Posted by Reggie BoStar on January 21, 2007, at 21:54:54
In reply to Re: Sick, sick, sick...and tired/Reggie, posted by stargazer on January 21, 2007, at 14:54:46
Hi stargazer,
Regarding that consult: it might not involve retrying the same stuff if your current pdoc sends your complete file along with recommendations to the new one. If the new one reads up on everything, there's no reason why he would try something that's already failed.I've run into this before in the course of changing pdocs for various reasons. I've found that as long as I was careful to sign all the release forms for my records so they could be sent to the new pdoc, there were no repetitions of treatment.
Of course that's my experience. Maybe I just got lucky, too.
Right now my pdoc and therapist are still hammering away, always trying new things. I changed both of them after ECT a few years ago. That was when the regimen changed quite a bit. The new therapist is more of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) type and is very active in our sessions in terms of guiding me through various mental exercises to help me avoid unhealthy trains of though. She doesn't just sit there and listen. It's very interesting.
The pdoc got together with my MD to discuss the situation. After that the pdoc added Lamictal to my medications. I'm still way early in the starter set to know if that will work. In the meantime the MD verified that my testosterone was low and put me on supplements for that. So far, no go and I'm having a lot of bladder trouble. But now he tells me that it takes a while to kick in, and the bladder issues may be unrelated. I go for another test for all that stuff in 2 weeks.
The nice thing is that my MD, pdoc, therapist, and neurologist (for migraines) are all affiliated with the same hospital and routinely share info with each other. They can do this in person or by phone, which is very efficient - they don't have to wait around while records are transferred. Also I have a pharmacy that's completely computerized and keeps tabs on all my meds to monitor for interactions and other issues.
The pharmacy even raised a flag once when I picked up some Phenobarbitol for my cat! Evidently it's not recommended for someone like me (g). I reminded them that the script was written by a vet for my cat, and that cleared that up.
Now... how am I doing? It's just too soon to tell if the new meds and therapy approaches are going to do any good. I'm very careful not to get my hopes up because of past failures, so it's going to have to be something obvious that lasts before I'll accept it as a real improvement.
In the meantime I try to go for walks, 1 or 2 miles/day minimum, keep a regular sleeping schedule (not doing too good there), and go to free support groups wherever I can find them. Some of these are selected AA meetings where I know my agnosticism won't be out of place. Others are "dual diagnosis" groups (behavioral health plus substance abuse, I'm also a drunk) and bipolar support groups in this area. So far all of the groups I've found are affiliated with the same hospital.
I even tried "Emotions Anonymous" once. That's a 12-step group modeled on AA, for people with emotional issues. It wasn't that good a meeting, but that's just because of that particular group of people. If there were more EA meetings in town, I could probably find a better one.
In summary I guess my approach is to keep saturating myself with new approaches as the old ones fail. It's the only way I can keep from from just folding when things don't work.
Anyway that's my approach. Hope the info is useful, and sorry if I rambled. I have trouble keeping things short.
And if you check these boards for other postings in the past, you'll see I have troubles being consistent. That's another one of my issues that the support people are trying to alleviate.
Hey, I checked out "Ahab's Wife" on Amazon and it looks interesting. I used to frequent the area of Woods Hole and Nantucket in the 80's and so have a rough familiarity with the whaling culture and the community. I had to put it on my wish list, though. Money is a little short in the patient business.
One thing struck me as a little odd - the synopsis said that she went to New England to escape from a "puritanical father". Wow. Of all places to go to escape puritanical attitudes, 19th century New England would not be high on my list. This place was the philosophical pits for hundreds of years after Cotton Mather and his goons were hanging witches.
Just kidding. I'll definitely look into the book. In the meantime, best of luck with your treatments, and please keep on posting so we can all see how you're doing and try to offer support.
Take care,
Reggie BoStar
poster:Reggie BoStar
thread:723983
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070119/msgs/725009.html