Meds & Recent Hospitalisation 2020

 

If you aren't familiar with schizoaffective disorder or what it means for a person to live with it, I addressed most of that stuff in my first 3-4 years worth of posting on this blog (2010-13).  Most of my posts are there.

More recently I've undergone a medication makeover : my new psychiatrist wanted me to come off Lithium (which I've been on since 2008), so I followed his instructions and weaned off it from May 2020 - to June 2020.  I ended up manic then psychotic and had a 4 week stay in a public psych ward as an involuntary.  Turns out I need to be on Lithium, despite the damaging side effects it has on my thyroid and kidneys.

My old medication chart was :

- Epilim (mood stabiliser) 1000mg;

- Lithium (mood stabiliser) 875mg;

- Clonazapam (anti-anxiety) 1mg;

- Edronax (antidepressant) 16mg;

- Deralin (blood pressure) 40mg;

- Alodorm (sleeping pill) 5mg;

- Seroquel (anxiety) 225mg;

- Eutrosiq (Hashimoto's) 150mcg;

- Metformin (Diabetes 2) 1000mg.

7 Psych meds!!

The psych meds were changed during the 4 weeks in hospital over June/July 2020 to;

- Epilim 1000mg;

- Lithium 500mg;

- Amisulphride (antipsychotic) 500mg;

- Seroquel 150mg.

Quite a reduction!!

I experienced voices in hospital for the first time in a concentrated manner : I wasn't aware they were happening until I "got well" so to speak.  Overnight after 3 weeks they stopped, only to reappear one afternoon when I was ragged and tired and in need of a seroquel PRN (as needed).  

I "heard" the real voices of people in the dining room but they were saying scathing, derogatory things about me, eg : one of the kitchen staff was hissing (about me) "she's a princess, this one, she thinks the world falls at her feet!".  Various negative loud cacophony of voices all saying nasty things about me and making me feel unsafe; I had my bags packed one night and was adamant that I needed to leave because my life was in mortal danger (due to the scathing criticism of what the voices were apparently saying).  It was horrible.  

I was lucky to only have to experience it for a few weeks; I can't imagine others with more pervasive psychotic illness who endure such voices all their waking hours, or at least for much of it.  It renders you helpless and totally skews your idea of reality.  I think it would take a trained eye to pick up that it's happening; someone would need to ask the sufferer a carefully thought out set of questions.  I'm just glad the Amisulphride took hold with the help of Seroquel.  

A side effect of the amisulphride is that my appetite is less along with having restless legs; this resulted in me dancing (sometimes literally) around the hospital ward and doing laps of the outdoor courtyard.  The net result was my wasted leg muscles from the Hashimoto's disease became strengthened and I regained some long lost stamina and co-ordination.  I ended up losing 7kg in 4 weeks, which was also due to the strict no-sugar diabetic hospital diet.  I've kept up the no sugar diet since being discharged (mostly) and have kept the weight off without doing much exercise. 

Overall being hospitalised turned out to be a positive experience for me in terms of having a meds shakeup (got off the addictive meds like clonazapam & alodorm) and diet improved as well as getting me physically moving.  It's like having a factory reset.  My mood is still great because, let's face it, I went into mania (me and a guy in hospital, this guy Aaron, we used to crack up laughing all the time over nothing).  The mania led to psychosis (as it always does with me if I reach a certain level of mania); my new doctor wasn't to know that being without Lithium would lead to such mania.  I've only experienced being on too much antidepressant as being a reason why I go manic/psychotic, so it was new to me too.

Whooshka!! There went a few years!!!! 2017-2020 Summary;

 Ok, so it's been a few YEARS since I posted.  Let me explain;

        - I contracted Hashimoto's disease in 2017/18 (autoimmune disease affecting thyroid);

        - Being on Lithium is mostly what made my Thyroid malfunction;

        - This affected my movement (loss of strength in legs/muscle strength);

        - It affected my mood (depression on top of depression);

        - I stopped the few going out things I was doing (eg : AA) and isolated more;

        - My doctor changed my meds because I was getting anxious (put me on Seroquel);

        - During a hospital admission I Stopped Smoking (May 2018) and commenced Vaping w/Nic

            (NB: I Have been Smoke Free since May 2018....Vaping is amazing; truly the way out of the 

            Tobacco Prison...I couldn't recommend it highly enough; after 30 years of tobacco; no more                         cough);

        - With saved smoking money and increased Seroquel appetite I overdid Uber Eats 2019;

        - Nov 2019 was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes (admitted to hospital w/blood sugar of 19.6);

Meanwhile during all this, my old PDRSS support worker got me onto the NDIS; I applied in early 2018 and was accepted.  It took quite a bit of paperwork.

The first year of NDIS was frustrating because I was agency-managed, the key element being all service providers had to be NDIS approved, and there weren't enough businesses in my area that had been accredited to get me what I needed.

The second year (2019/2020) I changed support co-ordination and was plan managed which was a lot better, and I started to get services I needed.

Now in my third year (2020-) I am getting the hang of it and things are going great so far; within the limitations of lockdown.  It has helped to have an ethical and highly skilled Support Co-ordinator to help me get the supports that I need, for instance now I have a psychosocial OT who helps me quantify my living goals and habits so that I can see how and by how much I can improve.  I also have an exercise physiologist who is like a degree-qualified personal trainer/dietitian/psychologist : whatever, he is the bomb.  I see him twice a week and he puts me through my paces (exercises while we talk).  Additionally I get a housecleaner and gardener and home delivered meals.

You may wonder why I qualify for such help : when you have (1) significant mood swings, (2) a track record of really bad self-care, (3) significant side effects from medication (eg: Hashimoto's & Diabetes) and (4) nobody in terms of friends or family who can offer practical help and (5) an illness which is permanent, although it fluctuates in severity and symptoms; it precludes me from regular work, socialising and a lifestyle which most people can navigate independently - All these things and more - it's a much better way of giving someone like me a leg up and hopefully developing long-lost habits and behaviors which will improve my quality of life.

It helps me feel like life is worth living again.