Weekly Mileage #258 and My ADHD Evaluation

Monday I went for a trail run with Max, but I didn’t feel great I was tired and drained during the run and my lungs were unhappy afterwards, but it still felt good to finally get out again. I stopped by Petsmart on the way home to get a new collar for Max for her birthday.

Afterwards I made a post office run, but when I got home I was tired, so I took a nap on the biomat. Unfortunately, it was not as good as I’d have liked as the kiddos kept screeching at each other for various reasons. I felt a lot better when I did get up. My lungs were not nearly as unhappy and I wasn’t feeling nearly as exhausted.

I ordered shirts to take to convention to sell, ordered more stickers to also take, and ordered new hang tags for my products, as well as updated handout cards.

Tuesday we did music lessons online and I had a narcolepsy study call, then I did the grocery shopping. That evening we went to karate, where we did combatives and had an intense few minutes beating on each other (with pads, of course). It really gets the heart rate up.

Wednesday I was still worn out from karate so no trail run. I had my accountability call and then went to my endocrinology appointment, which wasn’t as helpful as I’d hoped in regards to my energy issues, but we’re doing some testing and I got an rx for a med to lose weight, if insurance covers it. It was a long appointment, but it mostly focused on what to do about my weight, rather than my energy levels, so I’m a bit conflicted.

Thursday I had my ADHD eval. After doing the cognitive tests, the doc doesn’t think I have ADD. He thinks my issues are more related to the constant fatigue because of my narcolepsy, but I would still be benefited by taking a stimulant. At my age, he thinks a certain med (can’t remember the name right now, but he’s supposed to send me some info on it) will be more effective than the stimulants used in younger people with ADHD, which sounds promising. We have a followup scheduled for Monday, after he’s had time to finish scoring my tests. We’ll talk meds more in-depth then, and also schedule an evaluation for Ocean, since he’s got experience working with pediatric patients as well. Overall, it was a good experience. I didn’t feel gaslighted, and I feel like he listened to me.

On the way home, I stopped to pick up my rx from Wednesday afternoon, but there was no insurance authorization yet. The cash price is 5 grand and the GoodRX price is $1350 (for a one month supply). Nope to both of those options. The pharmacy will text me when they hear back from the insurance company. I ran into Jeremy at the grocery store- he was also waiting on a prescription after his doctor appointment. He’s got a referral to a specialist, but the GP didn’t want to speculate on what might or might not be going on.

That evening we went to karate, then to church for activities for Sunshine and River.

Friday I woke up still tired from karate, which is super frustrating. I ran a couple errands, then worked on a label for one of my products. I also helped Sunshine get ready for her campout, then dropped her off at our friends’ house so she could ride with them. We had a quick dinner, then Jeremy and the boys and I went to clean the church building, since it was our turn. I vacuumed half the classrooms and the hallway, which was my preferred task, but it left my hips sore (all the twisting) and me tired. I went to bed early instead of getting some work done.

Saturday I had the potential for a good night’s sleep, until I woke up in the middle of the night with acid reflux. Such an awful way to wake up. I did eventually manage to fall asleep again, but it wasn’t great sleep and I woke up with a sore throat from the acid burn. Needless to say, it was a slow start to the day.

I finished and sent off the label design, then started cutting leather. I wasn’t feeling great: I must have gotten some of the acid in my lungs, because they still weren’t feeling good by evening time. Despite that, I did manage to get some work done and have the pieces of 36 buckets to put together and the pieces of 40 campfire mugs to put together. I want to use the press to click out some more key fobs, then it’ll be time for sewing, rivet install, and snap install. Lots to do in the next week.

I’ve been thinking about my narcolepsy since my appointment on Wednesday. I’ve thought I had my symptoms pretty well under control, but I really don’t. Yes, I don’t have the insomnia and disordered sleep that used to plague me, but I still wake up tired every single day. While it’s not as bad as it used to be, I still struggle with daytime sleepiness almost every day. Talking to the psychologist about what I’ve been dealing with and the years of constant sleep deprivation have taken a toll on my mental/cognitive abilities opened my eyes to a perspective I hadn’t previously thought about. When I think about it, it makes sense. Things I was attributing to ADHD could also be credited to chronic sleep deprivation. The memory issues, the constant feeling of being in survival mode (never enough time or energy for all the things that need to be done), the time management issues, etc.