Last week I had to take some
mind altering drugs! It was a particularly weird experience and, unlike
other experiences of this kind that I may (or may not) have had, it totally
blew my head apart (man). Ya see, I've got a condition called "Trigeminal
Neuralgia" (where the trigeminal nerve - that leads almost directly from
the brain, through the ear hole and across the face and scalp - gets a
might upset and plays up considerably). Luckily it's not a really bad case
where the nerve feels like it's being given electric shock treatments.
In my case it's a weird juxtaposition of pain and lightness - ie if I brushed
my fingertips very lightly over the (remaining) hair on the top of head,
the nerve says, oooh, that hurts instead of, aahhhh, that's quite pleasant.
I usually have one of these incidents each year or so and, after a few
days, it goes away. Not so this time, however, and, after a week and a
half of this excruciating stuff, my doc suggested that I take this drug
that would fix it up in no time at all. Unfortunately, it's used mainly
by Epileptics to stop them having fits
and, therefore, is rather a
strong mind bender. No-one knows why it fixes up neuralgia, either, which
was just another worry. The doc said that I'd feel rather sleepy for the
first couple of days whilst taking them and, yep, he was right. Thankfully,
I didn't get the wretched throw-ups which sometimes accompany them but
I did feel a strong aversion to sunlight - just another little side effect
for the books. The worst bit was actually trying keep my thoughts together
for more than a secound - ya see, it's an enourmous anti-depressant to
boot. Two examples : On Wednesday afternoon, I felt quite good and thought
that I'd be able to do some work. So I logged in and, after connection,
I sat there for 5 minutes just looking at the screen with my hand on the
mouse. I gave up soon after that and did something more conducive to the
state of my brain - ie sit down and look blank for the next 3 hours. I
went out with Annette to do the shopping on Thursday night and the list
was really long : unfortunately I couldn't, for the life of me, find any
single item on the list that we'd put into the trolley. Annette finally
took the list off me, with a look that someone might give a child, and
I was left with the pushing of the trolley duties (I quite enjoyed that
as well!!). At least now my pain is gone but, next time, (oh, yes,
there will be a next time) I may try a slightly less intrusive therapy
- like brain surgery
