sadness

Handling Grief

I attended a webinar today called, “Grief: What Helps When It Hurts” by the Hospice Foundation of America.  I was interested in this presentation because I work with a lot of employees who have lost family members and struggle when they return to work. The focus of the presentation was about grieving the death of a loved one but many of the principles presented also apply to the grief we experience as caregivers.
The effects of grief are vast.  Grief can have a physical, emotional, cognitive, behavioral or spiritual impact. How someone reacts to grief is very individualized and impacted often by their own health, their relationship with the person who experienced the loss, and what they believe is the acceptable way to cope with the loss.  It’s a roller coaster ride that lasts a long time and may come back to hit us in the gut when least expected.  Let me share with you how grief has affected me.
First, let me say that Lynn is very alive and aware.  What I am grieving is not his death or even an anticipation of his immediate death.  What I am grieving is the loss of how he used to be.  I grieve such things as the loss of all the things he did for me, the fact that we could go out and share in activities together, his ability to be independent, and my freedom to have time to myself. I miss his singing, the drama programs we used to do together, the ability to go visit family and friends or even go to a movie.  I grieve the fact that he will never be “able-bodied” again; never able to do what he wants to do when he wants to do it. I grieve the loss of the dreams we had for a new home, travel, and financial security by the time we reached retirement.
The physical side of my grief shows up as constant fatigue, headaches, body aches (though that could be the constant lifting I do for him, too) and irritable bowel syndrome.  I also am overweight due to eating to keep my energy level up and to stay awake because I typically don’t have the option to get more than 5-6 hours of sleep a night.  I occasionally have heart palpitations and swollen ankles. It’s difficult to tell if these issues are related to grief or lack of sleep or excessive physical demands but I suspect they are all intermingled.
Emotionally I have periods of sadness, anger, anxiety, and fear—sometimes separately, sometimes all at once.  I can be feeling sadness immediately after a good experience or anger about being afraid.  Emotions run from subtle to extreme all in the same hour though most of the time, I just feel numb.  I’ve learned to compartmentalize my emotions; to separate them from what is currently happening so I can maintain control.
Cognitively-I can become forgetful.  Lynn tells me things and if it’s not “essential” information, I can’t remember any aspect of the conversation. It’s like I’ve had a black out.  Last week I was assembling his medication for the week and I lost one of his bottles of pills. I knew I had it just moments before but I searched everywhere I could think of to find it…unsuccessfully.  The next day I was sitting at the kitchen table and saw the bottle sitting on the “ice dispenser ledge” on my refrigerator door. That ice dispenser doesn’t even work!  I have no memory of putting it there or seeing it when I was looking for it–total loss of recall.
Continue reading this post at: http://multiplesclerosis.net/living-with-ms/handling-grief/
 

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Depression

Have you seen that commercial that asks, “Where do you hurt when you have depression?” and the answer is, “Everywhere.”?  That came on while I was helping do something this week for Lynn and suddenly I realized that maybe I have “misdiagnosed” his symptoms. 
Lynn started on Rebif about two months ago.  Over the past month, he has become more and more tired the day after his shot but even between those times, he feels bad.  It’s not aches and pains but more of a heaviness–the weight of not feeling good.  He has also gotten very irritable, more impatient than usual and, though he controls it well, he gets angry very easily. 
I was talking to his primary care doctor about something else and she asked how he was doing with his new medications.  She was concerned because one of the major side effects of Rebif is suicidal thoughts.  I assured her he was not suicidal but that he was having some emotional effects and might need intervention for them but I would call back if I decided that was the case.
Later I talked to Lynn about it and told him that I thought that was what was going on with him.  He uses an antidepressant already due to struggling with depression associated with just having MS but I think he now needs more.  He thought about it and agreed, but he said to tell the doctor he was not so much suicidal but homicidal (don’t worry, he was joking about that.  He would never actually try to hurt me or anyone who came here.)  What is actually happening though is that his frustration level rises quickly and he throws off weights that he is using to exercise or he shoves things roughly out of his way or his language gets rather colorful–all of which can be signs of depression.
What is depression actually? 
It’s basically a mood disorder that can vary in degrees of severity. 

  • There can be situational depression–you get depressed because you just lost your job and finances are already tight.  That type of depression usually gets better as the situation gets better and once a resolution to the issue is found, the depression goes away. 
  • Then there are depressions caused by a chemical imbalance–the body doesn’t secrete enough of a particular chemical to keep your system in balance and depression occurs.  Antidepressant medications often work to restore the appropriate levels for the person with this type of depression. 
  • Depression can also be due to medications.  Sometimes medications will cause a chemical imbalance and changing the medication will help relieve the symptoms.
  • Then there are the medical disorders that predispose you to depression; like MS.  A significant number of MS patients develop depression either due to the lack of stimulation by the nerves to the organs that control the chemicals noted above or due to the impact of the disease on the person’s life.

