"Patsy" - 44 yr old female who has been diagnosed as Manic Depressive/BiPolar
This week we are interviewing "Patsy" who is a 44-year-old female who has been diagnosed as Manic Depressive/BiPolar. Her physician presently has her on Lithium and Seroquel which seem to alleviate her symptoms when took on a daily basis. Unfortunately, "Patsy" finds it financially impossible to pay for this medication on a regular basis. Therefore, finds herself suffering from anxiety, depression, and severe mood swings. Partly due to these symptoms, she has presently found herself without a place to live and is relying on friends for shelter and support.
Her first marriage was a disaster and left her feeling guilty and depressed when her husband died of a drug overdose. Several years later, she entered into another relationship, and eventually married, which proved even worse since her new spouse was an alcoholic and physically abusive. This marriage ended in divorce and sent her, once again, into another state of anxiety and depression.
Individuals with severe anxiety and depression often fail to take care of themselves, neglect their appearance, and can forget how important good nutrition plays in helping them cope with any disease, either mental or physical. Anxiety and depression can also be a side effect of many medications taken for other existing conditions. Therefore, it is important for you to see your physician on a regular basis and make him or her aware of other prescribed medications. Keeping a food diary over a period of weeks could also help you to link food intake and sensitivity with mood swings. Eliminating certain foods from your diet could help stabilize your moods.
Certain antidepressant drugs such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil can often lead to a slight but ongoing weight loss and you may need to make a special effort to maintain weight during treatment with these anxiety medications. Tricyclic antidepressants such as Tofranil, Elevil, and Pamelor can cause weight gain. If you have been prescribed with any of these medications and are overweight or gain weight while taking any of these drugs, you may want to ask your doctor for an alternative.
Besides medication, there are natural approaches to fighting anxiety, panic, and depression. One is to cut down on alcohol, which can be a depressant, and caffeine, which can interfere with sleep and mood. Try eating a diet with high grade proteins such as meat, dairy products, eggs, and fresh fish which can help in promoting good nervous system function. Also, never underestimate exercise in treating anxiety and depression. Just a daily walk can be a critical factor in the treatment process. Another natural approach to fighting anxiety and depression is to read. There are many good self-help books out there so please, go get one and read it!
We(myself and others) have suggested some of these alternative natural remedies for "Patsy" to use in conjunction with her prescribed medications and are hoping that these remedies may be of some help when she is financially unable to receive her prescribed medications.
"Patsy" is a real person. Her personal information, as well as her interview answers have been withheld by request.
"Patsy" needs to know there are others in the same situation with similar anxiety-depression disorders and that she is not alone or unique in her behavior. If you would be willing to share your specific anxieties with us and pass on any information on what has worked for you in overcoming these very real problems, we would be happy to relay this information in our future weekly reports.
We respect you, and your privacy. Any information we receive from you will be handled in the way you want it to be handled. No personally identifiable information will be used anywhere. We do not sell or rent your information to anyone, ever. Period.
Her first marriage was a disaster and left her feeling guilty and depressed when her husband died of a drug overdose. Several years later, she entered into another relationship, and eventually married, which proved even worse since her new spouse was an alcoholic and physically abusive. This marriage ended in divorce and sent her, once again, into another state of anxiety and depression.
Individuals with severe anxiety and depression often fail to take care of themselves, neglect their appearance, and can forget how important good nutrition plays in helping them cope with any disease, either mental or physical. Anxiety and depression can also be a side effect of many medications taken for other existing conditions. Therefore, it is important for you to see your physician on a regular basis and make him or her aware of other prescribed medications. Keeping a food diary over a period of weeks could also help you to link food intake and sensitivity with mood swings. Eliminating certain foods from your diet could help stabilize your moods.
Certain antidepressant drugs such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil can often lead to a slight but ongoing weight loss and you may need to make a special effort to maintain weight during treatment with these anxiety medications. Tricyclic antidepressants such as Tofranil, Elevil, and Pamelor can cause weight gain. If you have been prescribed with any of these medications and are overweight or gain weight while taking any of these drugs, you may want to ask your doctor for an alternative.
Besides medication, there are natural approaches to fighting anxiety, panic, and depression. One is to cut down on alcohol, which can be a depressant, and caffeine, which can interfere with sleep and mood. Try eating a diet with high grade proteins such as meat, dairy products, eggs, and fresh fish which can help in promoting good nervous system function. Also, never underestimate exercise in treating anxiety and depression. Just a daily walk can be a critical factor in the treatment process. Another natural approach to fighting anxiety and depression is to read. There are many good self-help books out there so please, go get one and read it!
We(myself and others) have suggested some of these alternative natural remedies for "Patsy" to use in conjunction with her prescribed medications and are hoping that these remedies may be of some help when she is financially unable to receive her prescribed medications.
