If March Taught Me Anything...

    I was wandering through the untethered confusion of the aftermath of 2022 as best I could (which, some would say, was not well at all), when I landed in that ER after the Spravato treatment. What a jolt that was. I have not felt safe since then, but I'm able to sleep now. This is part of how the contractor convinced me to buy the security system for the home that I live in. I had never felt the need for security before. It's always been one of the safest neighborhoods. Now I arm the security sometimes 24/7. Another bill to pay. My sense of certainty has diminished drastically. I doubt what I know. The doubt what I've done. It hasn't even been that eventful, I didn't think. I didn't think I was important enough to be noticed. I felt like it took a lot of nerve to go back to that ER. It did feel a bit surreal and mechanical. I learned a bit about power dynamics that month. I learned what happens when you attract the wrong attention. Maybe it was silly of me to think it would be any different. But I thought by being quiet and following the letter of the law I would be ok. I was wrong. I was very wrong. I'm looking for the faith inside myself. I'm not sure what the world wants. I'm trying to find out. I'm trying to communicate better. I'm trying to be realistic. I cannot over rely on medication. I cannot fight the system because I will lose in a heartbeat. I cannot possibly be that intelligent if I can lose at life so badly as to be in this situation at my age. 

Corners of the Mind

Closer the walls and harder the task
Alone again, I scream at the glass

Closing in, the mocking faces

Here I am, in the same old places...

Running faster than I can think

Making choices between every blink

Into the fear and righteous anger

I'm from one into another danger

Where do I go when the last castle falls?

Where do I go when the goaler calls?

Where did I come from that I came to here?

What do I do when I'm lost in my fear?

    I'm reminded of the old saying, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. 

    For me, that means going back to the same people, the same career paths, the same medication, expecting different results. It doesn't matter which drugs I try; I've tried so many. It doesn't matter which way I word the same things to the same people; they're still going to act the same regardless, it doesn't matter how I repackage my accounting and technology services, that ship has sailed. 

    I can't keep jamming a square peg in a round hole. My auditory communication is not great. It never has been. And it's gotten worse with the VNS. Some people don't like to communicate in writing. That became an issue in 2020 especially. It still is. 

    That's why my counseling is so important. It really helps with communication and executive skills. The Psychiatrists have made up their minds about me. I'm never going to change that. The drugs won't change that. My poor auditory communication won't change that. 

    I do have to be realistic. I do have very real limitations. Thats why I need to be careful (in Psychiatrist speak "paranoid"). Because I could trust the wrong people, I could make bad decisions, I could go the wrong way. I've already gone so many steps down that road. I'm broke. I've been medicated out the wazoo. I've seen doctors all over the east coast. I have to slow this down. I need to be careful. Deliberate.

    Otherwise, it's one long train of disaster after disaster. I can't afford more mistakes. Theres that old saying about how in life we occasionally fall down and get back up, only that as we get older, we get up faster. Compare that to MIPs poem about falling in a hole on the same street, and eventually choosing to go down a different street. Ive gone down a few different streets... different jobs, homes, hospitals, doctors, but I keep falling into holes. I gotta make sure im not falling into the same holes again. Thats why I have to slow it down and think. I have to be a little paranoid now, so I don't fall into the wrong hole. Because I may not get back out the next time. I'm getting too old for this. I'm running out of time. 

Tiktok Scam

    Well, I guess I never learn. But these criminals think of everything. It starts with harassment. A bogus offer. Before you know it you're being threatened. At the end, you're out the money, stressed and humiliated. This is how social media scams work. 

    This one came from a tiktok account claiming to be associated with Stoll, Keenon, Ogden, PLLC. from Lexington, KY. Claiming to be an artist. The Scam was for $400. 

    Here's how it worked:

    She contacted me out of the blue claiming to be interested in a photo of mine. She was an artist, she said, and wanted to make a painting of the photo. All she needed was my permission to use the photo.    

    Yeah, right. A long and very intense back and forth later, she had repeated threatened to call the police on me for cashing the check and refusing to follow her increasingly bizarre and aggressive instructions to send money to other people. At the end i sent the full $400 and told her to leave me alone. She did not. I had to call 911 and talk to mauldin police, who instructed me to block all communications from her numbers and accounts. She still persisted, and then the check bounced, leaving me out $400 and a long of stress and harassment. I have followed with the FBI and am preparing to file a report with local police. 

    BEWARE OF ANYONE ON SOCIAL MEDIA MAKING OFFERS. DO NOT ACCEPT CHECKS FROM PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW, EVEN IF IT LOOKS LIKE A LEGIT CHECK. I was stupid to fall for it. But I was short on money and now I'm even shorter and I have to file a police report. Be careful of Stoll, Keenon, Ogden, PLLC. They are passing bad checks and threatening people with arrest. 

Sleepwalking

    I'm trying to slow this down. This is like sleepwalking from one decision to the next. The sleep itself has improved, even though I haven't gotten my sleep equipment. The isolation has helped my blood pressure and anxiety. I had too many people in my mind, trying to mess with things they didn't understand or had no business fooling with in the first place. The internist really seemed to hit the nail on the head with the shot and recommendations. I swear, everything that MIP manages to fuck up, the outpatient people help me clean up. Completely different meds and recommendations. 

    But my mental state has not been perfect. The meds have sedated away the restlessness. My focus and mental presence remain sketchy. I'm waiting on the insurance to approve the Vyvanse, but I doubt it will be a game changer. I need to make more measured decisions, more careful decisions. This has been a bit of a three-ring circus. 

    I've taken down the business website until I can make sure of my ability to deliver upon the promises. I can't afford any more screwups. I feel like the doctors are so eager to sweep under the rug the screwups with Prichards that they will find any distraction or diversion to change the conversation. I did idolize the man, but we went through so many drugs and combinations and dosages outside of guidelines that I'm not sure what that did to my mind. 

    I know the psychiatrists and doctors want to believe in their colleague the magic maker and all his skills, but it's dangerous to do so. It's dangerous to pretend as if these drugs don't have risks. I don't think it's safe to drug lightly. I don't think it's safe to use so many meds in combinations off label and outside of guidelines. I don't think it's safe to recommend THC and Spravato and then blame the patient for the results. We got here together. I have to mentally untangle it. I have to call attention to these dangers because I want people to be safe.

    I felt like going back to memorial and their psychiatrists was something I had to do. I felt that I could not predict how my mind would handle having no one to manage the medication. I had been on medication since the age of 10. It did not seem like a good idea to stop taking medication suddenly, and the internist was not prepared to take on the task, or so he said at the time. 

    But it leads me to question so many events and circumstances of my life. How exactly did I become a walking science experiment? How did I get to this point?