As I'm sitting here in the library procrastinating writing the three papers I have due next week (next week is the 2nd week of classes WHAT???) a saying I say from time to time has popped into my head. "College is bad for my health." Most people go what??? How is college bad for your health? Well I will tell you how. Mostly college is bad for my back, and my shoulders, and my neck, and my upper arm.1) Sitting too long makes my back spaz. 2) typing too much makes my arm/shoulder/kneck hurt. Now seeing as I am not going to type standing up, writing papers is a double whammy. Even reading sometimes makes my neck hurt. So as I'm sitting here not writing my papers my whole body is beginning to spaz up. Now I already had a 2hr 40min class (only offered fri for that time and I can't graduate w/o it) so this is not good. By the time I finish these papers I'm going to be curseing out my profs probably. I'm also walking too much and carrying too much around, but what's a college girl supposed to do?
Valium is my salvation. I've kept a bottle on my night table for almost the last 10 years to use for such instances. I can only take it at night because it knocks me out so much that I could sleep through a hurricane. Boy do I sleep well when I take it, and boy does it loosen me up. I love that stuff. Except... that I have a self imposed 5 day limit because otherwise it makes me depressed. It can make me very depressed. In light of the fact that I now know I am bipolar, I am now petrified of this stuff. I took it for 4 days, because my body decided it wanted to revolt against me for no reason whatsoever, have had a 2 day break, and am now totally scared to take it tonight. But I need to take it tonight. It puts me in a sticky situation.
Now, I have a Drs appt on mon (which I may try to change to wednes cause it would be after all the papers are due). And I was going to plead my case to get her to write a perscription for Provigil. Provigil was origonally developed for narcolepsy but is now used off label for all kinds of fatigue. My mom has been on it for years and it seems like good stuff. I've been running around so much that the other day I fell asleep with the lights on at 7:30ish. I thought I heard that provigil was being used for CP related fatigue as well, but what doctor is going to write me a percription because I am pushing my body more then what is reasonable? I sure wouldn't.
I really want this stuff so I decided to search and see if I could find any supporting documents to support my case. I found the most amazing article. some researchers in Texas a few years back decided to do a study of 120 kids with mostly spastic diplegia, but also other types of spastic CP, and see what it did.
Now I know that things get skewed all the time to make results better, but I want to go for this stuff and see for myself. Apparently 49% of the kids in the group that were on it were walking better. Some 5yo kid who could not walk at all started walking in 3mos. It is the only treatment for CP that affects the central nervous system. So basically it goes up to your brain and says "You know, you're not supposed to be sending that crazy signal, so STOP IT." Does it "cure" CP completely? Of course not. but in some kids it managed to reduce their spasticity dramatically. So not only will this stuff help to keep me awake as I run around like crazy, but it could make me walk better, and help with the back/neck/shoulder/arm issue, so I can get off that d@mn valium and not be worried sick that I am going to go into another deep depression.
Is anyone on provigil for CP? How is it working out for you? I'm really curious to know.
Wish me luck monday!
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