manic -depressive illness

[jean61]

Hello, my husband is a manic-depressive and we've just gotten back together aftre an 7 month seperation following or during a manic episode.He say's he doesn't want to take lithium or any other drug . He's presently at a VA hospital for treatment but really in his mind doesn't want the meds because in the past he got heavy (gained 100 lbs.) Can some one give me some insight on this? I tired of seeing him depressed and irritable.

[splendra]

((((Jean))))

Welcome! I understand how he feels the meds do make you slow down so much. I just wonder if ya'll have checked into any natural solutions? Nutritional support, exercise, herbs, massage, chiropractic care, acupuncture all of these modalities offer help for depression.

[Don W]

I am a patient at the V A Hospital here in Mass. Has he mentioned these concerns to his doctor? Sometimes there are alternatives. Don't take offense but, has he had an addiction problem? I self medicated for years with alcohol. Also, not sure of his age but, he might want to look into PTSD. So many of these things can mask themselves. Welcome, and I'll check your response later. Don W

[shutterbug]

Jean, when I hit my first major depressive episode (I'm a rapid cycling BP), I was about 21 or 22 years old and never weighed more than 135, but was usually around 122-125. Gosh I thought that was horrible. I wanted to be in the teens....below 120 b/c I'm only 5'3...looking back now..I sure wish I would have embraced my body because I literally would cut off all my toes...lol... if it could so how magically get my weight back down to even 140! During that first depression my weight skyrocketed by 100 pounds...just like your husband (well, of course, I dont' know if this is his first major episode or what), but I wasn't on meds...so that wasn't what the cause in my case. I have this untested, unresearched personal theory at the present moment that I want to look into seeing if there is a connection btwn depression and a slowing down of the persons metabolism or something of that nature. I think the chemical imbalance that is causing the depression may have some kind of chemical imbalance sort of thing attached to it that causes the weight issues that many depressives have to deal with. Don't know....this is just a hunch of mine that...like I said...I haven't researched at all.

As for taking meds...I can understand. I've been on meds for a year now...and life often feels even worse than before I started the meds. The problem for many (especially rapid cyclers and those with a dual diagnosis of an substance addiction) finding the right combination of meds is a pulling-your-hair-out, down and out frustating and maddening reality....unless you happen to get lucky with a combo of meds early on. It just usually takes more time than we are often willing to wait when we feel this bad. And with others, there is that idea that if they aren't taking meds for the condition....then it can't really be that serious and therefore they can maintain a sort of..."well, I'm still functioning and I'm not taking meds...so I must not have a REAL illness/disease." It's a kind of denial thing, I think. Meds = sickness type of thinking and will try and use a bunch of different excuses to get out of taking the meds.

It comes down to ....does he want to be a little miserable becuase of the weight or does he want to be A LOT miserable...and for a LONG time, but maintain his figure?

AND...there actually ARE a lot of meds that don't have weight gain as a side affect! I took Effexor, for example, for 2 years and I actually ended up 40 pounds lighter at the end of the 2 years! Unfortunately, I had to give up the Effexor to try for stronger and different meds because the Effexor didn't seem to be doing the trick anymore for me and I was at the maximum dosage allowed. When he goes to the doc/VA hospital...he can tell the doc that he's worried about his weight and could they please try out some meds that might work, but don't have that side-effect.

As for the irritability....when he seems to attack you, jump down your throat, fly of the handle...or even just smart off...whatever it is....you just have to keep in mind that it is the disease talking and not him. The irritablity may be directed toward you because you are the one who's there most of the time...but it's just because he's not well and the irritability is a natural reaction. AND I know when I'm in one of "those" episodes...I always tend to start snapping at those I am closest to emotionally. Not sure why really...but I always tell my friends and family this:

"If I'm biting your head off and you haven't even done anything...then take it as a compliment....because what it really means is that you are loved by me very much and are near and dear to my heart...because I don't even have the energy to snap at people who mean nothing to me!"

Hang in there and keep posting here....it helps...it really does.

Hugs and God Bless,
JennaAC


Nutritional support, exercise, herbs, massage, chiropractic care, acupuncture all of these modalities offer help for depression.

[shutterbug]

Splendra,
" Nutritional support, exercise, herbs, massage, chiropractic care, acupuncture all of these modalities offer help for depression."

Can you give more info on these things? I know about the exercise, but haven't heard of the others or how those things can help? I think, I was also told by several highly-qualified P-docs that it is usually a bad idea to take any kind of herbal remedies while on these kind of meds because there is more often than not....a possiblity of interference and/or severe side-effects (depending on which meds you take...but our docs just said it straight across the board because it's too hard to figure out which herbs you can still take with which meds and all that). Maybe I'm thinking of something different here....not sure.

But i would definetly like to hear about the other things.....

Hugs,
jenna