Overcoming Mental Illness

 Another public holiday, another religious festival, another day of me feeling like crap. Unlike Christmas when it was just me feeling like crap because of some godforsaken mixed-episode, which was much the same as why my New Year was also destroyed, this Easter I’ve also had the joy of some medication to back fire on me. Namely, Quetiapine fumarate aka Seroquel:

Seroquel belongs to a group of medicines called anti-psychotics which improve the symptoms of certain types of mental illness such as hallucinations, strange and frightening thoughts, changes in your behaviour, feeling alone and confused.

Umm, how exactly is a pill supposed to make you feel less alone and confused? Isn’t it contradictory that a pill which reduces your hallucinations also suppresses your feeling of loneliness? Surely people who are alone only have their hallucinations to make them feel less alone. No matter. They’re not really doing a bloody thing at the moment other than make me feel like a complete and utter zombie 24 hours a day - they’re not even helping me sleep, I just lie there having weird dreams about Kathy, Grace, Meerkats and Lucy. Lucy! I haven’t dreamt of Lucy for a looonnngggg time. Thought about her, yes, but not actually dreamed about her. Nope. These pills are doing bugger all at the moment aside from give me side effects. The list says:

| Dizziness | Feeling Sleepy | Rapid Heartbeat | Dry Mouth | Constipation | Indegestion | Feeling Weak | Swelling of arms and legs | Weight Gain | Fainting | Stuffy Nose | Low Blood Pressure in standing position | Allergic reactions | Fits | Fever | Very marked drowsiness | Muscle Stiffness| Marked increases in blood pressure or heartbeat | Reduced consciousness | Priapism |

Plus there’s the ‘if any of the following happen stop taking Seroqel and contact a doctor or the nearest hospital immediately‘:

| A fever, persistent sore throat or mouth ulcers, faster breathing, sweating, muscle stiffness, feeling unusually drowsy or faint | Fits or seizures | Allergic reactions that may include raised lumps, swelling of swelling around the mouth | That obscure sounding Priapism above (a long lasting painful erection) |

And it goes on…and on…and on…and for your information, those listed in bold above are ones I have experienced in the last few days. I suppose it could be worse, I could have a long lasting and painful erection!

So yep, my Easter has been chock-full of side effects and lacking in chock-olate and other such fun stuffs. I didn’t even paint any eggs, darn it! But how could my Easter have been different, if say, I had been in Eastern Europe?

In the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, a tradition of spanking or whipping is carried out on Easter Monday. In the morning, men spank women with a special handmade whip called pomlázka (in Czech) or korbá?(in Slovak), the women can retaliate by throwing cold water on the men. The pomlázka/korbá? consists of eight, twelve or even twenty-four withies (willow rods), is usually from half a metre to two metres long and decorated with coloured ribbons at the end. It must be mentioned that spanking normally is not painful or intended to cause suffering. A legend says that women should be spanked in order to keep their health and beauty during whole next year.

An additional purpose can be for men to exhibit their attraction to women; unvisited women can even feel offended. Traditionally, the spanked woman gives a coloured egg and sometimes a small amount of money to the man as a sign of her thanks. In some regions the women can get revenge in the afternoon or the following day when they can pour a bucket of cold water on any man. The habit slightly varies across Slovakia and the Czech Republic. A similar tradition existed in Poland (where it is called Dyngus Day), but it is now little more than an all-day water fight.

So there you have it. What would have been better? Spanking, whippings and waterfights - or side effects of anti psychotic medication. Maybe next year I should head to Eastern Europe!

Nevertheless I will keep you updated with all the medicated shenanigans over the coming days and, on Thursday, update you on yet another appointment with the Mental Health department. Who knows, it may even be hospital for little old me next :) I do hope however you all had an excellent Easter jam packed with chocolate, shenanigans and, if necessary, some aloe vera; I hear it has a rather soothing quality.