Unstrung Harp

I've always found Xanax to be useful in controlling my anxiety quickly without making me feel altered at all. I've never had any issue driving on it, and I've driven a very large vehicle on it. Of course dosage would matter. Would a beta blocker help with the more physical symptoms? I don't know about being out of breath.

Trying to fight the afternoon sleepies to squeak out a half hour more of work.

yes, considering that it's also like 112 percent humidity. We don't have central air and husband hasn't put in the AC units yet that are way too heavy for me, because four days ago it was 20 degrees cooler. Not good sleeping weather.

yes. This kind of came up on my recent assessment with the consulting Pdoc, as I was trying to explain that yes, I was capable of self care. But unfortunately that's almost all I've been capable of. I found myself worrying last week that if I wore makeup to Pdoc appointment he wouldn't believe I was struggling as much as I said I was.

I was thinking maybe I was wrong, and looked it up. It's actually 88F, with a high of 91 today. I disapprove.

It's beautiful here but a little hot for my liking this early in season. I think it's around 85 F.

As a teacher I hate giving group work, and rarely assign it. Everybody hates it, everybody complains about it, and invariably some student comes up and complains about their partner or group mates. I don't know how to fairly assess group work, because it's rare that everybody contributes to the same degree. I guess the logic of assigning it is that often one ends up working in groups in the types of jobs that college prepares you for. But I never enjoyed it as a student because I'm better flying solo, and I don't enjoy the hassle of it as a teacher.

Cheddar is a solid cheese. Do you ever send out postcards if you travel, or to say hello to a friend?

Weirdly, showers don't usually disappear for me. In fact, a couple of months ago I was taking three showers a day. Not for cleanliness, but because I find them soothing, and it was something to do. Not getting around to laundry can be a sign for me though.

Most people seem to find buspirone's effects to be pretty subtle, and many people say it does nothing for them. I took it for years, and it helped with my anxiety, but not in a really definable way. I also generally took Zoloft at the same time, which I think tends to have anti-anxiety properties for a lot of people. I'm skeptical that most people would find it to be a substitute for a benzo, but maybe it's unusually effective for you and it could help you with that. I don't really have any concrete suggestions for that, however, as I've personally never habituated to a benzo, because I've never taken them consistently throughout the day for more than a week or two at a time. I guess you could make the argument that for a lot of the time I've taken Benzos I was on buspirone, so needed to rely on the Benzos less, but hard to say.

I've been to Iceland too. And other than Reykjavik I couldn't tell you a single name of anywhere we went. I do sort of enjoy how all the women's names end in "dottir."

The word recall thing may be a natural development. I got really concerned about problems with word recall when I was about 45, and got neurocognitive testing, because I was worried that it was indicative of early onset Alzheimers that runs in my family. The testing came out normal, and I got a lecture from the psychologist about how common word recall problems are as you start to get into middle age. I know it's frustrating, and maybe it's because of your meds, but there's also the possibility that it's an organic thing that just happens. FWIW, I've had this conversation with a variety of people in their 40s who have gotten equally freaked out by it. Of course, talk to your PA about it.

That may be true. I will say that I've taken it on and off for twenty years and never have built up a tolerance. And .25 will still make me sleepy. I've tended to be careful with it though because of addiction in my family, and take it PRN as opposed to regularly throughout the day.

I take .25 and definitely feel the effect. I like Xanax a lot because I don't feel altered but it takes care of the anxiety.

Thank you both 😊