Going to the ER Soon

[resaebiunne]

Just wanted to let you know I've decided to go to the ER. This depression is just too much. I've now missed nearly a week of work with no desire to return. Fun facts: I haven't showered in nearly 2 or 3 weeks and I haven't brushed my teeth in probably 3 months. :clap: Basically all I've done for the past several days is sit in front of my computer and watch youtube videos, post on CWE or read Google/whatever, and SLEEP. Sleep is bolded because I've probably slept 15 hours a days everyday for the past several days and still felt tired.

Anyway, the decision to go to the ER was inspired by the need to call up work and make formal arrangements for time off of work. I can't keep taking "one off" days off sick, much as I'd like to given that they are paid leave. My short term disability leave officially begins tomorrow and I have something like 25 days for it to be signed off. Which means I need someone to get it signed off... My psychiatrist has an office policy that they don't sign on these sorts of things... what good is that? What I need to know is who can sign off the form for the time off, why should this be so complicated? I'm also kind of curious to know if there's any benefit to keeping my psych appointment (which is now on Monday) and just replacing it with the ER stay to fix my meds. I'd be willing to stay in the hospital for a few days to get my meds realigned.

Thing is, I don't know if I need the paperwork before I go to the ER or if they can sign it off afterward. I'd really like to get the to ER soon rather than waiting for the papers.

 

[Porkette]

Hi resaebiunne,

On and off for yrs. I felt depressed and then I found out a lot of the depression has to do with epilepsy itself and sometimes the meds. I found the best thing to do is to keep myself busy instead of just sitting around and having time on my hands to think about the way I felt.
My advice to you is to have your neuro set up an appt. with a neurophyschologist for you they can see what's going on much better and they can tell if it's related to your epilepsy or if something is going on in the brain that's causing this feeling.
Try and keep yourself busy, think about the good things in life and remember there's others out there in the world that have things a lot harder in life than we do.
Good luck in the ER. I wish you only the best and May God Bless You!

Sue

 

[Nakamova]

Good for you for recognizing that you needed to take steps. I hope you find what you need via the ER. And come home with a solid plan for treating your depression and any other medical issues.

 

[resaebiunne]

Plans are no good, I can't follow plans. I suppose I can follow plans from a doctor just fine. But there's honestly nothing I can do to help myself I feel like. I'm struggling just to keep myself living here. Keeping busy has nothing to do with it. I suppose that could be part of the problem, but there's no shortage of stuff to do and I just have no motivation to do anything. I'm burned out, and I have been for a damn long time now. I just want to be left alone in peace to sleep all day. The screwy thing is my sleep schedule is inverted so I get all these damn phone calls from my bosses during the day when I'm sleeping so I can't call back during business hours... grrrrrrrrrrr.

I'm so annoyed and frustrated and apathetic and tired and drained.

 

[Porkette]

Hi resaebiunne,

I was reading a article yesterday where a lot of how we feel has to do with what we eat you may want to start eating nuts and foods high in serotonin this helps a person so they don't feel depressed, tired and less stressed. What a person eats in turn affects the body chemistry and that in turn can make us happy or sad and can either trigger seizures or decrease seizures. Go on line and check out foods high in serotonin and start eating them and see if you feel better. I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You!

Sue

 

[resaebiunne]

Food doesn't contain serotonin, the nerve cells in your brain produce it.

Anyway, turns out I was baker acted involuntarily for 5 days and spent time in the psychiatric ward at the hospital. I had my meds changed up. I'm feeling better but I'm not sure how much better because the hospital had me so far out of my element it was so hard to tell. Plus, they put you on all these meds so fast and it seems like they expect instant results which is kind of weird. It was near impossible to sleep in the ER and the hospital because of all the noise. There was literally nothing to do. They take all your stuff away... your phone, your wallet, even your medic alert id. Anything you might use to hurt yourself. They even cut the cord out of my athletic shorts. All I had for clothes was a t-shirt and those same pair of athletic shorts. Boy was I filthy after those 5 days.

Those were some of the longest most awful nights in the hospital ever. Being forced to lie in bed awake all night because I slept all day with nothing to do, not being able to sleep because the hospital staff were laughing loudly all night long, and being checked on every 30 minutes (even during the day!) to make sure I was in bed.

Other than that though, things were okay. I'm feeling a bit better but I need my meds and I can tell. Didn't get my prescription after getting home yesterday because after I got home I crashed from exhaustion. So I went today and (figures) they had to special order it. So I'm hoping things don't get too bad before I go back on the meds.

 

[Nakamova]

It's amazing how often a patient's sleep is interrupted when they are in a hospital. It would be great if they could figure out to keep a person safe without waking them up constantly! Good quality sleep can as crucial as anything else to our wellbeing.

Anyway, I hope you can get back on your feet now that you're home.