ASD, CP and Mental Health (Part 5)

In the early stages of taking the medication, I tried using my walking frame because the side effects were meant to go away, and I needed to get on with my life even if my body wasn’t playing ball at the time. That didn’t end well at all! I had separate splints that go inside the full leg splints. I always sit on the sofa to put my splints on, and I had one splint on but I needed to push myself back, so I put my feet down, but my left foot wouldn’t go flat, so I had to push with my toes pointed. I began to push back, and then the end of my splint snapped. Even though my right arm is more affected, my left foot has always been more problematic than the right - don’t ask me why because I’ve never been sure, but the logical answer to this is that my brain is damaged equally.

A couple of days after that, my movements were so much worse… I know that I’ve never had full control over any part of my body, but do you know what it’s like to lose what little control you had? It’s absolutely terrifying! The only break I had was when someone was holding me. I don’t know how many times I broke down in tears! I was a wreck! As my movements increased, my live-in carer looked at the information booklet, and sure enough, involuntary muscle movement was listed as one of the less common side effects… That was the last day I took the Sertraline. My arms were flying around like a bird on steroids! I couldn’t handle moving that much anymore, so my mum went to the local pharmacy to ask about the side effects. The Pharmacist advised me to stop taking the medication immediately and contact the doctor… Unfortunately, I had already taken it that morning, but that was my last dose. I know that you should check side effects thoroughly before taking any drugs, but I trust doctors, so I just skimmed through the paper and didn’t think anything of it.

Being on the Sertraline did seem to help my moods and anxiety, but when it affected my movements, it was counterproductive because I was feeling worse when I had no control over my body! I couldn’t really tell how quickly the side effects came because I was already incredibly stressed due to the live-in carer situation, and even though my movements increased due to stress, I did notice it after about two days. As it started affecting me so quickly, I had hoped that the side effects would go away as quickly as they came, and they did settle soon afterwards, but not as quickly as I’d hoped.

Come back tomorrow for Part 6.