Newsletter

Hello all and welcome to May's Newsletter. I hope that ou are all enjoying your spring time. The weahter has been very nice here. We delt with a few tornados in the area a few weeks back and we aren't getting quite enough rain in our area, but the grass is green the flowers are bluming and the tempreatures are warm and wonderful.
I am still looking for a name for this little article of mine... Any suggestions???

We have Dylan down to only 2 medications now. He is taking 600mg of Lithium a day and 500mgs of Seroquel. We have definitely seen a big difference in his behaviors now that he is off of the anti-depressants and the Trileptal (mood stablizer). I think we may have found the right combo of meds for him, finally. It has taken quite a bit of tweeking but I think we are finally stable for now. He has been in school now for 2 full weeks and has been more in control of his emotions. Today I went to the office to pick him up from school and the nurse told me that he went came into the office ( on his own) to sit and calm down because some boys were really getting him angry and he didn't want to get into trouble. I almost started crying right there. He is also doing the same thing at home, when his brothers get on his nerves or when kids in the neighborhood give him a hastle. We still have a long way to go to reprogram him for appropriate behaviors, but we are definitely one giant step closer I think.

Over the last few months my memory has been very cloudy. My short term memory has been almost non existant. My husband decided to look up my medications on the web to see if maybe they were causing it. He found multiple articles on how Celexa seems to be linked to the reduction in memory functions. I discussed this with my Pdoc and she agreed to take me off the medication to see what happens.
I am down to Webutrin XL (150mgs) and Seroquel (250mgs daily) and I feel like the cloud has lifted. Though I have needed to increase my Seroquel 50mgs during the day to counter irritablity I have expeienced with Webutrin XL, a problem I had years ago when I tried Welbutrin SR for DX'ed depression that went to an extreme.
But my memory seems to have returned along with an amazing amount of energy. I am not napping for 3 hours a day, though the extra dose of Seroquel still makes me loopy enough to have to nap for about half an hour in the afternoon, about an hour after I take it. But I notice the biggest difference in the morning. I have not had problems "waking up" and getting going every moring. I' m not over sleeping as often either.

In other news, I have found a program to help get me organised and keep my house up. Many people with BP and even just depression have a very hard time keeping things organised and cleaning house. I just started and I am waiting for permission from the site owners to run an article on thier program and keep you all posted as to how I am doing on it. As soon as I get permission to run an article it will be in the following newsletter and I will also add a link to the Links and "tips and tricks" pages.

A recent study released in early may shows that 27% of adults in this country (USA), about 59 million people, or about 1 in 4 have received some form of mental health care treatment n the past 2 years. The study preformed was the first to try to examine the consumer attitudes and trends in Mental health care.

Another finding is that 1 in 3 adults who need treatment are not getting it for whatever reason. Leading answer to why they did receive treatment were cost related, lack of belief in that treatment helps or is necissary, or health insurance coverage.

the study found that 81% of people with treatment history have used perscription medications. Broken down the finding were 47% used medication only, 34% combined medication with psychotherapy, and 19% have gone with Psychotherapy only.

Patients were also faced with lack of information on therapists that they choose, relying on Dr. recommendations, Insurance network, or geographic factors, limiting the information on the therapists beliefs, style and other factors that are needed in selecting a therapist that will work best for the individual patient.

I am not sure what i think of these numbers or this article. Are they just finding that more people are less inhibited by the old stigma of mental health to seek treatment when they need to? or are they saying that it is becoming fashionable like in the 80's to have a therapist on speed dial for every little crisis that comes into their lives?

Another thing that was not mentioned, that I know is an issue, is the lack of treatment in your area. I was lucky enough to find a Pdoc for my son in the area. But it's city driving and takes about 30 minutes to get to. Now the doctor that takes care of my youngests sleep disorder also wants him to be looked at for BP but the only Pdoc that will take a child of his age in my insurence network is an hour drive. With gas prices the way they are currently I can't afford a 2 hour round trip drive and an extra $20 copay ( not that I see signs of BP in him anyway) . And that is assuming this Pdoc is taking new patients or if I can get into see him sometime in the next year. Many of these Pdocs are so totally over booked it makes it very difficult to find one that will help you in an acceptable amount of time. My pdoc currently has a 3 month wait on new patients just to get in for a new appointment. Talk about discouraging.

Then there is the option of hospitalization. When my son was raging again during our attempt at using Strattera, I took him in too the emergency room to get him possibly get him admitted. After several hours of sitting in a little dank room in the hospital across the hall from 2 drunk or high people who were taking back and fourth loudly about things that I wish my son never heard, I was informed that they wanted him to be admitted but the closest hospital that took my insurence ( there is that evil word again)and children his age was an hour and a half drive from our home, in an area where we have no family. I refused to do that to my son, I would not abandon him for 2 weeks in a place where there was no one close to visit him or just the knowledge that they were close by made him fell more at ease. And once again the family and financial issues come in to play. Who can afford to stay in a hotel for 2 weeks and who would have taken care of my other 2 children, getting them to school, making them dinner and just being there? But all of the hospitals with mental facilities dropped their youth programs for children under the age of 12. My insurence was not going to pay for the extra expences of treatment. I have looked into some different "supplimental plans" that pay you a certain amount to cash per day to offset the extra costs of hospitalization, and, of course, these plans do not cover mental health. It seems that the DX of COBPD is becoming more common while the amout of care for these children seems to be diminishing. I am sure that in the big cities and the suburbs of them are a little easier to get help but in the country side, small towns and cities, help is getting scarce.

The final issue in all of this is the lack of real resources to find a good Dr. as mentioned in the article. Though there are research sources that are accessable to help you chose a Dr. to fit your style and personality, you are limited by your insurance as to which Dr's you have to choose from and then you still have to pray that the one you get will click with you. Many people are very discouraged by seeing a Pdoc that really goes against them. In point, my first Pdoc was very set in her ways. She used limited different meds and she was very intimidating. She really didn't seem to listen and when you made a suggestion that you think that this med is the problem or that you just weren't doing well yet, she would get very annoied and made you to feel completely stupid or that you didn't have a clue what you were talking about. I left her after a year and found a Pdoc that really fit with me, but I am very lucky. Many people don't find the right one for a long time, going from Pdoc to Pdoc. We had to do that with my son. And it can get very discouraging to find someone who makes you feel at ease, to talk to and really explain what is going on with you and that will listen to what you think, feel, and have learned. But they are out there just keep looking.

Ok well, I am going to get off my soap box for the month. I hope that you have found some useful information this month. I have not had a lot of time this past month to really work on some of the things I need to to get this site updated but hopefully over the course of the next month I will be able to get them completed. Real life can be so time consuming! LOL! Anyway, please e-mail me with your questions or stories. I hope that you all are enjoing your Spring and I will return next month with hopefully more news. Hugs and Remember, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!