problems with short term memory and focus

[jgcr]

I've just recently been weaned off Seroquel and awaiting to be put on Lithium... missed an appointment because the office wrote Tues Feb 4 on the appointment paper.... All i registered as usual was the date Feb 4... well that was a Wednesday... so obviously, I missed my long awaited appointment i had been stressing about for 4 weeks.... Needless to say it threw me in a massive 'self failure' depression. My husband said I should have been smarter and realized that it was the wrong number written. I'm off all week, i tend to lose track of what week day it is... i get confused very easily... so the depression hit... it's hard to pull me out of it.

Also, I've been wondering, because for quite a few months now, I don't know if it was because of the Seroquel or not, but now that i am no longer on that treatment i still have these problems.... Right now, I'm completely back to zero, unmedicated, and feeling like i'm losing it many times a day. I have been having big problems with short term memory loss, alot! I mentioned it to my Pdoc, but nothing came from it yet. I often forget what i am doing, where i am going. I can drive somewhere and stop and go back home because I end up forgetting where i'm going in the first place. I pace around my house, wondering, what I got up to do, all the time. I make lists to help me remember... I forget the lists, or once i look at them and go to the place or room, forget why i am there... then, i got sit in the living room or do something else because i even forgot I had a list to go back to, i have hardly any good focus on anything, it's like i'm lost in my own world.... People will tell me things, or we will do things and I seem to easily forget them. Is this at all normal? My Pdoc has been overly concerned with this yet, but, I am... Do this happen to anyone else? It never used to be like this... let alone this bad!

Oh, and I'm now untreated, back to where I was when i first got diagnosed so that I can go on this Lithium treatment, and am supposed to go back to work in about 2 months (April) in finance. I don't see it happening... but what would be your opinion, on any of this.... first treatment too 9 months to figure out it wasn't working.... Thanks

[paul m]

Hello Jgcr. An uncontrolled mental illness can leave you confused and forgetful all on it's own. If I remember correctly you are still on effexor and have had problems trying to get off of it. As well you had said that the effexor caused your moods to be all over the place.

At one point you had also said that the doctor had told you that lithium could be a terrible drug to take.

When you get to see your doctor next, you should ask him the following. I'm not saying he's wrong in his treatment plan for you, but these are questions that you should be asking him/her. He may have very valid answers for the questions. He may also look at you with a blank or angry look and say "who's the patient here, you or me" which is not a valid answer.

1)why he hasn't got you off of effexor yet. Even for people with great difficulties coming off of effexor, there are means of at least reducing the dosage to near zero and that might stop the rapid cycling.

2) why he hasn't tried supplementing your effexor with another antidepressant while you wean off of effexor and then you would then wean off of the second antidepressant. This is a common treatment method.

3) why he hasn't tried a different antipsychotic other than seroquel, there are a lot of different types of antipyschotics and for some people one type will work much better than the next type. For me Seroquel worked pretty good, whereas risperadal (another common one) had zero effect on me.

4) why did he say Lithium was difficult. Lithium can cause problems, but it can also be a life saver and is generally easy to start on. Plus it may not cause problems.

5) Why would he wean you off of Seroqel before starting Lithium? They can be both taken at the same time and I did so for several yrs. So you could already be building up your lithium dose, while weaning off of seroquel.

I'm no Doctor, but if you are having rapid mood sings because of the effexor, it's doubtful that you will have a prolonged steady period where you can come off of the effexor. Plus at one point you had said that you were taking Wellbuutin as well. While it is thought that wellbutrin is the antidepressant that is least likely to cause rapid cycling, the key words are least likely. For some people, like myself, wellbutrin will eventually cause me to rapid cycle, it just takes a couple of mths more than other antidepressants.

I'm not saying that your doctor is wrong in any of his handling of your situation. I just know that when I was really ill, until I started really learning about my illness and pressing my doctors buttons I got nowhere fast. That isn't a criticism of you either. Much like you I was prescribed antidepressants for many years and they only served to make me rapid cycle. Then I blindly followed my doctors orders for another bunch of yrs and still didn't get much better. Finally I started questioning what I was taking and trying different combos' fairly quickly. If it didn't work in 60-90 days then I knew pretty much that it wasn't going to work at all or at least as well as I had hoped for.

At a variety of times I was told, such stupid things as: "whose the doctor here, don't you trust my judgement" (well after getting worse for 10 yrs, not really doc) , or "why don't you try this for a little longer and see if it works, it usually work for the rest of my patients".(I don't care, it's not working for me) or "Most of my patients don't have any side effects from that medication" (really doc, every meds has side effects, have you ever read the drug monograph?)and my all time favourite" I don't like to prescribe that, I prefer to prescribe this "(I don't care what you like, I just want to get better and what you have tried prescribing just hasn't been working)

Usually I don't light up on docs this much as some of them are pretty good and most work very hard. However a lot of them are 1) a little behind in their reading about medical advances 2) have there own prejudices about what is a good treatment plan and what is not.

