Life After Lamictal

Lincoln Park's blues scene comes alive in a cool, thumping tantrum of Chicago sound. Belting voices, bottleneck guitars, the melancholy sirens wail all night long in the dives and doorways near DePaul.  They bellow in River North and on the South Side, from House of Blues to Buddy Guy's.  Carl Weathersby, Koko Taylor, B.B. King. Those were the names lighting up the marquees back then. The legends got people in the door; the music kept them there.  C over after cover I made the rounds, from Blues on Clark to Rosa's Lounge. Each  joint  beckoned with soulful serenades and crying six-strings that could make you weep if you let them. So it seems strange that once I discovered jazz, I never set foot in a blues bar again.  It's Michael's fault. Or Von's . I really can't say. All I know is, once I heard their music, I never needed anything else. Andy's on Hubbard, that's where it was. Von never liked me on the South Side. Without a car, it wasn't feasib

Disclaimer: Tapering off antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) always raises the risk of seizures. Because of the many risks associated with it, tapering  should only be done under doctor supervision . While the writer is sharing her personal experience for the purpose of this story, she in no way condones this risky behavior or encourages others to follow her example.   She recognizes that seizures are different for everyone and believes great care should be taken to prevent them. It was just an experiment. It seemed more an imaginary test than anything I was doing in real life. But every two weeks, I'd drop another dose. After a while, I realized I had dropped 100 milligrams. Then 150. As time went on it became more confounding. And it started getting real.  Halloween passed. The accident . Surgery. Christmas. Through it all, no seizure, no aura, no nothing. One part emboldened, another part baffled. That's how it went. With each drop I felt lighter, more awestruck. For a minute, I was