I've been thinking some more about these strange mind altering “episodes” I've been having. They come at the same time between five and seven or so in the evenings. Not always, but close. What have I done that's different just before or during those times since they started? There haven't been any changes, but there is one thing I do that I've done for many years, taking Niaspan, a relatively large dose, between five and six in the afternoons.

The reason for taking it between five and six (or seven) is it can occasionally have side effects, a somewhat painful pin pricking red rash on the face, upper chest and arms, so it's suggested you take it before bed in the evenings so the symptoms, if they occur, come while you're asleep. Better to have them while you're sleeping, believe me, I know from experience. Still, I've been taking this stuff for a long time, could it suddenly have gone off the reservation with this “hallucinatory” stuff? The web doesn't say anything about it, but the timing of the taking is about right.

So before we do the neurologist I'm going to start taking the Niaspan at the time I actually go to bed around ten or eleven. It will be easy to tell if this is the problem as the symptoms will now occur, if they still occur, while I'm asleep. QED. You'd think. I've been taking it at five or six rather than later because I've felt the rash can be activated by drinking coffee with breakfast and taking it somewhat earlier at six instead of bedtime eliminates the occasional breakfast occurrences. Better a rash at six over the Chronicle than a weird session after dinner is my thought. So soon we'll see.

So you're putting off the visit to a neurologist again.

I experienced one of the sessions again last night, a brief, not very intense episode, so my guess is we'll know in no more than a week. This happening at only the one time during the day doesn't really make sense unless it's connected with something like this Niaspan business. My cholesterol is stone cold low in every way you can measure, but it's evidently not done without cost, here in Oakland.

Later. No intermittent sun from the look of it, so I'm piddling around the apartment doing this and that. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Later still. That was fast. A quick nap that lasted over four hours, the “episode” I was talking about coming on as I was dropping off. Hadn't taken any Niaspan, of course, at three in the afternoon. So much for it as a culprit. There are, as it happens, three other possibilities, we'll not go through them here, but it's conceivable that one of them could be the culprit, something called Vytorin, for example, another cholesterol drug. I'll have to do some research to see if there are any symptoms associated with it, although I've been taking it now for years.

Time marches on. Pretty good nap though.