"Patsy" is a real person. Her personal information, as well as her interview answers have been withheld by request.
"Patsy" needs to know there are others in the same situation with similar anxiety-depression disorders and that she is not alone or unique in her behavior. If you would be willing to share your specific anxieties with us and pass on any information on what has worked for you in overcoming these very real problems, we would be happy to relay this information in our future weekly reports.
We respect you, and your privacy. Any information we receive from you will be handled in the way you want it to be handled. No personally identifiable information will be used anywhere. We do not sell or rent your information to anyone, ever. Period.
posted by Nashell Barnes at 6:25 PM
2 Comments:
I'm embarrassed to write this, after a story as poignant and as clearly difficult as 'Patsy's. But I've recently, very recently, started to think more clearly about how I've been feeling for as long as I can remember- especially as for seven or eight months recently, I stopped feeling it, and have suddenly begun to feel it again in the past few days.
It's comforting to find myself saying these things to people who will probably understand what I'm trying to get at before I've even articulated it properly. It's still hard to explain, particularly because I don't understand it myself and a lot of the time just want to kick my own *ss- shake myself and say, just LIVE, why don't you, just get on with it. Sometimes it feels like it could be that simple. But that never lasts, no matter how determined I feel, even on the rare days when I wake up without the pressure in my chest.
I don't know. I'm scared, all the time, and don't know what of. I'm lost. I am, worst of all, disconnected from a feasible reality. Things don't feel real and never have somehow. I don't know how to function in the world. I don't know how to participate. I fake everything all the time. My heart goes a million miles an hour, I am either viciously unhappy, to where I weep and sometimes want to throw up with exhaustion and defeatedness- or just empty, colorless, numb. I fight the people closest to me. I destroy my relationships, drawn to men who make me feel like I could be normal, could have a shot at a normal, happy, even ecstatic sort of life, and I play at that for months, faking it even to myself- and at some drastic point, turn and begin to claw down whatever I'd managed to build in the months before. It's as though I didn't want a 'normal' life- as though as soon as I have support or even love, I get vicious and aggressive and even violent, sometimes- not that I've ever physically hurt anyone- but oh how cruel I can be. I don't understand. I can never forgive myself for it and yet even when I suppress the rage, to protect the person I'm close to, I can't seem to help feeling it. It feeds back into everything when that happens- I go all out, I tear it all down, I criticize and attack and then I shut down and withdraw and cease to participate- in the relationship, in my own life. The numbness returns and I am left surfing the net looking for answers and wondering why, why, why I've been this way for as long as I can remember.
I cannot seem to chase the constant burning misery in my chest away, the dizziness- I've started to lose my balance lately, feel nauseous, bump into things, I've become clumsy and heavy and no amount of sleep is enough anymore, despite there being no physical reasons to explain this. Worse, I can't shake the disconnectedness- the sense of being not a part of things, of everything being unreal, of being trapped behind a thick, frosted glass wall that goes all around me, and from within which I can sort of see what's going on, but nothing comes in and nothing goes out, and even the air within is thick and hot and stifling. This is no way to live and I so need help because I am only 29 and am crushing my life between my fingertips waiting for this to either go away, or to prove itself to be just something I've imagined all these years. I am trying so hard, but I don't know who to talk to or what to do. Please, please, please help.
Maria.
maria
Everything you wrote ran true to everything i myself have been through, i also suffered extreme anxiety that led to panick attacks my mother died the same time i gave birth to my first child and ever since i would worry myself sick of losing my husband or my children and i guess my mind couldnt take anymore worry everything just went down hill, i had horrific nightmares of harming my children, not being connected with this world, i remember hanging washing on the line and falling to the ground sobbing wishing to end it all having nightmares about hurting my family was just to much, then i managed to convince myself i was dying something had to be wrong why was this happening to me, i went down the road of having chest pains i related them to a heart attack headaches which were brain tumours endless list of small symptoms that i thought was major health problems, Anyway i couldnt take the doctors madication i was frightend of not being in control so i went down the route of natural remidies and im pleased to say that 2 months on im a different person i sleep through i dont have nightmares i enjoy my children for the miracle gifts they are, i still have down days and feel my anxiety creeping back but i refuse to be dragged down anymore,im now moving forward and looking forward its not an easy ride but we have the strength in us although we dont feel it at the time, its to easy to give up but all i would have been doing is to subject my children to the pain that i went through when i lost my mum, all i can say to the people that are going through this is god made us all with exceptional qualities you look a little deeper and keep the dreams of being happy alive it will happen, just sometimes we have to hit rock bottom to be able to start climbing again, however frightend you are you can do it i did and it was the scariest journey i have ever been on but i have 3 of the most amazing children and now i can appreciate them, good luck maria happiness is possible i of all people know that, and i am only 25 so ur not alone,
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