that rough!

Hope you give it enough time and your body and the helpful stuff in your meds and dosage will get in synch.

Give it time, though it's not fun right at the moment. I know you can do it, my awesome friend!

[C. J., Cool yet firm like ice]

I was scared of any kind of treatment recently. I had a doctor that I wholeheartedly agree was caring a lot more on getting doped up (and I would take any medicine on top of what I was and am currently taking) than he was truly helping me.

Am looking now for a new psych based off of my insurance, which is its own kind of rough...hehe

[Garrison]

I feel like absolute hell, CJ. Patience is not one of my virtues, so I feel even more like hell. I do hope this ends soon. I appreciate your support, buddy. And I hope you too can find a medicine that's right for you. Risperdal is nuts...

[C. J., Cool yet firm like ice]

Yeah there was stuff it did to me that is too inappropriate for here lol (you probably know what I am talking about, hehehe!). It felt like if I wanted a future like a kid it was like "That ain't happening. Never!" LOL

I am on different meds now. I cannot stand the bad side effects (or the repercussions of this stuff) either but at least it's the lesser of two evils I guess, lol.

[C. J., Cool yet firm like ice]

And I am always here at the very least to be someone to talk to or shout at in messages when you feel frustrated whenever you want! :D

Feel free.

[Garrison]

Oh yes, the "inappropriate" side effects happened to me too. I think I'm over that today, though, so things are starting to improve. My biggest concern right now is the insomnia. I've been having trouble sleeping the past few days and it's driving me nuts.

[Brett]

Garrison wrote: "Well...I told a few people on Face Book about this, but this is the first time you guys are hearing about it. I'm currently taking a new antipsychotic called Latuda, which means I had to go off of ..."

Hang in there, Garrison. It sounds like you're still experiencing withdrawal symptoms of risperidone. I have had success with Latuda for my bipolar disorder. It compliments my mood stabilizer, Lamictal. Before Latuda, I was taking Abilify. It caused me uncontrollable urges to gamble. That was not a healthy habit to have if you don't have unlimited income. I'm still recovering financially from that. Latuda has been a nice replacement. Everybody's body is different. Something you might consider is journaling your feelings during your adjustment. You can reference that later with your doctor if you think it is helpful. Poetry writing is my healthy habit and therapy, much cheaper than gambling. Also, try mindfulness meditation. There are books about it that can be supplemental to medication and can help with sleeplessness. Sometimes, I have a cup of sleepy-time tea at night to settle down. I will pray for you Garrison. Peace be with you.

[Garrison]

Latuda has been a godsend ever since I started taking it. I feel like I'm losing weight since I'm not hungry 24/7 like I was on the Risperidone. I've been taking Melatonin before going to bed and so far it's working. I do plan on telling my therapist everything once I see her in late March. I appreciate your support in all of this, Brett. You're a kind soul. You always have been. I hope your finances recover after that horrible gambling addiction. That sounds awful. :(

[Garrison]

Well, guys...it's been a week since I've been off Risperidone and I thought that would have been the end of that. And then...my mom gets COVID and has quite possibly given it to me. The only symptom I'm feeling right now is warm tingles across my back, like someone is giving me a massage, but nobody's there. I'm vaxed and boosted, so hopefully I can get through this in due time. I'm more worried about my mom, who's 76 years old and is therefore in the vulnerable category. She too is vaxed and boosted, but I'm worried about her.

[C. J., Cool yet firm like ice]

It's interesting that you happened to start taking new meds Garrison. I am now on a new drug too. I might update you in messages about it if you want to hear an update on that as well!

[C. J., Cool yet firm like ice]

They thought the medicine I was on was taking a toll on my current health. Thank God I am now on a different seemingly safer drug than what I was on . . .!

[Garrison]

Medicine is weird like that. That's why it's so easy to laugh at pharmaceutical commercials when they list off a bunch of deadly side effects that are worse than the condition they're treating.

[C. J., Cool yet firm like ice]

Garrison wrote: "Medicine is weird like that. That's why it's so easy to laugh at pharmaceutical commercials when they list off a bunch of deadly side effects that are worse than the condition they're treating."

LOL. Speaking of that... humor thread

[C. J., Cool yet firm like ice]

Hello again (again) lol!

[C. J., Cool yet firm like ice]

Just a casual update. I was recently hospitalized so I am taking it easy lately. On a new medicine and I am doing at best well I think! The message to all members is coming up now.

[Garrison]

Wow...CJ, I didn't see this message until much later, but man, that's rough. I hope you're doing better these days. Seems like neither of us can catch a break with our medicines. The "inappropriate" side effects never went away for me. In fact, they occupy most of my waking hours.

[Garrison]

"Hello? Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone home?"

