Any suggestions please?

[Surrender]

Hi - Wondering if anyone has tried Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)?  It sounds very interesting and i like that it is very structured.

Have been depressed anxious for a very long time. Probably more anxious than depressed. I was put on meds a long time ago then they stopped working and tried different types of medications- for another 5 years.   I also experienced sleep paralysis at a very stressful time- this terrified me. I have been seeing a therapist and this has been very helpful. I am not functioning with daily life very well and at my age there are people that depend and expect from me and all this is very overwhelming at the moment.

I have seen a number of doctors and a number of psychiatrists and they are all telling me i have severe anxiety. They have all handed me prescriptions for AD. I am too scared to take them...however i have been self medicating with OC medication to get some sleep.   I stopped working due to mental state. Prior to this i managed to hold down jobs for decades. I am living with Anger/Terror/Crying/Out of body feelings and a feeling that i am going to explode into psychosis even though i never have had psychosis. Can anyone relate please?   My psychologist that i see often has been helpful in that she gets me to see things logically and is teaching me acceptance and meditation.  This all helps when i am with her but i find it hard to do this in daily life when things start spinning out of control. One thing is for sure....I will keep doing all possible to get back to a functioning life. Thank you for letting me write this.

[Zan]

Hi "Surrender" ---DBT was also recommended as a treatment option by my psych. but when I fully explained what I had been doing to treat myself he said I was doing pretty much the same thing that I would have been doing if I underwent DBT.

If you haven't already, Google search "Dialectical behavior therapy". There are two easy to read and understand sites: 

psychcentral.com/lib/an-overview...dialectical-behavior-therapy  ---

--- and wikipedia.

And if you get something similar to what I have been doing on my own, YES it works.

One other point .... if you have already trialled various anti-psychotics and find that they either don't work or make you "feel" worse (or a complete zombie), ask your doctor if it might be because you are Bipolar. All the anti-psychotics in the world have no efficacy at all on Bipolar.

Hope I was some help.

[Surrender]

Hi Zan

Thank you so much for taking the time to write.  I am looking forward to looking up the sites you suggested.

I will mention this type of therapy to my psychologist this week.  I am currently undergoing ACT therapy with her - the basis being mindful meditation.  ACT is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy - i really like it as i have tried heaps of therapy that never suited.  I have noticed over the years that what has pulled me out of crisis is meditation and yoga (eventually).  Finding it hard to get unstuck this time around.

Zan about a decade ago i was diagnozed with Bipolar 2.  I was compliant with meds for about 3 years which also included a monthly blood test (to do with the meds and my liver). I ate and slept heaps. 

My boss/family and friends were shocked and missed the old me (Im a bit of an extrevert) and talked me into getting 2nd and 3rd opinions from psychiatrists who had special interest in this illness.  I was very lucky that a friend works in the Health industry and was able to get a couple of good phychiatrists names that my Dr referred me to.  I saw one for three months and then another for the next three months.  I was open and honest cuz i wanted to get treatment.

Was diagnozed with severe anxiety,  taken of the meds and put back on AD and an anti anxiety med.  Fast forward to middle of last year and i came of all my meds for various reasons.  I was also taking an antiphychotic for sleeping.  Here is my dilema - can antyphychotics make me phychotic - Drs and therapists are saying no. I have an unfounded fear of loosing it.  Just can't figure out why i am feeling so weird sometimes.  I took an antiphychotic one last night and have woken up feeling so much better today.

Thanks so much Zan.

[Zan]

"Surrender" -- It's so good to hear that you've been 100% honest and open with your treating physicians and psychiatrists simply because you've decided that you want to get the most benefit possible that their experience and training offers.

As for your question: "can anti-psychotics make me psychotic" I suggest that you really read the inserted sheet of paper that should have come in the packet of the medication you are taking. (You will probably need a magnifying glass because the list of possible side effects is extremely long and in very small type). Some of the POTENTIAL side effects of anti-psychotic medication include: Increased suicidal thoughts, hostility/anger, changes in sleep patterns, incontinence, erectile dysfunction, sleep walking, changes in blood pressure, death ...and all anti-psychotic medication comes with the clear warning "DO NOT DRIVE" "DO NOT OPERATE MACHINERY" "MAY CAUSE DROWSINESS" ... so just be careful that if you are employed that you are not placing yourself or your entire workplace in breach of the Workplace Health & Safety Laws. (Something the McClure Report on Welfare Reform completely overlooks in its recommendations to government to force people with disabilities (and mental disabilities) from a Sickness Benefit or Disability Support Pension and rejoin the workforce - with "work" to be deemed at only 8 hours a week. (Another interesting and worrying topic to research).

[Surrender]

Hi Zan - thanks for this information.

I had a read on the screen cuz i couldn't see the writing on the leaflet.  mmmm yes just lovely.

I am angry very angry.  Anti-psychotics prescribed to me for insomnia.  I have read information even from the pharma co. and it seems they are given out for insomnia and anxiety "off the label".  The original pharma company has been sued successfully for heavy marketing as an off the label med.  Also read an article from the ABC on how these meds are being handed out like lollies and especially over the last few years.  Also read a 20 year research article on these that wasn't great.

