medications & relapses??
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medications & relapses??
| Wed, 02-18-2004 - 4:19pm |
Hi. I am new to the board. I am the mom of a wonderful 16 yr old boy (man) who has been struggling with depression for at least the last 5 years. I recently, finally got him in to therapy and he is taking Celexa. This has only been for about 2 months. The medication seemed to work extremely well and that and his therapy session (about 1 per week) seemed to have him happy again. Even he agreed. Now he is spiraling downward in a relapse it seems. For about 3-4 days he has been extremely irritable and depressed. I talked to him about it and he tells me he is annoyed with having to tell everyone how he is all of the time and I just need to leave him alone and not worry about it. He and I are very close and he tells me the majority of things that are going on. I am very worried about this relapse. My mom is bi-polar and has been for all of my life. I have watched her cycle back and forth for so long. My question today is...are these relapses typical? Are there stages of this we will experience as we go through treatment? Should I call his therapist and doctor and let them know? Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thanx!
Trish

Welcome.
I am bipolar and I know that I go back and forth alot I can have a few weeks of normal mood then become depressed and then manic but not the happy energetic manic I am talking very agry annoyed frantic manic and then back to normal again.
I have been on meds for almost a year now and it helps to take the edge off but it doesnt make it all go away, I would encourage your son to let his therapist know that he has taken a step back and it is normal to do that we are all not out of the woods 100 percent there will be times when it is very hard to get out of bed for some I know they can get that way I am lucky and have never had a probelm functioning but I know some do have to deal with that and it sucks, tell yor son that you ask because you are his mom and you are just concerened I know that I get annoyed when people are always asking how I am feeling if I am okay..
I would encourage him to at least talk with his doctors.
erin
To answer your question - Yes! I found most days are better with an antidepressant and some just aren't. The longer I have been on the meds, the better the consistentcy in the mood.
But some days just aren't all great... On those days, I take a nap and then I go to the gym and get some exercise ASAP. The exercise helps balance my body with the meds and they seem to do their job better. I hope this makes sense. I discovered this through a lot of trial and error.
Exercise 3-4 times a week!
God Bless you family:)
Trish
If anyone knows of a more age/gender appropriate board for him please pass along!
Trish
Another thing that kind of disturbs me, is that your username....mom2crazykidz...if you are talking about depression, which is a mental illness, being 'crazy', I am a bit offended. I, being 13, hate when people tell me that I am crazy because I am depressed. No, I am not crazy.
Sorry if I falsly accused you. I know you could have meant that they are 'crazy' in the sense of hard to control, oppositional, defiant, moody, hyper...that is normal for teenagers!! MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! <= My evil laugh...MWHAHA.
Thanks for the advice. He was actually taking 10mg of Celexa to start and we recemtly increased to 20mg...possibly the increase in med may have something to do with it? I dont know, just a thought that his body could be "adjusting". He also told me last night that his part time job is really not working out and he feels much worse when having to deal with the man he works for so we have decided to give his notice and look for something a bit less stressful or at least with someone he gets along with.
trish