Posts

Showing posts from March, 2010

banana bags

Image
What is a banana bag? It isn't this. It's a mixture of vitamins, minerals and other things that get put in an IV bag and given to alcoholics in hospitals. It is yellow and thus called a banana bag. It is mostly vitamin B because alcohol in excess robs the body of B vitamins and alcoholics can get some bad stuff like Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (also called wet brain Korsakoff psychosis, alcoholic encephalopathy, Wernicke's disease, and encephalopathy - alcoholic) is a manifestation of thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency. It mainly causes vision changes, dizziness and impaired memory. I was thinking of these because I was at a meeting where they were discussing standardizing what is in them. Of course, being a pediatric nurse, we don't use them much so my mind wandered elsewhere during the discussion. I realized that I had first learned about them by watching ER. I guess this show taught me most of what I know about adult medicine because I have never ever worked

speechless

Image
Anyone who knows me knows that I am never! Speechless, that is. Well, I am now but it is because I am also voiceless. I need some Decadron, stat! Being the eternal optimist I am aware that some people have it a lot worse, but....come on! It is only March and already I have broken my leg and haven't been able to run since January 19th. I have had some, lets just say "unpleasant interactions" at work (don't want to write about work on this blog even though I am pretty sure only about 2 people read it regularly -thanks Bruce and Sis), and then last week I had a sore throat that felt like this voodoo d0ll in an old Karen Black movie "Trilogy of Terror" was stabbing knives into my throat relentlessly. On Friday I thought I was all better, but then I started coughing. My voice left me yesterday but today I sound like I have snorted helium repeatedly - I have the voice (or lack of voice) of a 90 year old lady. Shit, I say! Besides that I feel cranky too. I am goin

deselecting celexa

Recently I ended my two year relationship with an SSRI (Selective Serotonin re uptake inhibitor). It had to happen sooner or later...it just wasn't working out for either of us, and I didn't really need a crutch so I ended it - trying to wean myself off at first and then just cutting the cord. Ironically I ended this crutch pretty much about the same time I threw down my crutches that I had been using for 5 weeks after I broke my leg. I am on my own two feet - emotionally and physically now. I am a happy person - known as an eternal optimist by some. But a few years ago, my dad died. Work sucked. I was becoming very negative. I found myself lying awake with palpitations and woke up with headaches. My blood pressure was higher than my inherited normal high blood pressure. My doctor suggested that this drug - Celexa or Citalopram by it's proper name, would be good and help with anxiety. Well half the people I knew were on some sort of antidepressant and even though I, being a