thanks... therapy, meds, exercise, whip, they do give results.
I was In such a difficult position due to the chemical imbalance that the rest was just keeping me functional. From this side of the gulf I see what a mood stabliser does and how i am supposed to be ...
Know what I read??? the 1st choice mood stabliser - lithium is a salt. Well due to a whole bunch of problems it is not #1 for me. Topiramate (dop-a-max) is #1 for me for 7 or 8 reasons. It's molecular structure is that of a simple Sugar. of course!!! I was short a sugar-pill !!!!!! (medication-humor).
I feel normal! I cannot believe it! I have been doing normal house work and a bit of catch-up. A bit of extra at work due to vacations ... and I am not going F_U_NN _I E ... no energy drinks, no imaginations about what others think is my "fair" share, no falling asleep in the middle of the day, no snapping at the kids (except when they rub my sunburned skinned!).
It is amazing! I have not felt like this in a few years! my ideas are clear - and my projects are realistic! most people are able to follow my trainssss of thought all of a sudden! and I don't look so stupid!
Sorry, for all the exclamations but I was just about to give up a while ago. I saw a few doctors and no one was doing any thing to help clear up that fog that was making it difficult to find my life. Now that I am half was to the theraputic dose of the topiramate (50mg of 100mg) I acctually feel something! and it is encouraging. I feel some motivation coming back.
oups gotta get back to the grist-mill... see ya all soon
Doctors. uhm.. great argument. In this period I'm stopping taking paroxetine because I feel that is not helping me anymore. So I'm not any more the patient of my psychiatrist (a great doctor). and now I feel that I should go and see a consellor. I just need a more human approach and not a "scientific" one.
I am happy to hear you are doing better. I agree with you. I do not expect my psychiatrists to be full og humanistic charm anymore. Just help me with proper medication and let my psychiatrist take car eof the rest. I find since I have come to this conclusion I handle psychiatrist appointments better. This being said I have not had to go to a psychiatrist in quite some time as I am off all meds but one anxiety med that I take PRN. But I do get how psychiatrist appointments go. I am proud of you for getting over it so quickly. It usually takes me like a week!
Oh, I know that the human-touch is necessary! in medicine -especially with mental health issues. It is just that in my particular case I do not NEED this psychiatrist to be humaine. I have a very good psychologist with whom I have a good relationship and we are learning to communicate.
And the fog has lifted ... so I feel have human again and ready to work!
It seems that you're feeling a little better about your visit now. I hope your next visit is easier on you now that you know what to expect.
I've never been to a psychiatrist and thought that such a person would handle everything, issues, need for medication, explanations and therapy. From what you're saying it sounds like all they do is evaluate the need for medications. Is this true? It still seems a bit impersonal, it wouldn't have hurt him to be involved with you as a person and do a better job of explaining and answering your questions. Maybe some literature so you didn't have to scour the web for info.
I understand that clinical is necessary in some instances, but it hardly makes a person want to keep their next visit. In all of medicine there needs to be an element of empathy for the patient. Clinical is great for emergency situations, but by and large clinical meshed with some compassion is a lot more effective.
Good luck with the new meds, I hope they work for you.
I found a forum where four or five persons described their experiences... One who said it did ziltch and the others who have been taking it for a while ... and under "similar" circumstances - weight-intolerance to other anticonvulsants/mood stabliziers-other health questions... and they were satistified with it. So even I am "off-lable" I am not alone.
I know I need a mood stablizer even if it is because the anti-depressant is causing me to cycle (weekly?). I am taking Seroquel at 25mg and it is only supposed to be slightly active at this low-dose and cause a slight sleepiness. Well I have been a public menace for some time on it. Nodding off in traffic. Falling asleep at work. Poor reflexes when driving in countryside. And just being a vegetable. Topiramate is not in the same family of medications so I AM willing to try it. I was hoping for more information. For more of the usual pharmaceutical marketing towards bipolar disorder.
I guess I was just so worn out and so stuffed full of info that I was in a cloud. I needed sleep and the space to put all the ideas and feelings in order. It is difficult to start something new and powerful. Psychiatric meds are nothing to play with - as I have discovered. And I sometimes worry that I have nothing! and am taking all this stuff for nothing! I am an intelligent woman, with a good job, a health loving family and yet I am unable to take advantage of the opportunity to be happy. Perhaps it is not illness but ego? Perhaps it is stupidity? -you know those days-
Hi Mom-3
the doctor is not the one who is there to help me with all the emotional and thinking issues. He is there to understand how the neurons are firing and misfiring in the brain. Give me a medication that will come closest to rebalancing the problem and allowing me to get on with my work with my wonderful therapist - Louise. It would be EASIER to give information to this dr if he were more compatable with my expectations, but life gives us what we need and it is not always what we want just ask my daughter she did not get the candy in a baby bottle but the sugar less gum yesterday nite and she cried her heart out!
I did get to express my expectations: I want a dr to take my symptoms and pain and say this is why it implodes inside and this is the best way to manage it. And the next appt in about 3 months will be an analysis of all my Mood charts with meds and periods and life... but that's okay ... I know what to expect and will have all my papers in order for a "proper" presentation. It will be just like school.
!!
just ask my daughter she did not get the candy in a baby bottle but the sugar less gum yesterday nite and she cried her heart out!
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