Thorazine Toxicity

MY 10 WEEKS AS A MORON
--THORAZINE TOXICITY--

OR WHY THERE WAS NO SUMMER ISSUE
OF CHUCK’S NEWSLETTER

From Chuck's Newsletter # 19 of September 22, 1990.

I was incapacitated from April to June for approximately 10 weeks. The apparent cause was my doctor’s prescription of Thorazine, a major tranquillizer. I received a shot in each arm. Thorazine is supposed to be OK. It usually lasts for 6 to 10 hours. I was previously taking it in pill form without problem. When I told the doctor about my incapacitation, she said that it wasn't supposed to happen and she apologized.

Circumstances leading to it. In April I "cheeked" my pills (didn’t take them) for 4 days straight. This is also called "self prescribing". I got a little high so the staff called the doctor. I calculated my medicine level (Lithium & Tegretol) several times a day so I was able to assure her when she called me that my level would go back up to a specific amount by the next day. Going "off-meds" was the 1^st strike against me. The 2^nd strike was when I went to {the local Mensa President}’s house to use his publication’s computer to input (type) some newsletter articles. I only inputted for about 3 hours but we (he) talked for about 4 hours and I didn’t get home until 6:45 a.m. When I got the 2 Thorazine shots,I felt that they were retaliation by my doctor for these 2 incidents.

Results of the Thorazine Toxicity. My actions were unlike me. I felt that some garbage had been pumped into my head. I had memory loss while talking—I couldn’t remember what the next word in the sentence was supposed to be. I couldn’t do simple calculations. I had problems spelling, with grammar, and wrote words and letters double. I couldn’t concentrate more than 5 minutes at a time. This was the worst result for me because I couldn’t do Chuck’s Newsletter for Summer.

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I was apprehensive about doing a class that I was scheduled to do for the Central Region Planning Committee on June 19 on survival in the system. By mid-June I could concentrate to plan the class for about ˝ hour to 1 hour per day. I wrote in my journal, "My functioning seems like slow motion to me." I thought that I would appear as an idiot if I did my class. I didn’t want to do the class. Then I decided that if I did do it, I wouldn’t tell them about the Thorazine because I didn’t want to be making excuses.

I did tell my class about the Thorazine and we had a lengthy discussion about my situation and related cases. One thing that sticks in my memory is that George who was my introducer from CRPC said that when he saw me several weeks before at a meeting he thought that I couldn’t be a client. Now, seeing me still under the influence of the Thorazine, he knew that I was a client.

Back to Normal—July. I gradually built up the amount of time that I could concentrate. After a week I could do paperwork for 3 hours a day but not all at once. My doctor said that she wouldn’t give me Thorazine again but would use Clonapin. She wrote this in my records and told my new doctor. She also wrote to him in my records to take care about an upswing (towards manic) if I write a lot or use the phone a lot. I’ve told her before that writing is my profession and shouldn’t be considered a danger signal. (As for the phone usage, I thought of telling her that I’m looking for work and that takes a lot of phone calls.)

Thoughts. I don’t know if these are serious and/or feasible, but I had these thoughts: I should sue for inhibiting my IQ, reducing the number of hours that I can work, and making me unable to work at a job.

Update. My new doctor just tried to give me Thorazine. I’m getting rid of him.