Living with “The Parasite”

Pisco of ePiscoSours has been talking about his struggle with dysthymia in terms of having “the Parasite” in his head. While this can get a bit humorous (at least on my end reading it), it’s surprisingly accurate.

It honestly does feel like I have a Parasite in my head somedays and that the Parasite is sucking all the energy out of me. There are also the times when the Parasite sets off the fire alarm in my head and causes a panic attack which just makes my day so freaking lovely… especially if I happen to be at church or work. Unlike Pisco’s, my Parasite is a fan of Coca Cola which means that when my blood sugar tanks around 4:00 pm, it screams and hollers at me (not audibly) until it gets some Coke. I know my doctor is going to LOVE this tomorrow when she reads my bloodwork and that I’m probably going to be put on yet more medication to control my glucose intolerance.

The Parasite had a month of free reign over my mind in June aided by the Topamax which was feeding it well. I honestly don’t even want to think about how screwed up the month was with all the depression and crud messing with my mind. I can remember the last full week of June being one of the WORST times of depression in at least 8-9 years — I was so depressed that I would sit at my desk at work and cry silently. There was no way I could really express what was going on to the people around me and I am a bit worried about that.

The Parasite also tends to silence me and make me want to just withdraw into myself.Â? There are days when I don’t want to be social at church or work and people playing “let’s draw Jen out of her shell” REALLY piss me off.Â? Being around people constantly is incredibly draining and having to do it makes me incredibly tired.Â? For example, I came home after an hour of church and slept for 5 hours!Â? I come home from work and just want to collapse on the couch because I’ve been around people and I just want to curl up in a Jen-ball and recharge myself.Â? This means that I eat waaaaay too much fast food on my way home (because I know that I don’t want to have to cook when I get home) and that I don’t do anything active when I get home (i.e. taebo) because I just don’t have the energy to move.

I don’t want to let the Parasite win but sometimes, I just want to curl up and just let the fighting happen for awhile without me…

Update on the Doctor’s Appointments

The eye appointment went well other than having to have a glaucoma test.Â? I blinked most of the dye out so my eyes looked like a pumpkin had exploded around them for awhile.Â? No big change in prescription and I at least *have* it so I can get sunglasses made this weekend.

The ENT appointment: I drove 3 1/2 hours to have my ENT examine me and stick sharp/pointy objects up my nose for 5 minutes.Â? At least I don’t have to go back unless I’m having problems.

Did my bloodwork this morning for my annual exam on Monday.Â? I’m not looking forward to it because I’m probably in for a lecture and crappy bloodwork results in addition to the normal goings-on with an annual exam.Â? I have forewarned my co-workers that I will likely be crabby when I get to work…

Olympic Addendum

I also should add that I am seriously cheering for Kirsty Coventry in addition to my American swimmers because her medals and her Olympic performances are actually building unity in her homeland of Zimbabwe.

I’m also cheering for Canada because they are our neighbors (and I’m fairly close to the border — close enough to hop over for lunch) and for the underdogs in many categories.

In terms of the women’s team finals, I don’t think Alica Sacramone was necessarily the reason they got second.Â? Yes… she fell on beam.Â? So did the captain of the Chinese team.Â? Yes, she went out of bounds on floor and fell.Â? Nastia and Shawn also went out of bounds.Â? She did her best and I think she was really too hard on herself.

Getting Caught up on Olympics

So… I just finally got to watch the all-around in the women’s competition and my homegirls Nastia and Shawn made me proud.Â? My homeboys on the men’s team overcoming all the naysayers and getting the bronze made me happy too.

Then… I get off TIVO and the IM relay is on live and I see Michael Phelps get his 8th gold medal.Â? That boy is goooooooood.

The leadership of my country might suck but my athletes are making me proud to be American today.

iTunes Needs Some Classification Lessons

Realizing that I need something stimulating to listen to while working, I decided to see what iTunes had to offer in the way of audiobooks. The answer: nothing I really ever wanted to read or haven’t already read.

First of all… they’re overpriced! A hardcover version is less expensive than some of these audiobooks are! (I know… I know… they’re normally more expensive than regular books are.)

Secondly… since when is 26 erotic tales from Penthouse magazine considered “history”? I can so see the book reports done on that one…

Lastly… since when is Ann Coulter considered “history”? Shouldn’t she be categorized under “fiction” or “comedy”?

The travel section really was the only one that yielded anything I’d consider paying to download and even then, it would be for an airplane trip to visit Kara in Kyrgyzstan or something really long and drawn out.Â? The kids/young adult section would also probably be a blessing to me… if I didn’t have the Harry Potter books memorized already.Â? (I. AM. HERMIONE!)

Conclusion: buy the book or find a site with free audiobooks. I saw some linked during Day of Blogs — they do exist.

Kiva Loan Paid Off

I received word on Monday that one of my Kiva.Org loans had been paid off.Â? (For those not in the know, Kiva.Org allows you to lend as little as $25 to people in third-world countries to help them to start small businesses.Â? They partner with microlending institutions and they have a really high success rate.)

I am really proud of Hagigat Kurbanova and of her repaying the loan and I feel blessed that I was able to be a part of making it happen.

So… I had the choice of having my $25 investment returned to me or… I could re-lend it out again.Â? I totally chose to re-lend it and this is my new loan from that money.Â? (This person also needs another $175 lent to her at the time of me blogging to make her loan complete and I think there’s a 2 day deadline coming up for her, so she’d be a prime candidate if you want to get involved.)

I also have two other loans out: one for a dressmaker in Lebanon that is 25% repaid and another that I made today to a Lebanese grocer.