Is it time?

Is it Time?

It wasn't the time that I ran into the median sign when I forgot I was driving and turned to play air guitar with my niece, Clare.  The shirt that I forgot to iron the second sleeve but hung up pristinely...not then either.  Leaving the water running in the sink to fill the dog bowl but head out side to get the mail and brush the dogs...the list goes on.  No, it was what occurred above that said..yes it may be time.  I went into a store over the holidays and forgot to shut the door to my car (so what's wrong with that)...

You see, I am an adult woman with ADHD....don't all women suffer from it?  Well maybe but perhaps not so much. So for the second time in my adult life I went to the doctors and was prescribed a non stimulant medication.  (REALLY????  not the ones that make you loose weight?) But this time would be different as I decided I would actually take it.

When I returned to Switzerland, with prescription in tow I nervously decided on the day to take my first dose.  I am not a good drug user.  Okay, so I am not a good drug user of prescribed medication. (In full disclosure I did survive my college years).  I am also a closet hypochondriac and drug-a-phob.....

Once I took the medication, I am certain that I had every side effect on the list.  I was hungry, I was starving, I was jittery, I was sluggish, I was sleepy, I had insomnia, I wanted sex and wanted never to have sex. I was impotent AND had trouble ejaculating. (okay that was too much even for humor's sake)  And this was in the first half hour.  

Ignoring all of these things, I decided to embrace the next few hours of my new life.  It was then I was sure that I felt my hair growing.  (In my mind clear down to my waist)....Okay snap out of it you freak (I said on the inside)...and went on to enjoy what this medication could do for me.  I was ready to conquer the world if not finish a few tasks on my list. 

Three days into this medication experiment, I decide to go on a run.  (okay it was a 3 mile trot....and maybe a little walking).  When I stopped, like a switch, I started to sneeze ...not just a little bit but could not stop.  And my nose started running (no nose jokes here...I am a little sensitive given the size and bump)....and again, not just a little bit.  Marty and I could not believe it.  I am talking dripping out of my nose when I stood up to walk.  And not just for a minute...but for days. 

Turns out I do suffer a real side effect from this med...rhinitis...and it intensifies with exercise.  I knew there were more reasons for exercise to suck.  So Strattera, not for me.

I have not tossed the idea to medicate my ADHD as there are days I am dangerous to myself by missing steps, breaking glasses and I continue to be annoying to others.  But some of those days are the ones I hold close and define me the most and in addition,  when I do my best comical work.  Speaking of which, something told me that I should go in the basement and get a 70 year old extension ladder  because I thought I could clean the cobwebs out of the corners of the 25 foot ceiling (that dang impulsive behavior).  Something stopped me...maybe the thought of falling and not getting up using this death trap while by myself.

Danger Will Robinson, step away from the ladder.

Expat tidbits:

Marty, who is a master at Italian compared to me impressed us all when Kate, Matt , he and I all went out for dinner here in Lugano.  The waiter gave us the specials in Italian...and I will paraphrase phonetically...and the special tonight is "oysrteetia"....Marty jumped on the opportunity for ostrich and we are equally impressed at his openness to try this new delicacy.  Later after our appetizers were delivered and our main dishes arrived Marty told us not to wait for him to get his ostrich..........turns out, it had already been delivered...he ordered 6 oysters...not a slab of bird.

2012 brings lots of changes as daughters and their friends graduate from high school and college and we pack up from this amazing journey in Switzerland and head to Antwerp Belgium.  I have begun the search for housing for this move and think that I can see myself living in this town full of history.  We will be less than 2 hours from Paris, London and Amsterdam (pretty sure you can still see a prostitue or two in the windows, but that weed thing not so legal anymore).......come visit.

This is a bike I saw there last week....I want to know this person.  I think we could be friends.

peace and blessings, friends.