Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

Your feedback is essential to the psychiatrist.  In the beginning patients want to be “fixed.”  They want the medication the doctor prescribes to solve everything.  You have to take an active role in your treatment.

Question everything the physician does, every medication you are put on.  After all, it is your body you are putting the medication in.  Learn what to expect, with every medication adjustment.

Learn what a therapeutic level is.  How long it takes to get there, what changes to expect.  Learn the side effects of each medication you are on, whether you can live with them.

Learn, also, what changes will occur in you body and mind, when to determine whether the medication is, truly, helping you.

You are not a passive participant.  The doctor can not prescribe medications properly without your accurate feedback.

Know the time frame of each medication, how long you have to wait before it works properly, if at all.

The medication is only an aid.  You still have to help yourself.  The medication does not work properly if you do not take care of yourself:  that means eating correctly and sleeping enough regularly.

You have to know if the doctor is listening to you.  Don’t be afraid to change doctors if they are not.  I have fired a few in my time.  This is harder to do if you are going to a mental health center but it can be done.

Learn everything you can about every medication before you take it so you know what to expect.  Your feedback is essential to the doctor.  He can not do his job properly without it.

Tags: eating correctly, help yourself, medication, mental health center, mental illness, patient feedback, patients want to be "fixed", physician, psychiatrist, question your doctor, side effects, sleep, therapeutic level
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I keep a close eye on my sleep patterns.  If I am sleeping regularly nine or ten hours and all of a sudden my sleep falls to seven hours a night my alarm is set off and I view my other behavior.  I do enlist the help of my wife when I do this (and this can be hard to do).  And sometimes my wife initiates this review.

Am I losing my temper more frequently?  Have I become agitated (like I am crawling out of my skin)?  What kind of music am I listening to?  Is it music to rev myself up?  How am I feeling when I listen to this music?  Am I becoming more euphoric?  Has there been a surge in self-confidence?  Am I talking more?

There are other signs.  One particular one I can’t ignore:  Am I becoming more anxious in public–maybe even a little paranoid?  All this self examination is set off by a change of sleep patterns. That is one sign I can’t ignore.

All this was taught to me by my doctor decades ago.  I have some control.  I will not go out of control. One of my meds will need to be increased and then some of these symptoms will subside.  I will start sleeping better in a few days.

When I realize I am undergoing another episode I call my med nurse who consults my doctor and they discuss what to do and the nurse gets back to me.  I am lucky:  the community mental health center I go to is very well run and I can rely on them.

I have gone through these episodes dozens of times.  I know now what to expect. I do not change my life abruptly when I am in this cycle although I recognize I might sleep a little less. I might make some adjustment like not going out in public as much if it is too difficult until this cycle ends. (They usually last four or five months.)

I know when this period is ended:  My sleep patterns become more normal. I will start sleeping more every night regularly.  And at that point I can go back to my normal dosage of the med I increased. My episode is done.

Tags: agitated, anxious in public, have some control, know what to expect, losing my temper, manic episode, med nurse, meds, mental health, mental health center, music, my doctor, my sleep patterns, my wife, paranoid, self examination, self-confidence, sleep less, sleeping better, talking more
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