Seeing a new psychiatrist

[Californiablonde]

At my mother's urging I am seeing a new psychiatrist. He is my stepdad's psychiatrist. My stepdad is also bipolor all though he is far worse off than me, in my opinion. He's on permanent disabity for his illness. My mom swears up and down that this is the best psychiatrist he has ever had. So I am giving him a try. My bipolar has been pretty stable for the last year, but now it's my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) that has been giving me major problems. For the last couple of years I have been having recurring night time thoughts of sleepwalking and harming my children. I heard of a couple of stories on Dateline of people murdering family members in their sleep and I've been having night mares ever since. So I'm obsessing about harming my kids and I freak out every night before going to sleep. I know it sounds silly, because I love my children more than life itself and would never dream of hurting them while I'm awake. Still, it's a feeling I just can't shake. My old psychiatrist tried me out on every antidepressant in the book to no avail. At our last meeting he told me he has run out of his bag of tricks to help me stabilize. So maybe another psychiatrist will finally be able to help me. My appointment isn't until the 18th. I am counting down the days. My Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) has me miserable and I can't concentrate on anything. Wish me luck.

 

[DDD]

You've got my best wishes. Finding the "right" psychiatrist is really a challenge and I hope this change will benefit you. DDD

 

[Californiablonde]

I sure hope so DDD, cause I'm about ready to give UP. In my opinion my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is ten times worse than the bipolar and much harder to treat. It sucks, for lack of a better word, to be terrified of going to sleep each night for fear of harming my kids. All I want for them is to be safe, happy, and healthy.

 

[DammitJanet]

Do you ever see the ad's on these pages for "FDA cleared devices" ? I see them all the time and they say they treat things like depression, insomnia and pain. I have clicked on the ad and it is a device that looks something like a TENS unit and some insurance companies are reimbursing for them. I am not sure how much they are but Medicare/Medicaid isnt paying yet but they will give Medicare patients a 100 dollar rebate. I am thinking of saving up for one. You should look into it.

 

[HaoZi]

Good luck!

 

[Californiablonde]

Thanks I'll ask my psychiatrist about it. Right now I"m willing to try just about anything. I am thinking of going back on Xanax. So far it has been the only thing to relieve my anxiety. If I take it around six at night I think I will be all good to drive at 6:30 the next morning. I've been overly paranoid this last year about taking it so I haven't asked psychiatrist. NOw I think I'm willing to try it again. We'll see what happens. Right now I'm counting down the days till the 18th. I'm already paranoid about going to sleep tonight. It's all I can think of. Lately I've been waking myself up by talking in my sleep. I'm worried it will progress into sleepwalking. I can't help it. It's on my mind 24/7 now and I can't stop thinking about it. I just pray nothing bad happens between now and my appointment time.