Posted by Larry Hoover on May 16, 2006, at 16:48:56
In reply to What to do about Dad, posted by stickywicket on May 16, 2006, at 15:07:16
> My Dad (age 79) has IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). He admitted to me he's depressed and nervous because of his condition. He showed me an article from '04 that claimed Paxil can effectively treat IBS pain. But he considers using an AD his last choice because he's afraid of *addiction*. He's seen a gastroenterologist who didn't even suggest medications for the pain. Everyone else in the family thinks he's seriously depressed and needs to see a pdoc to address that problem. He's lost alot of weight because he's eating very little. He's scared of food now.
>
> I'm the oldest sibling near Dad so basically this is falling on me. I'm walking that fine line between acting as Dad's child or Dad's parent. This is stressing me out and exacerbating my own illness. I'm at my wits end.
>
> Any suggestions?Do you know which form he has? IBS has three variants: a) crampy diarrhea; b) crampy constipation; c) alternating.
If he will take Paxil for the IBS, the antidepressant effect would be a bonus, non?
Would it help for him to read up on the difference between the definitions for dependency vs. addiction? Sometimes the mere use of a particular word is enough to trigger the stigma. It is quite possible to become physiologically dependent upon e.g. an SSRI, but there is no addiction.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:644808
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060515/msgs/644846.html