guinea pig... [update]

when my participation in the pagoclone study began, i was given three numbered bottles of gel-caps. two gel-caps b.i.d. from the first bottle from may 19 through june 1. june 2 through june 14, i was taking one b.i.d. from bottle two. i started the third bottle, [one b.i.d.] on june 15 and will continue with it through my next visit on july 13.

for about the first 5 days i noticed a runny nose, had a brief 'sore throat' around day 4, and felt generally tired and run down for the duration of bottle one. i did not notice a significant change in fluency, but i was not in a situation where i would normally have had fluency issues.

once i started bottle two, the runny nose returned for about 4 days, though it was not as bad as it was with the beginning of bottle one. the fatigue continued, but in fairness, my schedule was considerably more demanding for the duration of bottle two. with bottle two, i did notice an increase in fluency which was equal to or better than the fluency i was accustomed to while using the speech-easy device. i would rate my overall fluency with bottle two as being better than the speech-easy experience, with the added bonus that the medication does no interfere with my ability to hear the way the speech-easy does.

since starting bottle three on monday, i have not experienced the runny nose as with previous bottles. i continue to be both busy and tired. yesterday was probably the most fluent day of my life thus far. i taught an eight hour defensive driving class and never repeated an initial syllable more than twice, [that was only once, most of the stuttering was repeating an initial syllable once] and stuttered no more than a dozen times all day. i read all of the objectives for the five sessions without stuttering even once, something i have never done in twelve years of teaching the class.

at this point i have concluded that i am probably in the high dosage group of the study. either that or i have one amazing placebo. i'll post periodic updates as the study continues.