Need help! Depression and anxiety

Hi all! I have been following this discussion with interest. My wife was on a cocktail of medications during her entire 14 year journey with her brain cancer, which was accompanied by chronic pain, sky-high anxiety, and a multitude of other symptoms. Drugs came and went in that regimen, Dosages went up and down. Combinations were attempted, used, and often discarded. With each person and their metabolism being unique it's not always perfect, especially at first. Plus I learned it can take quite awhile for some drugs to achieve a therapeutic level in the blood stream. One of our sacrosanct rules was that we would never alter a dose of her medication without first talking with her doctors and nurses. Perhaps some of this was due to the complexity of her multiple drugs, perhaps some of it was due to her anxiety, but most definitely the vast majority was because we knew the doctors, as a team, were far more knowledgeable on her drugs, their interactions, etc. than we could ever hope to be. If we thought a dosage could be, or needed to be, adjusted we always asked first. Plus if we felt one of her docs was out of the loop or over their head, we queried all her other doctors and nurses for their opinions. We never, ever acted alone or as our own doctors. Plus we can study what we can about our drugs, but still, at least in my case, I know I am not an RN, NP, MD, or PharmD and I don't have access to the same volume of information they do.

Someone mentioned pain pumps and I have to say I do not believe there is one chance in a hundred million billion anyone will ever give out pain pumps for basic home use. I saw them in action in many hospital settings over the years and they needed constant monitoring, incessant maintenance, adjustments, and at times were prone to failures of a variety or types.

As to the new regulations regarding opioids, the abuse numbers of just prescription opioids is astounding, affecting every corner of America, and not always the areas where you might think. It is truly an epidemic in our country and has led far too many onto a life of desperation and loss. No matter who we view as at fault, it is out of control so there are many avenues being pursued to attempt to get a handle on this. And it is not just deaths, but the gigantic increases in ER visits for Rx overdoses, family traumas, costs to our society in general, etc.

Whether we might view it as right or wrong, actions are being taken at points in the stream where chokeholds and reviews can be applied. Yes, they are a PITA at times. I know it was a real hassle when it changed so I could only get my wife's opioid Rx's when she was down to one day's dose, but I understood why. That was actually one of the nicest benefits of home hospice that her Rx's were delivered to us. Also Fentanyl is do dang powerful it is highly sought after for a lot of wrong reasons. Even when my wife was in home hospice I had to carefully account for each patch, pill, and dose and how I disposed of the used patches, oral syringes, etc. was dictated and very specific. There have been cases in our county of people sorting through hospital trash to find used Fentanyl patches to be licked! I was also instructed to be sure to remove every single piece of identifying information before I discarded any pill bottle, pharmacy bag, or bag tag into the garbage stream.

It is a different world out there now and Dr. Welby left the building a long time ago. Yes, much of this affects those of us dealing with chronic pain, but it unfortunately is our new reality.

Just my two cents plain.

Hi to all of you .... I just caught up with this thread and this disease sounds awful. To have no end in sight would be very discouraging, I would think.
I do plead ignorance, though. Could one of you please tell me .... in "people" terms (not doc.'s terms) just exactly what it is, how it manifests itself, how you got it, is it hereditary, etc.? I feel so sorry for you folks with this, but I would like to know more, right from your own minds and hearts.
Bless you,
Abby

Hi to all of you .... I just caught up with this thread and this disease sounds awful. To have no end in sight would be very discouraging, I would think.
I do plead ignorance, though. Could one of you please tell me .... in "people" terms (not doc.'s terms) just exactly what it is, how it manifests itself, how you got it, is it hereditary, etc.? I feel so sorry for you folks with this, but I would like to know more, right from your own minds and hearts.
Bless you,
Abby

Yes please keep in touch with your doctor ,I finally found A great counsler and a great physic doctor and also got myself a social worker also. I still have problems in the am with my bad panic attacks this last doctor took me off my 2nd pill i have been on for 14 years. I don"t get it they worked i was not a space cadet i wasn"t numb new everything i was doing.Now i"am asking my new doctor to see the difference in me if i take 2 mgs in the morning of my meds or at least let me take 1/ 1/2 in the morning. I keep in touch all the time about my meds. sometimes i drive them crazy because i"m s freaked out about my panic attacks. it"s like wow they last 6 hpurs 4 hours sometimes all day . and i need to go back to my 4 times a day I"am not going back to having these out of control attacks when this med was helping me control them.So please keep in touch with your doctor all the time please. Good things coming your way. We will get thru this together. kellie

