Question:
<snipping for space – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -The problem is that I really want to know what he has. We’ve been told so many things that we can’t keep it straight now. And sadly neither can he. His job is a high stress one that he freely admits he needs to leave, but he is 58 years old and probably won’t be able to find much to support him and my Mother. He can go on disability but it won’t cover all of the bills. My Mother already works and has a good job, but it won’t cover all the bills. I know it is his job that keeps triggering his episodes (maybe with mitigating factors), but what is he to do? When he is off from work (like the two weeks they get around the holidays) he miraculously returns to "normal". The night before he is to go back, he wakes at 2 AM and paces the house. He gets the shakes and has thoughts of suicide and checks himself back in to the hospital.
<snip JMHO follows. I think it is important for your family, esp. dad to realize that trying to keep a job that seems to be a major contributor to his symptoms, may be futile IF his mental and physical health are not stabilized first. Not knowing your family’s financial condition fully, it is impossible for me to know what resources they may have to allow them adequate support if your father quits (or lessons hours) on the job. But, two things you may want them to look into: Do they own their own home? Many people forget the home as a financial resource when times get tough in later years. My father was "forced" out of the workforce at 58. Their home had greatly appreciated in value without their awareness. They were able to move from a 100K home to a smaller, but comfortable 50K home in a less expensive area, but still close enough to family. The profit from that sale is contributing extra monthly income still. Also, many elder workers who own their own home can take advantage of what they call "reverse mortgages" to receive extra monthly income. Check with a financial institution about this option if they own their own home. Anyway, I’m no financial expert, but again, I think your father’s health may continue to deteriorate if his work, or hours/type of work, aren’t adjusted in some way now. Unfortunately, unless he is self-employed, he may also face the "forced out" situation that a lot of older people run into (that’s when an employer diligently and negatively scrutinizes the work of an older, more highly paid employee, with the intent of replacing them with a younger, lower paid employee). Yes, it still happens. It sounds to me like your folks are going to be forced to "lower" their standard of living in some way for health reasons. They should not feel alone about being in this situation. Many of us here have had our financial situations drastically altered and will have to start over as medical treatment becomes successful. Many mentally and physically healthy seniors have to accept a changed financial condition just as a matter of course with getting older and living on fixed incomes while costs rise. I think you are wonderful to be there for your dad and care so much. I hope the doctors will be able to come up with the right combinations of meds/treatment to help him soon. Good luck. Leah
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It is hard to know exactly what his problem is since the people who actually see him arent sure. If he has OCD the meds you mention Anafranil, and Prozac are resonable choices. However the treatment of OCD with meds is a trial and error effort. If he does have OCD treatment with cognitive behavrioral therapy may be a big help. Some of the worlds leading experts are as close as Philly. Notably Edna Foa who has written a great deal on treatment of OCD. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – PLEASE EXCUSE ANY CROSS-POSTING For the last year and a half my Father has been suffering from some sort of emotional/psychological/mental illness. He has been in a treatment facility several times (now on his sixth stay) and has been through several Psychiatrists/Psychologists and enough medication to make an elephant faint. Yet, still we are stumped as to what this REALLY is. At first he went in for high blood pressure of all things. Then he was diagnosed as having seasonal depression (it seemed to hit around Halloween when both of his parents passed away years ago). The he was told it was depression as he started having problems year-round. This past year (also around halloween) he went back in and was told he had OCD. This last episode probably being triggered by his GP taking him off of Clonopin (sp?) suddenly without any weaning period after he was taking 20mg/day for almost a year. Now he is taking a small dose of Clonopin (they are weaning him off of it completely), Luvox AND Anaphranil (sp?). He has also tried Prozac and other drugs for short periods of time with no success. He was also diagnosed with type II diabetes (I am a type I diabetic) during his second to last stay which put a lot of stress on him. His diabetes is in excellent control (I could only wish for this control) so I