01-31-2018, 04:28 AM
Fury,
My heart hurts for you and your girlfriend.. It sounds like a very difficult time for you both and also something that will probably not deminishfor quite some time. I can't fathom the pain losing a child must cause, but I ca understand how that amount of sadness and pain could make suicide feel like a way to escape it. Was she ever offered any find of help upon leaving the hospital? I ask because awhile back, I once too found myself so hopelessly depressed (in a much different way), but I attempted suicide to try to escape it all. Once I was found and brought to the ER, I was held for several days, but before being released, there were several resources that came in to visit me and offer different ways to help me better deal with how I felt. I did attempt to enter an in-patient type environment for people with chronic depression, traumatic experiences, PTSD, bipolar disorder, etc. I personally did not get much from it, but it did help many people that are mentally struggling (they also have doctors/ psychologists/ psychiatrist there to work with you personally to find what medications and types of therapy that may benefit for you personally. I did however get referred to a wonderful psychiatrist and psychologist that I have seen for many years now helping me with all my ups and downs dealing with my chonic depression, bipolar type II, severe anxiety, etc. I truly believe connect to the right resource that genuinely just want to help you grieve with your problems and understand what does/ does not work for you. It is fantastic she is seeing botha psychiatrist and psychologist! It is funny that not may people know the difference, but they are insanely helpful in different ways. If it is possible and she hasn't already, it may be beneficial to interconnect her providers or find a pair that can help work with her more effectively as a team to be on her side. Perhaps working them the two forms of therapy together may reassure her that giving a benzo could be other a shot. It is completely reasonable for her to have this fear after her sons death and the benzo type drugs being involved; but that doesn't mean it is something to rule out. If she is worried about "supporting the producers" of this drug category, that is very reasonable and it is absolutely reasonable to want to blame this situation on big-pharma and unneeded prescriptions leading to addiction and overdose. However, in the world we live in and the current stigma around these types of drugs under plays/ never mentions how MILLIONS (if not more) benefit from these medicines immensely and sometimes in a life changing way. And honestly at this point, it seems like she has reached a turning point to try to pick up some pieces slowly and try to live day to day. Working as a nursing, it is not uncommon for people such as baby boomers, gen x , and some millenials strear away from benzos for these same fears of addiction or possible having an overdose, etc. I will say that it is near impossible to become addicted to a medication that is taken as directly prescribed and the exact dosage time, and at anytime something does neat feel "normal" call the provider. Simply take the med at the right time, right dose, and make sure your HCP or nurse gives you all the information to be aware of. If I was her, I would bring this fear up to her psychologist first to find our her exact feelings and fears towards it. Then if she is comfortable, reac and and talk to the psychiatrist about maybe starting a low trail dose for about 2 weeks (when a new med usually has the full effect you should be exhibiting.
Oh, and lastly, that is wonderful she has taken the plunge to take antabuse! Sooo many people do not go this route to help with alcoholism, because it makes drinking painful and completely unbearablen (and you need to be able to keep yourself accountable every morning to take the pill). I suffered as severe alcoholic for years (definitely did not help the depression), and absolutely caused such a toll on my life and made everything worse. Antabuse was a really big turning point for me. I finally decided I couldn't take the mounting depression, anxiety, and my bipolar becoming out of control. It was a struggle at first, but soon taking it just fell into my normal routine and I truly believe not drinking alcohol is what changed my life and gave me more of a sense of freedom/ capable of managing my own mental health (but not without my good old psychiatrist and psychologist
.)
I truly hope she is able to have the antabuse help her take step one in learning how to grieve in a healthy way
Anyhow, I am glad to hear things are going in the right direction for you. Please keep us updated.
Sending prayers your way!!
My heart hurts for you and your girlfriend.. It sounds like a very difficult time for you both and also something that will probably not deminishfor quite some time. I can't fathom the pain losing a child must cause, but I ca understand how that amount of sadness and pain could make suicide feel like a way to escape it. Was she ever offered any find of help upon leaving the hospital? I ask because awhile back, I once too found myself so hopelessly depressed (in a much different way), but I attempted suicide to try to escape it all. Once I was found and brought to the ER, I was held for several days, but before being released, there were several resources that came in to visit me and offer different ways to help me better deal with how I felt. I did attempt to enter an in-patient type environment for people with chronic depression, traumatic experiences, PTSD, bipolar disorder, etc. I personally did not get much from it, but it did help many people that are mentally struggling (they also have doctors/ psychologists/ psychiatrist there to work with you personally to find what medications and types of therapy that may benefit for you personally. I did however get referred to a wonderful psychiatrist and psychologist that I have seen for many years now helping me with all my ups and downs dealing with my chonic depression, bipolar type II, severe anxiety, etc. I truly believe connect to the right resource that genuinely just want to help you grieve with your problems and understand what does/ does not work for you. It is fantastic she is seeing botha psychiatrist and psychologist! It is funny that not may people know the difference, but they are insanely helpful in different ways. If it is possible and she hasn't already, it may be beneficial to interconnect her providers or find a pair that can help work with her more effectively as a team to be on her side. Perhaps working them the two forms of therapy together may reassure her that giving a benzo could be other a shot. It is completely reasonable for her to have this fear after her sons death and the benzo type drugs being involved; but that doesn't mean it is something to rule out. If she is worried about "supporting the producers" of this drug category, that is very reasonable and it is absolutely reasonable to want to blame this situation on big-pharma and unneeded prescriptions leading to addiction and overdose. However, in the world we live in and the current stigma around these types of drugs under plays/ never mentions how MILLIONS (if not more) benefit from these medicines immensely and sometimes in a life changing way. And honestly at this point, it seems like she has reached a turning point to try to pick up some pieces slowly and try to live day to day. Working as a nursing, it is not uncommon for people such as baby boomers, gen x , and some millenials strear away from benzos for these same fears of addiction or possible having an overdose, etc. I will say that it is near impossible to become addicted to a medication that is taken as directly prescribed and the exact dosage time, and at anytime something does neat feel "normal" call the provider. Simply take the med at the right time, right dose, and make sure your HCP or nurse gives you all the information to be aware of. If I was her, I would bring this fear up to her psychologist first to find our her exact feelings and fears towards it. Then if she is comfortable, reac and and talk to the psychiatrist about maybe starting a low trail dose for about 2 weeks (when a new med usually has the full effect you should be exhibiting.
Oh, and lastly, that is wonderful she has taken the plunge to take antabuse! Sooo many people do not go this route to help with alcoholism, because it makes drinking painful and completely unbearablen (and you need to be able to keep yourself accountable every morning to take the pill). I suffered as severe alcoholic for years (definitely did not help the depression), and absolutely caused such a toll on my life and made everything worse. Antabuse was a really big turning point for me. I finally decided I couldn't take the mounting depression, anxiety, and my bipolar becoming out of control. It was a struggle at first, but soon taking it just fell into my normal routine and I truly believe not drinking alcohol is what changed my life and gave me more of a sense of freedom/ capable of managing my own mental health (but not without my good old psychiatrist and psychologist
.)I truly hope she is able to have the antabuse help her take step one in learning how to grieve in a healthy way
Anyhow, I am glad to hear things are going in the right direction for you. Please keep us updated.
Sending prayers your way!!
"You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” - Dr. MLK Jr.