-Pink Floyd singing "Comfortably Numb"-

Thankfully, I've been working on my comfortable numbness by not doom-scrolling through political content on social media (even if the posts are from people I agree with). My mental energy is slowly coming back to me, keyword there being slowly. Turns out that feeling hopeless all the time is quite the drain on the soul. But enough about me. What's going on with everyone these days?

[James]

Hey Garrison,

I'm glad your mental energy is coming back. I stopped following any social media content related to politics years ago because I learned that most of it was just people sharing second-hand/heavily biased news articles without applying any thought/discernment/discretion/questioning to the information provided. I was vilified by every side for calling out the misleading information in the articles. No one wants to hear the middle ground. They all want a reason to be angry, offended, and hateful. My mental state became much better when I left it behind, also.

As far as how I am doing, I have been struggling with physical health for a while now. I've had an upper respiratory infection for almost a month-and-a-half that is not responding to any treatments, and no one is entirely sure what is causing it. It is miserable spending all day and night coughing for weeks on end, and my body is completely exhausted. But I'm sure I'll be alright in the end.

I' m just eager to get some new short story prompts so I can get back to writing again. But I don't know if we are going to see anymore.

James

[Garrison]

A month and a half of coughing and sneezing. Damn, that sounds awful. My step-dad is going through something similar and he saw a cardiologist a few days ago since we all thought it was congestive heart failure. Two of his medications were canceled and he got a new one. Plus, he had some tests ordered for him to take at his leisure. I'm not saying you're going through congestive heart failure nor am I qualified to diagnose you. Either way, I'm pulling for you to get better, James. That's a long time to be miserable and it sucks that nobody knows what's going on.

[Garrison]

Well...Halloween 2024 has come and gone here in Washington State. In previous years, there were so few kids trick-or-treating that we had an overabundance of candy left. But this year, there were so many of them that we're almost out. I don't know what changed between then and now aside from the obvious pandemic, but holy shit, I was not expecting that many kids. Unfortunately, I didn't dress up in my Slipknot costume or my wizard robe. I've been in denial for so long, but the Slipknot masks and also my Five Finger Death Punch mask limits the hell out of my vision. In 2015, I dressed as a Slipknot member and fell on my ass...twice. That's how bad the vision was. But in recent years, I've dressed up in a wizard's robe instead. The robe unfortunately limits my range of motion, so I can't rush to the door to answer it when I need to. I wore a wizard's robe in 2011 while vacationing in New Orleans. I was going up the stairs to a street trolley and I stepped on my robe. As I fell to the ground, the driver was like, "What the hell?!" I had the same question. So if anybody wants to get me a Halloween costume somewhere down the line, no masks and no robes. Basically, nothing that will limit my vision or limit my range of motion. If you've ever watched a You Tube video of Dr. Mondragon's chiropractic adjustments, you'll see that she too dresses in non-restrictive clothing because her job is physically demanding. That of course won't stop the horndogs in her comment section from letting their imaginations run wild. But be that as it may, this was one of the better Halloweens in recent memory by virtue of how many kids stopped by. Plus, I had a good time watching the first four episodes of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror with James and Reina. Happy Halloween, everybody!

[C. J., Cool yet firm like ice]

Sorry guys for being so behind. Hopefully will make a post (and set up contests) in the next few moments!

[C. J., Cool yet firm like ice]

Hey Garrison. I saw you started to chat on here. I can chat with you! And there's "cookies and tea" too, lol.

[Garrison]

The message I posted was about leaving Deviant Art and how I should handle all the pictures I hot-linked from my account to here on Good Reads. Turns out I knew all along what to do: just log out and never log back in again. My pictures will still be up and I'll never have to deal with Deviant Art again, which has become a hellhole over the past few years. Plus, I was treading water over there, so I couldn't stay forever. I stayed there for 20 years and it was time to move on.

[C. J., Cool yet firm like ice]

I knew someone that used to be on Deviant Art. Didn't know things got bad there now.

[Garrison]

Things have always been a little nutty over on Deviant Art. Yeah, the art community attracts all flavors of weirdness, but some of these people are not only on another planet, but they're dangerous, too. To give you just one example, there are grown adults on that site sexualizing Mowgli from The Jungle Book. They're not even trying to hide it, either. They're just saying it out in the open like they just don't care. That's just one example out of thousands that make Deviant Art a dystopian wasteland. I don't have time to go through them all and I hope I never get that much free time on my hands.

[Garrison]

Alright...I need to give you guys a heads up on a scam that's going around. A random stranger sent me a friend request right after giving my novella Occupy Wrestling five stars. If you've ever read that book, you're not giving five stars unless you have a damn good reason. Turns out the scammer was trying to sweeten the deal so that I'd be more likely to accept her friend request. I hit the ignore button and that was the end of that. Stay on your toes, everyone. It's dangerous out there.