General 6 Days Off Meds

[maggie1110]

Update: going to cross post this... hubby had a terrible weekend as I have stated and woke up Monday with the most severe tremors I've ever seen. He was supposed to have blood work first thing in the morning, but he was shaking so bad he wanted me to put off the appt til later in the day. I did and we were scheduled for 11:30am. Well, he still didn't want to go because of the tremors.I insisted we go so we did. While getting blood work, I asked if the doc could peek at him real quick to document the tremors. I thought we should go to the ER since we were so close and she agreed. Her hope was that he would be seen by the hospital neurologist down in the ER. Off we went to the ER.

Awesome! Not a single person there so he was taken back immediately. They ran a couple blood tests and then started him on an IV since his sodium was dangerously low. Then they add a bag of calcium to that and then a bag of magnesium and said they were admitting him. Here, his ammonia high and his sodium, calcium & mag was dangerously low. ie, calcium was .7 and should be at least 8.5. Come to find out, these things being so low can cause hallucinations, irritability, tremors, disorientation, and dizziness. Pretty much everything he's been experiencing. Prozac will lower sodium levels and cause tremors. They have run bunches of tests and still don't have a definitive reason for all of this going on. The neurologist said that he has liver disease, but then the Gi doc says that a fatty enlarged liver is not totally an indicator of liver disease. Although as of right now we still don't know what's wrong with him, his levels that are low are mostly back up where they need to be and the high ammonia is below where it needs to be. More tests are being run today.

I don't want to discount the PTSD diagnosis, but it appears that the majority of symptoms that I thought were PTSD are actually medically related. He is still having problems at night with what I think are hallucinations, but he says he's dreaming. Tuesday night he was "dreaming" awake for so many hours that he ripped out 2 IVs. They gave him all kinds of things to get him calmed down, but nothing worked so I was called and had to go back to the hospital. Now I'm just staying her through the night; just trying to eliminate as much drama as I can before it happens. Anyway, it took me til 4am to get him to go to sleep. Rough night!

Last night was just a little rough. I need to ask the neurologist or psychiatrist about this awake dreaming that hubby is doing. Last night he was "working" in his sleep as well as trying to remove his heart monitor. He was also messing with his IV, but not sure if he would have removed it. I cannot wait til we have some definitive answers!!

Has anyone found that their PTSD symptoms were actually much more based in a medical condition than mental? The docs haven't been in yet today, but I would like to be able to get more answers unless they just don't know yet... Thanks, as always, for listening and giving me valuable feedback. Nothing anyone writes will offend me so never think you are being too harsh. I'm a firm believer that sometimes HARSH is a necessity that I need (maybe everyone does). I appreciate everything you all say!! Yes, even if I don't like it. :-) I never discount anything or take it with a grain of salt. That would be narrow minded of me and I could miss something very important from you all.

PS - thank you to everyone above for all your kinds words and support!

 

[anthony]

This is the problem with mental health... people too often jump to the conclusion that something is mental, when it is physical. Vice versa occurs as well. There are lots of cases of similar issues written in this community... so yes, it happens a lot.

It is often a hard lesson for people to learn, that everything isn't PTSD. PTSD is PTSD, it has limitations... but PTSD can affect physical health, and vice versa, so you have to look at physical health constantly. If you don't eat much for a day, PTSD can kick your arse because your bodies nutritional composition is out, thus worsens symptoms of say... depression or anxiety. It isn't PTSD, its because you haven't eaten. PTSD just exacerbates the issue.

PTSD is likely exacerbating the sleep issue for your husband. Some is physical, some is mental. He may merely need a good diet change and a sleep medication to stop him causing harm to himself or others at night, though otherwise, may need no other medication. Good diet and exercise achieves quite a lot for the human body. Pills are not, and should not be the first solution people run towards. They're a last resort IMO, when all else fails, or a short-term item used to get you through a difficult patch, then get off of them.