PA Comic: Monday, Jan 9, 2012 - Bedeviled
Rankenphile
Passersby were amazedby the unusually large amounts of blood.Registered User, Moderator Mod Emeritus
Passersby were amazedby the unusually large amounts of blood.Registered User, Moderator Mod Emeritus
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I am also off the pills. I am getting frustrated and yelling at folks a lot.
But I'm not sleepy all the time anymore. So whoo!
What's that in Gabe's hand, anyway?
Or was that the week before?
By the end of the following week, I was in a dark, dark place - and I'm on a low dosage.
Things are better now.
kingworkscreative.com
kingworkscreative.blogspot.com
I would say a tablet or e-reader.
It's a scale model of the monolith from Space Odyssey. All the rage with kids these days.
Tycho is the oracle of humorous writing.
Oh dear.
The third place winner is my favorite. I'm so tempted to print it out and show people.
Or even better, Vagingersnatch. I mean 'dickerdoodle' already has two slangs for the organ included, so why not its distaff counterpart?
Which reminds me... need to renew prescription.
Or you can let it slip a bit and become a comedic genius.
I was on citalopram (a closely related compound to Lexapro) for about a year. It helped my mood, but my life didn't get any better. I'm now off the meds but seeing a really great psychologist and things are looking up.
I just want to say that in my experience, medication is great for a short while and particularly severe depressive episodes, but it's not a long term solution. Real professional help from a qualified and experienced therapist is the only way to get on with the rest of your life.
(Edit - of course, full on manic-depression or bipolar disorder is way worse than what I had, which was a life-sapping ever-present sense of apathy and ennui).
Anyway, I love Tycho's expression in the second panel, it's hilarious. Perfect expression for the "one demon" hahah!
Reading the newspost though, it's interesting that two guys who make millions of dollars from drawing 3 short comics a week would both be on meds! What is our society coming to?
There's exceptions. I'm on Lexapro for general anxiety disorder, which I've had forever. No depression at all, to date every other method besides the pills haven't worked. My quality of life has improved a lot since I started taking it. A therapist wouldn't be able to help in my position.
Also is it just me or is Tycho's hair in this strip, like, massive massive? Bigger than the sun?
But then I read this bit, "the upper and lower extremes of the sine wave are lopped off", which sounds a lot like bipolar disorder, and then this bit, "the crest feels like being converted cell by cell into living electricity, I mean it’s literally incredible" sounded pretty much identical to a description of a manic state.
Now I'm quite confused. I was under the impression that Lexapro was an SSRI, not a mood stabilizer. Moreover, I was under the impression that bipolar disorder almost always involved at least a mood stabilizer, with potentially an SSRI added too.
So, where am I wrong? If Tycho isn't diagnosed with bipolar, what's with the eloquent description of a manic state? If Tycho is diagnosed with bipolar, is Lexapro the only med he takes? Cuz I didn't think Lexapro would serve to stabilize moods, but now I'm just confused.
Lexapro can absolutely be a mod stabilizer. I used to take if off label for my fibromyalgia and it definitely evens out the peaks of life. Its really not noticeable until you are off it and it clears your system. In my case its like a light switch.
Plus I can totally relate to off the drug manic states even though it was not something I ever had problems with. On meds I can barely strum together three chords. Off the meds I can play like the wind, improvise and even my piano skills are vastly improved which makes no sense to me.
Now I'm quite confused. I did a bit more researching, and cannot find anything official looking that suggests Lexapro can be used as a mood stabilizer. Moreover, I have found references that it's risky to prescribe Lexapro without a mood stabilizer to someone with bipolar because it increases the risk for manic episodes. I'm not a psychopharm expert, but nothing about an SSRI should theoretically reduce manic symptoms, in my mind.
I'm wondering if you actually mean Lexapro reduces manic states for you, or if you just mean Lexapro reduces your creativity. Although Tycho discussed the effects of Lexapro on his creativity, that's really not the manic state part. Manic states are... I guess like taking the most clean and perfect form of meth humanly possible. You have limitless energy, no need for sleep, you're ridiculously social and think everyone loves you (when in reality you're often acting quite bizarre and weirding people out). I mean honestly, Tycho put it best-- you feel like you are converted into living electricity.
So I'm a little unclear, do you mean that you have legit manic episodes and taking Lexapro on its own appears to prevent them? And are you diagnosed bipolar officially, and take no official mood stabilizer?
You seem confused.
Goddamned unstable mods. Hear that, @The Geebs that is a Pony ?????!
Yeah, I saw myself overusing the phrase. I need to expand my vocabulary when I want to say I suspect someone is wrong but am not an expert in that specific field so I don't want to state it too strongly.
Was it Teknoman? (Or, originally, Tekkaman: Blade)?
"You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should."