When a person has depression, they lose interest in a lot of things.  When I first noticed that Lynn had depression, it was because he had a lot of “hopeless” talk and he lost interest in eating.  He didn’t want to go anywhere or see anybody.  His personality changed.  He used to love to see people but when depression started, he just wanted to stay in his room and didn’t care if anyone came to see him or not; not even his son whom he is very close to or his Mom and sister. After a few weeks of that not changing, I told his neurologist he was depressed and needed medication and he referred him to a psychiatrist.
Lynn didn’t really want to see a psychiatrist because he didn’t want to “sit around and talk about my feelings.”  I told him that wasn’t really the purpose of the appointment.  Psychiatrists  (MD) often treat with medications and psychotherapy techniques while licensed clinical social workers (LCSW) or licensed clinical counselors (LCC) often do those “talking about feelings” therapies.  A psychologist, another type of therapist, uses tests to help determine what is going on with someone and then refers them to either a LCSW/LCC or to an MD depending on the suggested diagnosis from the testing.
Going to the right type of therapist is very important in getting the help you need.  If you possibly have a chemical imbalance or will need medications, the psychologist, LCSW, or LCC, cannot do that so you should get an appointment with a psychiatrist.  If you want group therapy or the typical 50 minute therapy session where you talk about how you feel and what you can do about it, then you could do either the MD or the LCSW/LCC.
Whichever one you think you might need, go see them.  I was depressed when I went through my divorce from my first husband.  I went to a LCSW which really helped. I did need some medication so the LCSW contacted my primary care doctor to discuss what was needed and he prescribed something. So you can see that you don’t always have to have a psychiatrist but like in all fields, psychiatry has a lot of new medications coming out all the time.  I recommend that you talk to someone who knows which medications do what and what will work best in conjunction with your medical condition and any other medications you may be using.  Once you get the right mix, you’ll feel a lot better.  Then the world will start to look sunny again and you can see hope returning.
If you think you or your family member might be depressed, mention it to your doctor.  Depression is truly a miserable feeling and just like the commercial says,  when you have depression, you really do hurt everywhere and everyone around you is affected as well. Don’t wait…Get the help you need.

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Lord, please…

Over the past week, my concern has grown.  I walk into the room and see him sitting there.  His eyes are shaded in pain–not severe pain–more of an aching discomfort due to the broken skin on his coccyx. We’ve tried several types of patches to protect the area but one of them slide and broke the skin.  Then it happened again and more skin was torn.  Now he has an area that’s draining and sore on a place he has to sit all the time.  He can’t be comfortable in bed.  He has to sit up and peddle to relieve the stiffness.  He tries to lie in bed but he just can’t tolerate that for very long. Please don’t let this be the beginning of a difficult to heal bedsore (or in this case, seat sore).
Then there is that look of illness.  He feels miserable–you can see it in his eyes.  He tries to crack a joke but the sparkle doesn’t reach his eyes.  In fact his eyes look sunken and blood-shot.  Blood-shot from the terrible sinus congestion he has which makes it hard to breathe all the time. He has chronic sinusitis and uses 1/3 strength nose spray all the time to combat it but he has to have it at least ever hour.  Imagine how stuffy you feel with a cold and then imagine being like that most of the time.  It’s so miserable. Lord God, help him to breathe easier.
But that’s not what’s behind the look. He feels soooo bad. For months he was on a detox of sorts to try to heal “leaky gut syndrome” and we attributed his feeling bad to that.  Well he’s off the detox now.  Could this “bad” feeling be his reaction to taking the flu shot last week?  If so, why is it taking so long to get better?  Or is this just MS again, rearing its ugly head and making his life miserable?  Where is his quality of life if this is what he has to look forward to?  He tries so hard.  He eats well, exercises, tries to keep a positive outlook and stay active, but it’s so hard to remain hopeful like this.  He’s sick and tired of being sick and tired.  Lord, please show him mercy.
Then there’s the lab work.  I called to check on some lab work he had done two weeks ago.  His hemoglobin was 10.3.  In September it was 12.3!  Why did it drop?  I am hoping that the person who read it to me read an old report.  I’ve sent an email to his PCP to check the lab work since she didn’t order it so we can find out.  If it’s accurate, and I don’t think it is, then something else is really wrong.  I was convinced yesterday it was a mistake but the more I think of it, the more I realize he’s feeling worse and more tired.  His leg is spasming again too and it had stopped, or just about had, when his hemoglobin was up.  Lord, please don’t let that lab result be right because that means another specialist.  He has enough doctors.
He entered the hospital for the first time in his life a year ago this Sunday. During that admission, he was in and out of the ICU four times before he went home.  He’s been too sick the last two years to participate in Christmas and our goal is that he will be able to enjoy Christimas this year AND he will be able to remember it.  Please, Lord, let that come true. 
MS is a strange condition.  I know people whom you would never suspect have MS.  And then I know some like Lynn who seem to have all the symptoms.  I don’t know why it affects some worse than others but I do know it’s disappointing that so little research is being done to look at why it progresses faster in some than others.  I also am angry that there is no treatment for the progressive stages.  It’s like once that point is reached, they are written off.  At least that’s how it seems to me.
He’s calling me again to get him up.  He was able to stay in bed this time about 50 minutes.  I expect he will be up all night now.  Pray he feels better tomorrow.

