Getting used to the wafer

Last night I went out to have a beer with friends and got to the pub at about 4pm after walking across Darling Harbour and up Bathurst Street. We had a few drinks then headed upstairs to the bistro for dinner. I had some fish with greens - taking the low-carb option - and another glass of red with it, then quite early we bundled out the door and I got into a cab on Goulburn Street. The driver had some classical music on - he was unusually an Anglo - and we chatted about the radio station and music for a bit. He also complained about pedestrians crossing after the lights go red, which is a bit problem in the city, especially now with smartphones taking people's attention off their surroundings.

Once home I sat down and had some of the chardonnay I keep in the fridge and attended to social media. For some reason that day had been quite busy online, with Twitter especially drawing attention to political topics - as it tends to do these days - and so eliciting from people their views on government policy. Not surprisingly, there was a lot of chatter online about Trump's decision to remove the US from the Paris climate agreement.

Even though I was still drinking, at around 9.30pm I decided to take the antipsychotic wafer. A friend had suggested on Facebook earlier that instead of taking the pill right at bedtime I should take it earlier, in order to diminish its impact on my sleep as it tends to make my pulse race. So I got up from the PC and went to the bathroom and put one of the wafers from the pack under my tongue, where it promptly dissolved. I was careful this time to keep the spit in my mouth however; yesterday's dose had largely been wasted because I had swallowed the spit immediately, and the active ingredient needs to assimilate into the bloodstream in the mouth (as with chewing tobacco), as if it goes to the liver it will be destroyed as a toxin and there will be no effect at all.

The wafer's bitter taste filled my mouth as the active ingredient started to take effect, and I felt my pulse start to speed up slightly. It was not as noticeable as it had been the first time I had taken the wafer, so I was not so alarmed. I knew what was coming. I went back to the PC and sat down and kept up the conversation online while the wafer took hold of my body. It seemed like not long before I was tired however so I had a shower as usual and went to bed. I read my Kindle book for a while then turned out the light and promptly went to sleep.

In the morning - this morning - I woke up with a very dry mouth and went to the bathroom where I drank two glasses of water. I went back to bed but didn't feel drowsy. Normally I would sleep until 11am but now I felt the need desperately for a cup of coffee, so I got up and got dressed and went out to the living room where the PC sits.

I think that I have worked this thing out now. I had had some negative feedback from different quarters about this wafer and about the psychiatrist who had prescribed it, but I think that you just need to adapt gradually to a new drug - especially something as important and deeply affecting as an antipsychotic. In terms of the diet - because I noticed that the wafer tends to make your pulse speed up, so you can tend to get a bit peckish late at night - I have decided to trim the calories by having toast with something for lunch. Whatever's in the fridge or the cupboard, really. So that means that dinner will be the main source of calories now apart from the wine.