I have a light box, but I decided to kick things up a notch an also get this- so I can do two things in the morning (and the dawn simulator has the advantage of not taking any more time out of my mornings). I don't know if the research is there with the simulators, but I don't think it can hurt.
I think I did ok today with the less Zyprexa. I felt lighter. Towards evening I did start to feel a little anxious, but that is to be anticipated. Those H1 receptors are wondering where their Zyprexa is. I took a tiny bit of klonopin- but no more than I have been doing anyway recently.
I think I have tracked down another overseas source for my Provigil. It will be $320 a month- and I don't know if that includes shipping or not. I am used to paying $100 a month. I can afford the higher price, but things will be tight. It just makes me mad. I have a high deductible plan, and I use out of network providers for my mental health needs (as there are hardly any in the area who take insurance), so I am spending thousands out of pocket every year. And then they won't cover this.
I just read that half of all psychiatrists do not accept insurance- the highest of all disciplines. Why does it have to be so hard to have a mental illness? And I am not the best person to be mailing in my receipts to my insurance company. I think one year I was so depressed I didn't even do it. But that is what my insurance company hopes will happen- that I will be less than perfect with my claims. This years I have been better about it.
I LOVE my dawn stimulator. It probably does more for me than my SAD lamp, especially since I only get to use the SAD lamp some years. The best feature for me is that I never reach a point where I think "oh, I'm sleepy enough that if I turn the light out I'll go to sleep". So it used to be that I either tried repeatedly and failed or I fell asleep with a light on and didn't sleep as well. Now I have it set so that I have 90 minutes to fall asleep from the time I hit the button and if I adjust up during that time it's ok. The gradual waking was beneficial when I was working and having trouble getting up; the last 2 or 3 years I worked I was up at 4 no matter what so it didn't do much then (although I kept using it to help regulate my body) and now it isn't used much since I sleep in the mornings.
ReplyDeleteThis is my 3rd one over probably 6 years and I really do love them. I'm glad though that this one has lasted a lot longer than the first 2. The first was replaced for free and then the 2nd died rapidly too. This one is bigger and uglier but it works better and has lasted a long time.
Robot code person is me...I tried to open an AIM account so I could leave comments without having to sign out of my gmail that has my last name and then back in. Somehow it translated Jen.JustMe to that. Go figure.
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