Posted by BarbaraCat on March 23, 2002, at 2:25:00
In reply to BCat: your experiences » BarbaraCat, posted by Janelle on March 23, 2002, at 0:40:33
Janelle,
I'm not on all those meds at once! I'm on lithium, Remeron, klonopin and SAM-e now and they're doing the trick. But I have tried all of them plus others in the 30 years I've been dealing with this. I had some depressions in my childhood, but mainly due to my difficult dysfunctional family. I started getting what I think is biological rather than circumstantial moodswings when I was in my early 20's. I'd cycle in and out of them every few years, but then in my 30's they started occurring more frequently but would for the most part be controlled by AD's. A few years ago some life events got very stressful for me and the zoloft I'd been taking for 6 years stopped working entirely and I started having very severe panic attacks and insomnia. I should have been on an anti-anxiety med but wasn't. It was very frightening and I felt like I was shattering. It seemed the hospital was the safest place so I spent 10 days on the psych ward at a very nice hospital. I don't know how other hospital psych wards compare but this was a decent place.It was a good experience, mainly because I got to see how so many basically normal, good and caring people were suffering from mood disorders and couldn't cope anymore. Of course, there were some real bizarre crazy cases too, but they usually got moved to the 'lockdown' ward.
Thank God those years are over. I think my coping skills are pretty good now and don't think I'll ever let stress get that intense again. I still have a biological disorder and always will, but feel pretty good compared to those days! Anyhow, that's my saga.
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:98599
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020322/msgs/99605.html