Posted by CrazyMomx4 on June 24, 2004, at 10:12:59
Hi!
I'm a newbie to this site. I am 35 years old and the mom of 4 - ages 4 to 12. I have been separated from my husband going on three years.
I have had life-long issues with depression and mental health. The run down of my current diagnoses is as follows:
Depression-Diagnoses
1. PMDD (pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder)
2. SAD (seasonal affective disorder)Anxiety-Diagnoses
1. GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder)
2. PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - flashbacks less severe than three years ago, but still occur, mostly verbal rather than visual flashback thesedays)
3. SAD (same acronym 2x, this time it for - Social Anxiety Disorder - espeically when it comes to dealing with authority figures)
4. Panic Attacks (the triggers for which are nearly always the PTSD & Social Anxiety Disorder)Attention Deficit Disorder
1. In-Attentive TypePersonality Disorder
1. Avoidant Personality Disorder, type 4 (hides out in a co-dependant relationship)****
It took a very long time for me to get these diagnoses - nearly three years. I was misdiagnosed with Bi-Polar Disorder and Borderline Personaility Disorder at various points in this process.The ADD diagnosis was really an eye-opener and has given me so much clarity on my life and growing up years, I was originally diagnosed with Bi-Polar but the ADD diagnoses fits much better.
OKAY - that's my "crazy" rundown. I was recently approved for SSI, but need to appeal for SSDI. They set my date of onset as Jan '04 - thereby denying my SSDI coverage because my last date of being insured through SSDI was Aug of 2002. But I have not worked and have been under the care of a pychologist since Aug of 2001 - which was when I had my husband arrested for domestic abuse. *sigh*
Now for my current meds....
I am taking
Zoloft 100 mg in the 7AM and 50 @ 3PM
Adderall 20mg @ 7AM
Risperdal .125 mg @ 7AM .75 @ 10 PMThe Risperdal is new as of this past Tuesday. I will see my doctor again in three weeks. I was really freaked out by the Risperdal script, because it is generally prescribed for bi-polar and schizophrenia. My psychiatrist says he also prescribes it to patients with extremely high levels of anxiety.
I am getting a mild headache, at the top of my forehead when I take even the small amts of Risperdal which I am taking. Will these reside with time??
My dr didn't want to give me the Adderall again, but w/o it I am literally non-functional. I need the Adderall to "lift the fog" of my ADD symptoms. He had been giving me 30 mg a day,in 10 mg doses. So I would take 20 in the AM and 10 @ 3PM - but I didn't notice until I brought the filled prescription home that he only wrote my prescription for 20 mg x 30 doses - which means I can only take the 20 mg in the AM. If he had at least given me the 10 mg x 60 I could have staggered the dose. grrrrr!
I had sunk so deep into a hole of dispair that I had not been in to see my dr since December and had run out of all my meds in February. I had gotten into this funk where I was saying to myself "popping a pill isn't going to solve anything." Which is sort of true, to an extent, but I got so low from not being on meds that I was not taking care of my house or my children. My sister threatened to call Child Protection, that's what got me back to the shrink's office.
He wants to see me again in three weeks.
My big problem is not knowing what "normal" feels like!!! I have been at a total lose of words for describing my problems all along - and I have been seeing this pyschiatrist for over 2 years.
For example, I kept telling him that I was so exhausted before my period that I couldn't lift my head off the pillow. He would just nod. Then I saw an advertisment for Zoloft which described PMDD - I took it to him and said "see - THIS is what I have been trying to tell you - THESE are my symptoms!"
I am hoping lurking on Dr. Bob's boards (as well as at Dr. Amen's website) will help me to better understand how I am suppose to be feeling and functioning, and how to describe how I am feeling to my pyschiatrist.
Thank you.
Susan
poster:CrazyMomx4
thread:359753
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040621/msgs/359753.html