Mental Health • The Dreaming Panda • Page 12

Why This Year Isn’t Last Year

Published on August 31, 2015 by DreamingPanda4 Comments

Time to Pull Out the Textbooks Again... — Time to pull out the textbooks again…

This week, I’ll be starting my third year of college. While this may not seem like a big deal, to me, it feels like a miracle, considering how sick I was just a couple months ago.

I’ve been doing very well ever since my tonsillectomy. However, it’s one thing to be well while resting at home and taking it easy; it’s another to stay well while keeping up with academics and everything else that goes along with college. My remaining symptoms could interfere tremendously with school work: difficulty concentrating, reading comprehension issues, task inflexibility, and some other executive function problems. How can anyone do college with these symptoms?

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Am I Twenty or Twelve?

Published on August 24, 2015 by DreamingPanda3 Comments

P1030195-small — A flower is mature, yet fragile and innocent… Like me

After battling PANS for the past nine years of my life, I’ve been forced to grow up too quickly while being stuck as a child. I’ve had to mature to face up to my circumstances, but I’ve had to count on my parents to take care of me more than most others my age have.

At twenty years old, I’ve never held down a consistent, weekly job. I’ve never had a boyfriend. I’ve never gone on anything beyond a day trip with my friends without an “adult” present. Over the last year, I’ve let my parents make many decisions for me, because I’ve known I couldn’t trust my own judgement. In many ways, I feel like a young teenager.

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What I Wish I Knew Before IVIG

Published on August 17, 2015 by DreamingPanda7 Comments

There are some things doctors don't tell you about recovery... — There are some things doctors don’t tell you about recovery…

Last week, I celebrated the one-year mark since my first IVIG. It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year, yet my recovery has seemed to go so much slower than I thought it would.

There are many things that no one ever told me before my first IVIG. I was warned about the fatigue and nausea and headaches afterward and the post-IVIG flare that would come in a few weeks. I was even warned it could take a year before all my symptoms went away, but I was never told what that year might be like.

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“You’re Better.”

Published on August 10, 2015 by DreamingPanda8 Comments

It's a new day! — Everything is different now, like a new day

“You’re better.”

Those are two words I never thought I’d hear from my doctor. But this week, I finally did.

As my mom and I made the trip to my doctor’s office this week, I couldn’t help but feel that things were different this time—and most of all, that I was different. I was more present. I was more aware. I was bright-eyed again. I was finally myself.

This time, unlike my last visit in May, I opened the office doors myself, grabbing the handles without flinching. I pushed the elevator buttons. I sat in the waiting room chairs without thinking about Lysoling myself when I got home. I realized that contamination OCD was finally letting me go.

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I Didn’t Fall Off The Cliff!

Published on August 3, 2015 by DreamingPanda3 Comments

Flaring feels like falling off a cliff. — I thought for sure that I would end up here…

“Let’s climb up over here,” I told my hiking partner, my feet digging into the mud of the riverbank. “This looks like the easiest—aah!” I fell through a heap of brush and sticks that I’d mistakenly trusted for my next step. I caught myself between a log and the dirt, banging up my knee and back on the way down and scraping my arm on the twigs.

“Are you okay?” my friend yelled from the bottom.

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OCD No More?

Published on July 27, 2015July 1, 2023 by DreamingPanda4 Comments

Leaving a switch on can be bad news for my OCD... — Leaving a switch on can be bad news for my OCD…

Ever since my tonsillectomy, I’ve noticed my OCD dying down significantly. I’ve found myself touching cabinet knobs in the kitchen that I haven’t been able to touch in over a year. I’m not checking my room for people trying to hurt me. I’m not washing my hands all the time.

I’ve been in CBT all summer, but the improvement I’ve seen seemed to happen much more suddenly and with much less effort than what I normally get from using therapy techniques alone. It was as if maybe, I had less brain inflammation, because I no longer had an infection in my tonsils.

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Did I Lose My Mind to a… Sink?

Published on July 20, 2015 by DreamingPanda9 Comments

Serratia marcescens… What in the world is that? An Italian dish? An exotic island town? Neither. It’s the name of a bacteria that you’ve probably never heard of—a bacteria that had taken up residence in my tonsils.

Serratia can be found anywhere, but it thrives in hospitals and in damp spaces like bathrooms. If you see a pink or orangish ring around a drain (such as mine, pictured above), it might be Serratia. Most people never have trouble living near the organism, but in hospital settings, it can cause serious problems. For me, having it in my tonsils was likely an ongoing trigger making my immune system attack my brain.

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Why Bedtime Can Be Terrifying

Published on July 13, 2015 by DreamingPanda10 Comments

How can you sleep when the PANDAS bear follows you to bed?

Tap, tap, tap.

It’s 2 AM, and someone is at my bedroom door. I bolt awake and hold still so they don’t know I’m in the room. I slowly reach for my phone and think about texting my parents to come help me.

But I’m all alone. No one is at the door.

I’m hallucinating again.

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Tonsillectomy and… Hope?

Published on July 6, 2015 by DreamingPanda24 Comments

So Many Popsicles — My breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

When I first found out that I needed a tonsillectomy, I made three appointments with three different doctors at two hospitals. While this may sound excessive, based on past experiences, I knew the first doctor or two might refuse to do the surgery as soon as I mentioned PANDAS, especially since my tonsils looked healthy on the outside.

Indeed, when my records were sent to the first doctor, my appointment was cancelled within two hours and my case passed to a different doctor in the practice.

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Goodbye, Tonsils

Published on June 29, 2015 by DreamingPanda6 Comments

Dairy-free ice cream — I don’t even wanna know how many pints of this I’m about to eat…

With one day left until my surgery now, it’s been an interesting week. For the first time in eleven months, I’ve stopped antibiotics completely, so as not to influence the tonsil and adenoid cultures that will be performed. The doctors also told me to stop all supplements, so my pill cases have been extraordinarily empty these last few days (a much-welcomed sight!). Although I’ve had a slight increase in tics, trouble concentrating, and more trouble falling asleep, I haven’t noticed nearly as much of a difference as I expected.

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