Hi all! I have been following this discussion with interest. My wife was on a cocktail of medications during her entire 14 year journey with her brain cancer, which was accompanied by chronic pain, sky-high anxiety, and a multitude of other symptoms. Drugs came and went in that regimen, Dosages went up and down. Combinations were attempted, used, and often discarded. With each person and their metabolism being unique it's not always perfect, especially at first. Plus I learned it can take quite awhile for some drugs to achieve a therapeutic level in the blood stream. One of our sacrosanct rules was that we would never alter a dose of her medication without first talking with her doctors and nurses. Perhaps some of this was due to the complexity of her multiple drugs, perhaps some of it was due to her anxiety, but most definitely the vast majority was because we knew the doctors, as a team, were far more knowledgeable on her drugs, their interactions, etc. than we could ever hope to be. If we thought a dosage could be, or needed to be, adjusted we always asked first. Plus if we felt one of her docs was out of the loop or over their head, we queried all her other doctors and nurses for their opinions. We never, ever acted alone or as our own doctors. Plus we can study what we can about our drugs, but still, at least in my case, I know I am not an RN, NP, MD, or PharmD and I don't have access to the same volume of information they do.

Someone mentioned pain pumps and I have to say I do not believe there is one chance in a hundred million billion anyone will ever give out pain pumps for basic home use. I saw them in action in many hospital settings over the years and they needed constant monitoring, incessant maintenance, adjustments, and at times were prone to failures of a variety or types.

As to the new regulations regarding opioids, the abuse numbers of just prescription opioids is astounding, affecting every corner of America, and not always the areas where you might think. It is truly an epidemic in our country and has led far too many onto a life of desperation and loss. No matter who we view as at fault, it is out of control so there are many avenues being pursued to attempt to get a handle on this. And it is not just deaths, but the gigantic increases in ER visits for Rx overdoses, family traumas, costs to our society in general, etc.

Whether we might view it as right or wrong, actions are being taken at points in the stream where chokeholds and reviews can be applied. Yes, they are a PITA at times. I know it was a real hassle when it changed so I could only get my wife's opioid Rx's when she was down to one day's dose, but I understood why. That was actually one of the nicest benefits of home hospice that her Rx's were delivered to us. Also Fentanyl is do dang powerful it is highly sought after for a lot of wrong reasons. Even when my wife was in home hospice I had to carefully account for each patch, pill, and dose and how I disposed of the used patches, oral syringes, etc. was dictated and very specific. There have been cases in our county of people sorting through hospital trash to find used Fentanyl patches to be licked! I was also instructed to be sure to remove every single piece of identifying information before I discarded any pill bottle, pharmacy bag, or bag tag into the garbage stream.

It is a different world out there now and Dr. Welby left the building a long time ago. Yes, much of this affects those of us dealing with chronic pain, but it unfortunately is our new reality.

Just my two cents plain.

@thinktherapy - So glad to hear that eating well has greatly improved your mental health. Our physical and mental well-being are so intrinsically intertwined. Similar benefits can be seen for exercise, as many members have stated on this discussion thread:

- Depression and anxiety: Exercise eases symptoms http://mayocl.in/2dcJB7p

But one can't forget that mental health is anything but simple. While diet and exercise can help reduce symptoms, some people benefit from additional therapy and treatments, as the discussions here on Connect demonstrate. Thank goodness we have a community of people willing to share and support one another because, honestly, reducing the stigma that often comes with mental health is really important.

Hang in there. I don't know what your pain level has been but I take a similar amount of a morphine equivalent. I think your comment about weaning off 90mg but then going back on because of the pain is an enlightenment for me. I do have to wean down per doctors instructions to adhere to guidelines, but I don't have to wean all of it. I really want to, but I don't want to get myself it trouble. My husband continues to tell me to take it slow. Let us know how it works out.

Hang in there. I don't know what your pain level has been but I take a similar amount of a morphine equivalent. I think your comment about weaning off 90mg but then going back on because of the pain is an enlightenment for me. I do have to wean down per doctors instructions to adhere to guidelines, but I don't have to wean all of it. I really want to, but I don't want to get myself it trouble. My husband continues to tell me to take it slow. Let us know how it works out.