Question:
He had an initial intake sort of appointment with a psychiatrist here before
Christmas. He's meeting with her again next week. We suspect he'll
ultimately be diagnosed as bipolar II, but we want to make sure we cover the
bases too - especially now while we have health insurance that covers
diagnostic testing at 100%!
What questions specifically do you think he should discuss? I think he needs
to ask her about anything physical that might be causing this - just in case,
but such as what? Thyroid I guess, but anything else? Also, she only
mentioned lithium as ongoing therapy and I know there's a lot being done with
anti-convulsants now. Any specific points for bringing this up?
Answer:
I'm on Neurontin and I asked if the Gabatril's similar. The Nurse
Practitioner sez no, but I looked it up, of course, and yup, it is. 2 mg
twice a day, and we added on No-Doze if he gets sleepy/foggy. So yeah, an
anti-convulsant is needed here too for my bi-polar spouse-thingy.
The lithium may be absatively necessary. Seems that the longer one's been
bipolar, the more aggressive the treatment needed.
I wonder if male hormones could be having any effect at all? Women go
through this all the time where the hormone levels for one reason or
another get all out of whack and can cause a great variance in ones
mental health. Might be something to think about. Another thing might
be cortisol levels, thyroid levels, proper oxygenation levels, even
blood sugar levels, etc. Also, does he have any family history of any
types of mental illness at all?
The vast majority of bipolars canNOT take Prozac. Prozac is
known to trigger bipolar disorder; specifically, mania. In fact, Jeffrey was
taking Prozac for his Selective Mutism and that's what triggered his
bipolar...he became manic and suicidal within weeks of starting Prozac.
Most bipolars use mood stabilizers as their anti-depressant, as ad's can
cause some major problems for them. However, Prozac is the worst of these. It
is listed in the PDR as a serious side-effect. Hate to see this drug cause Norm
a big problem. Does he see a psychiatrist for his meds or a regular MD? He
really needs to see a psych who specializes in bipolar and other mood/brain
disorders.
