Medication and Tattoos

Last Friday I saw my psychiatrist and told him that I would not be continuing Latuda.  The first issue is the side effects and the second is the cost.  With my insurance, the cost of this medication is still $150 for every three months.  I can only imagine what the prescription would cost without insurance or with an insurance provider that is not as good as my own.

How do the drug manufacturers get away with charging so much in the United States?  A person can easily cross over the Canadian border, or to many other countries, and purchase the same drugs for fractions less than what we pay in the US.  It makes me wonder if the US is subsidizing the cost of the drug for other countries.

Doc prescribed me Seraquel this time.  I started on 25mg at bedtime for a few days and then will increase to 50mg when I’m comfortable.  The first night I took the medication it knocked me out.  I didn’t want to wake up the next morning at all.  Interesting side effect for sure.  I like it.

I noticed the past few days the akathisia symptoms are gone and I’m not as restless as I was nor as manic.  I feel pretty good and happy so far.

Last week I decided that I’m getting a tattoo.  I’ve been thinking about a tattoo for a while and had it planned out but never actually got it because I just wasn’t sure it’s what I wanted.  I know better than to ink myself, especially the first time, and decide later that I don’t like the tattoo so I waited until I found something that I fell in love with.  Finally, I did. 

I decided to get a Gemini symbol on the top of my foot with the Star of David.  These two symbols are important to me as I am very much a Gemini and my faith is what guides me in my everyday life.  Sure, inking my body with a tattoo is a violation of Leviticus but my ears are already pierced.  I also believe that the commandment to not mark thy body was created during a time when Jews were trying to set themselves apart from Paganism.  Since Pagans often marked their bodies with tattoos and piercings, our Jewish Fathers used this as a way to separate the two cultures.  This philosophy is no longer needed in today’s day and age.

So as I started looking for designs, I then realized that if I get one why not get two?  So that’s what I did.  I not only got the Gemini and Star of David on my foot but I also got the Chai on the inside of my wrist.

I like solid, dark tattoos.  To me, it looks classy.  Since I have such a light skin tone, the artist used a dark purple.  As he tattooed my foot it hurt, especially over the boney area.  I wanted to cringe and scream out in pain but I knew I couldn’t move my foot.  The wrist wasn’t so bad.  It felt like I was getting stabbed several times with an IV needle.

All in all I’m glad I got them.