gcvmom
Here we go again!
I just need to get this out here today. I am feeling irritated and disappointed, but mostly irritated. I know I'll get over this.
We cut husband's Trileptal dose in half about three weeks ago because 1) he was EXTREMELY tired all the time on it and 2) he was still having mild seizures. His neuro is going to change the medications next week.
But in the MEAN time... his obsessive behavior is back. His short temper is back. His attention and thoughts are all OVER the place. (The longer I live with him and the more I read, the more I'm convinced he's cyclothymic aka mild bipolar). He is still in a happier mood overall than when he's off Paxil, though. And he's still on Paxil.
In short, he is driving me NUTS and I just want to smack him. But I realize it's his illness (even if he doesn't realize it) doing this.
His GP did a Trileptal level check when he ordered bloodwork a few weeks ago. We sent a copy to the neuro and psychiatrist. psychiatrist called and said the medication wasn't even at therapeutic levels and he was taking 1200mg per day. All the more reason to stop it since it was also making him sleep 18+ hours a day.
But clearly, clearly, clearly he needs this kind of medication for mood stabilization.
He's going for a sleep study tonight -- we think he has apnea on top of all this. He's not supposed to nap today, and although he stayed home because he felt too tired to drive to work, he did fall asleep for about a 1/2 hour. I woke him and dragged him out to have lunch with my parents, with the ulterior motive of keeping him from sleeping all afternoon.
While out, we stopped to pick up printer ink. His attention was all over the place. I knew if we lingered in the store he'd have the basket filled with all kinds of useless stuff that we can't afford right now. As we left, he starts in about his usual obsession when he's like this (sex). I'm trying to ignore as much of his verbal ramblings as I can. He's trying to provoke me and getting more and more agitated. Within two miles of leaving the store, he exploded and lashed out at me over stuff that felt to me very out-of-the-blue (but knowing what I know now about manic behavior, his mind had probably made several hundred topic leaps and he was simply blurting out the most recent thing, even though that's not where any of our conversations had started). The rest of the ride home was silent. I was ticked and in no mood to talk to him. I'm looking forward to him being gone tonight at the sleep study!
Whew. Anyway, I'm realizing more and more that he's got a significant problem. I may call the psychiatrist tonight with a "spousal" update on my observations, FWIW.
If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me. Like I said, I just needed to get this OUT of me!
We cut husband's Trileptal dose in half about three weeks ago because 1) he was EXTREMELY tired all the time on it and 2) he was still having mild seizures. His neuro is going to change the medications next week.
But in the MEAN time... his obsessive behavior is back. His short temper is back. His attention and thoughts are all OVER the place. (The longer I live with him and the more I read, the more I'm convinced he's cyclothymic aka mild bipolar). He is still in a happier mood overall than when he's off Paxil, though. And he's still on Paxil.
In short, he is driving me NUTS and I just want to smack him. But I realize it's his illness (even if he doesn't realize it) doing this.
His GP did a Trileptal level check when he ordered bloodwork a few weeks ago. We sent a copy to the neuro and psychiatrist. psychiatrist called and said the medication wasn't even at therapeutic levels and he was taking 1200mg per day. All the more reason to stop it since it was also making him sleep 18+ hours a day.
But clearly, clearly, clearly he needs this kind of medication for mood stabilization.
He's going for a sleep study tonight -- we think he has apnea on top of all this. He's not supposed to nap today, and although he stayed home because he felt too tired to drive to work, he did fall asleep for about a 1/2 hour. I woke him and dragged him out to have lunch with my parents, with the ulterior motive of keeping him from sleeping all afternoon.
While out, we stopped to pick up printer ink. His attention was all over the place. I knew if we lingered in the store he'd have the basket filled with all kinds of useless stuff that we can't afford right now. As we left, he starts in about his usual obsession when he's like this (sex). I'm trying to ignore as much of his verbal ramblings as I can. He's trying to provoke me and getting more and more agitated. Within two miles of leaving the store, he exploded and lashed out at me over stuff that felt to me very out-of-the-blue (but knowing what I know now about manic behavior, his mind had probably made several hundred topic leaps and he was simply blurting out the most recent thing, even though that's not where any of our conversations had started). The rest of the ride home was silent. I was ticked and in no mood to talk to him. I'm looking forward to him being gone tonight at the sleep study!
Whew. Anyway, I'm realizing more and more that he's got a significant problem. I may call the psychiatrist tonight with a "spousal" update on my observations, FWIW.
If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me. Like I said, I just needed to get this OUT of me!