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I have the blues today

I don’t know why.  But I’m feeling blue. Maybe the atmospheric pressure is playing a role since we are waiting for  the hurricane to roll in tomorrow night.  I think it’s primarily due to lack of sleep and trying to get away today.

I worked till 10 last night and then Lynn wanted to lie down for a nap.  I put him to bed and had so much I needed to do that I let him sleep from 10:30 till 12:30.  I know that was a mistake and I knew it when I was doing it but I needed some uninterrupted time to finish what I was working on.  (Plus we spilled some urine on his seat cushion and I wanted to get his favorite socks, leg warmers and the seat cushion clean for him before he got up)….so I let him sleep.

Of course he didn’t feel like eating right away when he woke up so I worked on downloading my contact list on my phone so I could transfer the information to my new phone. As usual I ordered what I needed over the internet so I was reading instructions so I could “do it myself.” I got him feed and into bed by 2:45 a.m.   I set my alarm for 9:00 a.m. because I was supposed to have a conference call regarding an issue at work.  At 4:00 a.m. he needed to be cathed.  I got up and did my thing, (while he slept) and was just about to settle back into bed when he decided he was too stiff to sleep and wanted to get up–so I got him up and got to bed around 5:00 a.m. He peddled till 7:00 a.m. and wanted to come to bed.  I was so tired.  I pulled up my work email and a message that I needed to reschedule the 9 a.m. meeting.  I went back to bed.  He got up at 9:00 a.m .  I went back to bed after getting him dressed and settled and fell right back to sleep.  My alarm went off again at 11.

I had a 2:00 doctor’s appointment for myself.  It was for a physical but also to talk about my painful hands and hip joints and the fact that my feet are numb all the time now. I showered, got breakfast, got Lynn dressed, got his meds ready, we ate, I took him to the bathroom, checked my emails, got my stuff for the appointment, put a foley in him for the day since his son was going to stay with him, got a message his son was going to be late but to go ahead and go….In the middle of this, I had several “special” requests, help with his email, help with the window AC, measure something for the device he wants to have built to help him keep his legs moving while in bed.  Each interruption just caused me to become more tense.  I finally, in frustration, told him he couldn’t ask me for one more thing, I was going to be late. He then said, “that’s why I asked you if getting up at 11 would give you enough time.”  To which I responded, “but you also told me you didn’t want me to go if I was going to fall asleep driving so I was trying to get at least 6 1/2 or seven hours when all the naps were totaled.”  He agreed that was more important.  I finally ran out of the house to go to my appointment.

I made it right at 2. I have a 45 minute drive.  I got so sleepy driving and was so tired.  I listened to a book as I drove which helped but I was really more like a zombie.  I read while I waited for my appt.. and was seen. My doctor told me I really needed to find a way to get some sleep or it was really going to take a toll on my health.  She admitted she knew that would be a challenge.  She also told me until I could get some rest, I probably wouldn’t be very successful trying to lose weight because the stress was causing my body to hold on to “stores” to fight the stress.
I think that’s part of why I’m blue.  I want to see if we can get someone to be here at night so I can sleep more than two hours at a time but Lynn is so against it.  He doesn’t want anyone but me to do anything for him.  He promises to find a solution; create a device to help him stay in bed.  He assures me he is getting better and it won’t be an issue soon.  I so want that to be true but I admit, I don’t believe he will get so much better, with or without the device he’s making, that I will be able to sleep.

I asked him if while I was gone he could have Eric get the deck ready for the hurricane and to go to the gas station to fill up the gas can for the generator.  When I got home, nothing had been done.  He had not asked Eric to do any of it, including he hadn’t had lunch and nothing was put away from the things he had done while I was gone. In his defense, he just didn’t think of it but it made me sad. I wish he would think about me a little more and do things to make my life a little easier too.  I know he’s the disabled one and his burden is so much worse than mine. He is so appreciative of what I do and he tries to keep a positive attitude, but…I’m tired, and I’m sad, and I just want to be able to go to the store without rushing to get back home, and I want to not do anything of importance or any chores for a while.  Oh, well.  Time to get over my pity party.
Time to go get supper out of the stove.  Thank goodness all I had to do was heat something up tonight because I’ve been “at it” catching up work and trying to fix his computer  since I got home….It’s 11:30 pm. time to start the two-hour process of dinner and getting ready for bed.    Have a good night and stay safe from the hurricane.

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