I know how i feel and its not great but i am going to just live with it.  I can't seem to work out if i feel this terrible because of long term medication use or because i need medication.  I know what medical professionals will tell me. I was originally put on meds for insomnia as a very young teenager. Pshychiatrists really scare me now...as well as psychologists who after a few sessions suggest meds.  Thankfully my psychologist has persisted with me and i am working very hard on acceptance and meditation.

Yeah disability is a disgrace - needed to be medicated with different meds and stabalized....????? and illness won't change for two years???? i should have just lived on the street.  Yep i wonder if the government has any idea about being on some type of meds and sending people to interviews and being able to work safely in a working environment.

Zan you sound positive i wish you the very best and i look forward to reading your posts on the forum.

[ilovetoread73_]

Dear Surrender,

Just wanted to reply to give you some words of support.  I have a 2 sleep disorders, one RLS, which is kind of the garden variety but the other is disturbed REM and insomnia.  I often don't want to go to sleep because of the dreams I get.  I felt the frustration you felt before I was diagnosed.  No-one would listen and I felt very trapped and lonely.  The brain is a very complicated part of our building that in essence I feel controls every part of our body with effects of stress and all of the problems that go with it.  I've just been diagnosed with PTSD after seeing my Sleep Specialist for 4 years or so.  I've been on meds since the diagnosis and it made a huge difference to my life.  I no longer felt like Alice down the rabbit hole.  Trapped and lost and then the real me found a way out.  However it may not be the answer for you.  Some meds can give side effects that are not wanted, they are come with their own set of side effects which come in those minute pieces of paper.  I am sorry that you were put on medication at a young age.  However don't give up.  I understand about acceptance - the good and the bad of it.  Medication is never ideal I know, it's not our life that we wanted.  Yes it's that acceptance thing again.  If you accept are you admitting you need it?  I think try to weight up how you can be as functioning as you can and well as you can.  It's great to try any relaxing techniques - meditation.  Even the most mundane works for me.  I play some brain games - such as word making games on the computer.  I have a Apple Mac and play jigsaw puzzles on it.  Which takes my mind off when I'm am rather angry or unable to get the anxiety down.  I also found recently on some popular book websites Adult colouring in books.  I know it may sound silly but these books are for mindfulness as they call it.   I call it having fun with your inner child.  I love fashion so I found one that is fashion.  In reality it is having a drawing done and you helping with it.  Not so young then if you feel a bit strange about.  I'm just starting treatment for PTSD next week so I'm feeling a little lost but I'm going to keep trying.  Anything is better than giving up.

[Surrender]

Hi ilovetoread73!

I was so excited to read your response when i checked in here.  I am so sorry about the sleep problems you have.  Also am very grateful that you shared this information here because you are the first person i have come across that has mentioned disturbed "REM" as i know exactly what you mean.  I have issues with waking up whilst in REM meaning i get that awful sleep paralysis...do you get this?  To me its the most terrifying experience - i eperience the whole terrifying hallucination thing but it doesn't last long.  So i am terrified to go to sleep.

My psychiatrist gave it a name and she said its not a mental health thing rather a sleep disorder which is more common than i think.  She also said that stress and anxiety makes it worse so its a chicken and egg thing.

I am really happy to say that after seeing a clinical psychologist for over 7 months we have decided I go back on AD (about 2 and a half weeks ago) - i am already feeling better.

You mentioned you are starting treatment for PTSD - would love to find out how you are going with this.

I really appreciate your advice and will try some of your suggestions.

Love to you

[xyadts]

Hi Surrender, I also suffered many sleep paralysis events, but I have now  come  to view them differently.  They are, indeed, terrifying and so real, But to me they are a message from my brain.  The brain is all about messaging, such as telling us when we are thirsty, need to go to the loo, when it's time to eat.  If you are low in Iron, the symptoms will include fatigue and tiredness, so the brain is always monitoring the messages it is getting from us. I realised that the brain was using sleep paralysis as a way to help me to come aware that I was blocking out some powerful fears. 

I began to look inside me to find what fears were ruling my life.  I was able to identify three.  The fear of failure, the fear of rejection and social fear.  I then set out to challenge those fears, and undertook tasks that were most likely to bring out those fears.. For example, to challenge the fear of failure, I began a masters in Pharmacology at Sydney University.  I was in a class of 20 - 30 year old intelligent people, and I was 64 years old, so the risk was enormous.  I passed easily, and surprised my peers and myself.  I found out many things about myself during that venture, most of them positive..  It turned out to be the most rewarding thing I have ever done.. I faced the other fears with similar ventures and triumphed.  I now engage in ten-pin bowling with a senior group and have even become friendly.

Let me just give a little information re sleep paralysis.. I was watching a program on T.V.  which was detailing the occurrence of sleep paralysis in different cultures.  Every culture they interviewed gave examples of SP (sleep paralysis), with a number of them detailing dreams very similar to mine.  I realised that this might be genetic, and has been passed down through the ages as a defensive mechanism of the brain..

Thinking about this, I wondered if, in the times before man controlled fire, when sitting out on the open veldt, on a moonless night, they would be aware of giant predators .  Any rustling sound in the grass would have triggered fear, and the brain would have caused them to freeze.

So the way I view SP, is that the paralysis is a response to a fear, and the dream gives a clue as to what fears may be being blocked.  So SP may be a way that our brain uses to let us know it's time to get off our bum, and take control of our lives.

I hope that this information is helpful to you, in some way

      Regards  Xyadts ( pronounced Chats)