I just find it frustrating to read that someone is just starting their second type of anti manic meds after 9mths. Your doc may very good and have very valid reasons for having you on your current treatment plan. However it doesn't hurt to write down a list of questions and politely ask him for some answers. Good Luck and Take Care. paul m

[jgcr]

Thank you, I'm a very shy person and am always scared to upset people. But I plan on taking my husband with me to my next appointment as I wasn't able to make the last one... I hope he will help voice all the questions and thoughts we've both had... he's not really understanding how I am, but he does want results!... so at least with him there, if I don't have the guts to ask something, he will. I'm just scared to argue with a specialist, especially when it's so hard to get one in the first place, and it's hard to get an appointment too... thank you very much though, because, as I'm still fairly new, I really don't know how treatment trials are supposed to be like... or the questions to ask. Those are definitely good examples.

[Shirley]

I am on here for the first time today.

No sure how to proceed, but i really need to talk to people going thru the same thing I am.
I am bipolar, have severe depression and anxiety disorder.

I've just recently been weaned off Seroquel and awaiting to be put on Lithium... missed an appointment because the office wrote Tues Feb 4 on the appointment paper.... All i registered as usual was the date Feb 4... well that was a Wednesday... so obviously, I missed my long awaited appointment i had been stressing about for 4 weeks.... Needless to say it threw me in a massive 'self failure' depression. My husband said I should have been smarter and realized that it was the wrong number written. I'm off all week, i tend to lose track of what week day it is... i get confused very easily... so the depression hit... it's hard to pull me out of it.

Also, I've been wondering, because for quite a few months now, I don't know if it was because of the Seroquel or not, but now that i am no longer on that treatment i still have these problems.... Right now, I'm completely back to zero, unmedicated, and feeling like i'm losing it many times a day. I have been having big problems with short term memory loss, alot! I mentioned it to my Pdoc, but nothing came from it yet. I often forget what i am doing, where i am going. I can drive somewhere and stop and go back home because I end up forgetting where i'm going in the first place. I pace around my house, wondering, what I got up to do, all the time. I make lists to help me remember... I forget the lists, or once i look at them and go to the place or room, forget why i am there... then, i got sit in the living room or do something else because i even forgot I had a list to go back to, i have hardly any good focus on anything, it's like i'm lost in my own world.... People will tell me things, or we will do things and I seem to easily forget them. Is this at all normal? My Pdoc has been overly concerned with this yet, but, I am... Do this happen to anyone else? It never used to be like this... let alone this bad!

Oh, and I'm now untreated, back to where I was when i first got diagnosed so that I can go on this Lithium treatment, and am supposed to go back to work in about 2 months (April) in finance. I don't see it happening... but what would be your opinion, on any of this.... first treatment too 9 months to figure out it wasn't working.... Thanks

[Shirley]

Hi My husband is a god send helping me with all my appointments and helping explaining to the doctors what is going on with me. I guess I am lucky.

[AJ]

Welcome to the forum Shirley. It's good that you have that kind of support from your husband.

[paul m]

Hello jgcr. In regards to arguing with a specialist or any doctor, trick is not letting them know that you are arguing. I know it's a lot easier to say that then it is to do it, but most (not all ) docs will be happy if you take an interest in your treatment.

Whenever I've had success it's because I came well prepared and usually had my questions and some answers written down. To be fair to doctors it can be hard to prescribe meds to someone who is vague about how they feel. Telling a doctor that I feel like crap doesn't help him one bit, he hears all day long that people feel like crap. However when I say that I feel down most days, don't have the energy to do routine chores like the dishes, no real interest in physical activity(and/or ***) and I want to sleep 20 hrs a day, and the medication that I have been on for the last (whatever length of time) doesn't seem to be helping, then the doctor has something that he can put some thought into.

So I also sometimes sit down and write out how I feel in point form before I go to the doctors. I can't speak for anyone else, but I am so conditioned by society that whenever anyone asks me how I'm doing today, I automatically say I'm fine(most people don't want to hear the truth). So when the doctor asks me how I'm doing, I've been known to say "I'm fine or I'm pretty good" which of course tends to be the wrong answer.

I will argue if I have too, but usually I've been pretty lucky by saying things like. "My seroquel is making me too sedated, is there another antipyschotic that I can try?" Or "I was reading a medical report that said that weaning off of effexor may be easier if supplemented by prozac for a short time." "What do you think doctor?"

The doctor may ask where you got the info and you can always say "from the Mayo on line clinic". Never just say "From the internet". The docs tend to go ballistic , but you may not be asked for the source of your info. (the Mayo on line clinic has information on just about everything and is well respected). Or for that matter CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and one of Cda's largest Teaching Hospitals) has a large on line library and can be used as a source. Even if you've never looked at the site. Take Care. paul m

Hello Shirley and welcome to the forum. Take Care. paul m

[jgcr]

Thanks everyone, I always do tell the Pdoc how i'm feeling which is why we figured treatment just wasn't getting me to where I needed to be and we're going to try something new, depending on my blood work it will be Lithium... who knows, it may be the right one... (always hoping this will be a quick process) My husband will be coming with me to most of my appointments now, which will help him understand more about what is going on, and he can also give his input to the doc as he sees how I am. Also, this will give him the chance to ask questions and get better educated. I guess at least he's trying to become a support system. Shirley, it's not easy, but like everyone keeps saying.... even if it takes many tries, we can't stop trying... we'll get there... but it may not be easy. That's why places like these are great, to have people who completely understand us, and can give us advice or just let us vent, and understand that we need it and sometimes, no one else can really take our venting. Or we try to show the world that we are 'normal', and so this is our only venting escape, with people like us. Best of luck to you!