really don’t believe it is a factor anymore. The entire family is behind him and we have been there for him without fail. He has always been a good man and I am having trouble seeing him like this. The problem is that I really want to know what he has. We’ve been told so many things that we can’t keep it straight now. And sadly neither can he. His job is a high stress one that he freely admits he needs to leave, but he is 58 years old and probably won’t be able to find much to support him and my Mother. He can go on disability but it won’t cover all of the bills. My Mother already works and has a good job, but it won’t cover all the bills. I know it is his job that keeps triggering his episodes (maybe with mitigating factors), but what is he to do? When he is off from work (like the two weeks they get around the holidays) he miraculously returns to "normal". The night before he is to go back, he wakes at 2 AM and paces the house. He gets the shakes and has thoughts of suicide and checks himself back in to the hospital. I realize I am rambling a bit, but I am trying to get as much as possible across to the newsgroups. I am 30 years old and a college graduate with a degree in Psychology (not practicing now unfortunately), but I am truly at wits end as to what to do and how to proceed. I don’t care about insurance or conventional medicine, I just want to see him get back to what he was. We have tried almost every Psychologist/Psychiatrist in the area (central NJ), but if anyone has any ideas I would be most grateful to hear them. E-mail or here I don’t care. Thanks in advance.
– Jim Claiborn PhD ABPP If the rich could pay other people to die for them the poor could make a wonderful living. Yiddish proverb
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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – PLEASE EXCUSE ANY CROSS-POSTING I know it is his job that keeps triggering his episodes (maybe with mitigating factors), but what is he to do? When he is off from work (like the two weeks they get around the holidays) he miraculously returns to "normal". The night before he is to go back, he wakes at 2 AM and paces the house. He gets the shakes and has thoughts of suicide and checks himself back in to the hospital. I realize I am rambling a bit, but I am trying to get as much as possible across to the newsgroups. I am 30 years old and a college graduate with a degree in Psychology (not practicing now unfortunately), but I am truly at wits end as to what to do and how to proceed. I don’t care about insurance or conventional medicine, I just want to see him get back to what he was. We have tried almost every Psychologist/Psychiatrist in the area (central NJ), but if anyone has any ideas I would be most grateful to hear them. E-mail or here I don’t care. Thanks in advance.
I am curious as to what his job is, since it seems to be the source of the trouble. Is it possible for him to freelance, or go to something similar, but not as high stress? (I know for me it helped quite a bit to just to switch departments where I worked.) Speaking from experience, being in the situation where you need to choose between your health and income isn’t a good experience at all. I wish I could be more help. Brian
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I am very curious as to how others will reply to your post. It pretty obvious that your dad’d job is the problem. Even though his age poses a problem, it is not impssible for him to get another job…. but then what do I know? I’m in a similar situation. My job also causes me trmemdous stress. Like I said, I can’t wait for more replies to this. Good luck to you and your family. Twilite – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -PLEASE EXCUSE ANY CROSS-POSTING For the last year and a half my Father has been suffering from some sort of emotional/psychological/mental illness. He has been in a treatment facility several times (now on his sixth stay) and has been through several Psychiatrists/Psychologists and enough medication to make an elephant faint. Yet, still we are stumped as to what this REALLY is. <snip I know it is his job that keeps triggering his episodes (maybe with mitigating factors), but what is he to do? When he is off from work (like the two weeks they get around the holidays) he miraculously returns to "normal". The night before he is to go back, he wakes at 2 AM and paces the house. He gets the shakes and has thoughts of suicide and checks himself back in to the hospital. I realize I am rambling a bit, but I am trying to get as much as possible across to the newsgroups. I am 30 years old and a college graduate with a degree in Psychology (not practicing now unfortunately), but I am truly at wits end as to what to do and how to proceed. I don’t care about insurance or conventional medicine, I just want to see him get back to what he was. We have tried almost every Psychologist/Psychiatrist in the area (central NJ), but if anyone has any ideas I would be most grateful to hear them. E-mail or here I don’t care. Thanks in advance.
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