Rather Irritible

Been off my SSRI for a few weeks, compulsivity and irritability symptoms did not take long to return, though I think my mind is a little sharper off the treatment.  An article from the NEJM recently looked at SSRI withdrawals in stable patients using the medicine for depression.  https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2106356 Symptoms were more likely to return off the medicine, though some staying on the medicine still had breakthrough symptoms while others sustained remission from their depression.  You pay your quarter, or your shilling since this study came from England, and take your best shot.  I prefer to stay off and control how I respond to the various triggers as they come my way.

My car AC started failing intermittently, so that gets added to the list.  Ordinarily I take the car to the dealer but they underperformed on AC repair last time, my interaction with the technician did not endear him to me, and at 213K miles, the extended warranty has long expired, so I'll try someplace else of good reputation if it can be done before next week's expected day trip.

Had a few adverse events in my own bedroom with what should be minor maintenance.  Clutter prevented getting into my closet to repair a shoe rack or even change the closet light bulb.  I could not make the bed properly because I could not get to my wife's side of the bed.  When the laundry baskets were removed, they had clean but crumpled clothing unattended for weeks at a time, which I folded.  I checked Angie's List for housekeeper options, as by now it's clear that my wife has no interest in making the housework gradient less lopsided. We meet with our financial advisor soon.  I simply lack the ability to do the needed interior upkeep, so I will either have to get help or we will have to downsize, as many of my contemporaries have already done.  Better to do this voluntarily than abruptly as a byproduct of nursing home placement.  But it certainly adds to my diminishing personal fuse.

And some chronic musculoskeletal discomfort hasn't helped.  Since the pain concentrated in two locations anatomically, I started applying topical Voltaren to the one I can reach.  It's helped the discomfort, no effect on mood.

And a vacation might help. Or there's always that chemical inducement to tone me down.