Is My Depression or My Medication Making Me Dizzy?

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

It has been 10 days since I went to my General Practitioner about a pinched nerve.

My GP gave me the Three, Two, One Prednisone medication. After completing the pill regime, I expected to have the pain heading to the door. It hasn’t left, so far. And it moved from my left lower back to the left front, between my knee and where my leg joins my torso.

My doctor did say I could take three Aleve, every 8 hours.

I had been taking two every 12 hours. Yet, while that worked in the past, neither dosage has been noticeably effective now. In fact, I am now taking Bayer aspirin, which is working well. I take three 325 mg aspirin every four hours. Now I am working on how to get the medicine to last overnight. I am still getting up at least three times a night. If I can stop drinking water after 6 PM, perhaps I can stay asleep until morning.

My GP suggested I go for Physical therapy.

I have had two visits in 10 days. When I went yesterday morning before work, I found out how focused these physical therapists are. My one-hour appointment made me quite sore today. My therapist had me doing several types of exercises. Some I did on my own. And with some of the exercises, he helped me, so I had the correct posture for the exercise.

My physical therapist told me that I was leaning to the left as I walked.

This throws my left shoulder noticeably, to him, down. To him, I am walking while listing to port. His thought is I am subconsciously bracing myself, to avoid the pain associated with my left side’s pinched nerve. I had not noticed my less than square posture until he pointed it out.

So, I am not sure about my muscle’s involvement in the pinched nerve that came in a less than healthy way.

Did I do something that my body did not like? The seeds of this must have been visible to my inner self weeks before the pinched nerve grabbed me. I was careful with my grandson when he wanted to be picked up and launched onto the couch.  I did pick him up by his ankles and then lowered him onto the hassock.  Something was telling me to be careful about how much roughhousing I should do,

I was applying a form of selfcare without knowing I was doing it.

To complicate the problem, what began as nausea, has become major dizziness. This has distracted me from the shooting pain the pinched nerve tosses out at the most inconvenient times. Early last month, my GP prescribed a different drug, Finasteride, to help shrink my prostate. It turns out that a common side effect from this drug is dizziness. But wait, it gets even better.

Back in late January, my psychiatrist prescribed Trazodone 50 mg to help me sleep.

Today I was asking a pharmacy manager about the side effects of, Trazodone, generic for Desyrel. He said that many people experience dizziness directly from taking this drug. And even though I did not have a huge problem with Trazodone, it has become a problem. I’m still putting the pieces together, but I am also taking Ramelteon for the same purpose.

Both have dizziness as one of the side effects.

Both are designed to be taken within 30 minutes of bedtime and should help me fall and stay asleep. But they don’t work as prescribed for me. I am still awake several times each night. If I’m in bed at 10 PM, then I am awake at 12:30 AM, 3 AM, and 5 AM. When I wake up again, around 7:30 AM, I get up.

The dizziness became a conscious concern after I began taking Ramelteon, Trazodone, and Finasteride every night along with Benicar for high blood pressure.

I cannot remember how I ended up taking two different medications for the same problem. It feels like if I stop taking both prescribed “sleeping” tablets, the dizziness should lessen and then stop. My GP said I could stop the prostrate medicine if it wasn’t helping me. It is true that it is not helping me. So, I stopped taking that at the same time I stopped taking the nighttime sleep antidepressant. But I have continued to take an over-the-counter supplement, saw palmetto.

Two years ago, when I started using the supplement, I wasn’t sure it was working.

Even today, I feel that I am not getting the results promised on every bottle. If it is working, then my experience would be more consistent. On days where it feels like it is working, I praise my choice of supplements. Yet a few days later, I am frustrated because, at that moment, I am not getting the relief I was expecting.

It is easy to create an all or nothing scenario in my head and expect a specific, positive, result.

Maybe I am relating my wish, when I create a positive outcome based on a fortune telling session. My depression pulls out different unhealthy thinking styles to get my attention. I can apply these ten thoughts to just about any subject.

So, I stopped taking the two sleep medications that my psychiatrist prescribed.

I did call my psychiatrist to let her know what was going on and what I was doing about it. And I told her nurse, that I was stopping both sleep/depression medication until I see her in two weeks. I did check with my pharmacist who said most people can stop taking these medications cold turkey without side effects.

For the past two nights, I have not taken Ramelteon, Trazadone, or Finasteride.

Writing this out has shown me two things. First, I need to be more aware of what I am taking and what to look out for when new medications are prescribed, Second, I realized that I am taking what seems to me to be a substantial number of pills. In addition to my 450 mg of Wellbutrin XL that I take every morning, I take a multi vitamin, fish oil, B complex, saw palmetto and red yeast rice.

It’s “take your pills, pill head.”

I never thought of myself as someone who would be taking so many drugs and so many supplements. I have signed up for a guided program for better living through my employer. Omada just sent me a blue tooth scale and a blood pressure cuff. We start Sunday. Besides me better understanding what I am taking, I am looking forward to logging everything I eat and drink.

One medication I was on had me gain 15 pounds as a side effect.

It has been hard for me to take this weight off. I have managed to lose about three of the fifteen but need help with the remainder. That’s why I am focused on learning more about ways I can eat healthy and get to a more manageable weight.

I have been writing to figure this medication issue out but am now going in circles.

Depression is a major part of this conundrum, but I have yet to connect the dots. I can report that two nights of not taking these medications has markedly improved my dizziness. I am still being careful not to make sudden, jerky movements, but I feel much closer to my normal self.

We’ll see what the weekend brings as I start Omada.