Prozac may help slow multiple sclerosis

This is an interesting The anti-depressant Prozac may help curb disease activity in the relapsing remitting form of multiple sclerosis, a Dutch study said. I am taking generic form of prozac and I believed it has helped me in many ways ever since I was diagnosed with MS.

Bipolar Disorder

I don't have bipolar disorder however, my ex-wife has it but never got treated for it and refused to get treated. My own daughter also have bipolar disorder and she got treated and doing great. I am learning that bipolar disorder is like multiple sclerosis, the victims are females more than males.

My current wife also have bipolar disorder and she is getting treated as well as getting therapy. Now that all of her 3 girls also have bipolar disorder and they all are getting treated.

I have learned that Bipolar disorder is not a single disorder because they have different levels of disorder. I don't know my ex-wife's level so I would not know. My current wife and her two of three girls have mild disorder which means they are able to cope their every mood swing without hospitalization. While my own daughter as well as one of my wife's daughters have more depressive disorder which can lead them to hospitalization. In fact, my own daughter was hospitalized about 4 times.

I get depression which is similar to bipolar disorder which characterized by a pervasive low mood, loss of interest in usual activities and diminished ability to experience pleasure. Mine is related to Multiple Sclerosis and my medications.

Bipolar disorder and depression are the most common causes for lack of self-discipline, lack of assertiveness, lack of ambition and procrastination.

We all as a family need to have a family committment of doing what is right for us and for our bodies. Joining YMCA is our first "action" to get our butts moving.

Being Parents of Children with Disabilities...........

is NOT easy and we work much harder than parents of "normal" kids.

I have been thinking (again) because I am always a thinker. I think through my sleep. I just "think". Anyway, I am a parent of two disabled children. My daughter Kris was diagnosed bi-polar,somatic illness, and borderline personality disorder and had been in and out of the hospitals. For the longest time, we wanted her to go to Buckeye Ranch to get the best treatment but they kept sending her to other hospitals until one day, it was decided that she would go to Buckeye Ranch which was a wonderful place that help patients with severe emotional and mental health needs. This placement was the BEST decision because my daughter came out of the hospital understanding her disabilities and how to cope with her disabilities in this world. She is now a senior in high school and on a honor roll. She also have a part-time job working to save money. She even got accepted to attend a local college in Columbus which she will study next fall. She is now learning to live independently by learning how to manage money and how to take care of herself. My ex-wife didn't help very much with Krista so my wife who knew what to do with disabled kid since she has one of her own. My wife did the bulk of the work to get my daughter treated properly. With her help, we were able to get Krista help what she needed.

My step-daughter who is 26 years old has cerebral palsy and mental disability who still lives with us. She is currently working/attending at ARC. The Arc is the world’s largest community based organization of and for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It provides an array of services and support for families and individuals and includes over 140,000 members affiliated through more than 850 state and local chapters across the nation. The Arc is devoted to promoting and improving supports and services for all people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Its very tough for parents to find the "right" path for our disabled children and often we rely on the "experts" answers. My wife Carole and I are thankful that we have alot of experiences and knowledge in disabilities to know what and where to look for help. We don't organzations that are "narrow-minded" of treatments like AG Bell's agendas. We looked AT ALL aspects of what can HELP our daughters regardless how we think should be the right way. They are the ones who are living their lives and we are NOT living their lives. We are helping them living their lives and we want to enjoy life without us placing our own agendas what would be "best for them". We want the BEST for them to bring them out as who they are and how they can actually enjoy life independently however they can cope with. We cannot place restrictions on them because we "think" what is best for them.

Parents are likely to have a very good gage of their child's functional limitations and what the child is like as a person however, without proper education in understanding "fully" of the disability, parents of disabled children will not necessarily have the best interests of the child at heart any more than the average parent. Therefore, with that thinking, disabled children are particularly vulnerable to suffering at the hands of their parents who are willful in their own ignorance on agendas.

Last month, I talked about my mother who helped me become independent dispite of my disabilities. When she found out that I am deaf, she got me hearing aids and found places for me to get my education. My mother later admitted to me when I got older that she often "questioned" herself whether she was doing the "right thing" for me as a parent. I told her, "Mom, you were following your love and experts on how to get the best care for me and I love you for that. You are the greatest mom. It was a good decision for me to attend to a deaf oralism school because I am not really "that deaf" to learn sign language." After private speech therapies, she send me to a deaf school that practices oralism communication which was not an issue for me because I am not completely deaf. However, there were many students there who were completely deaf who were frustrated because they did not "advance" as I did simply because they were being trained more on lipreading and talking more than getting actual education about english, math, science and many other subjects. Which is why the government announced that oral deaf education has been a "dismal failure". If the deaf kids communicate according to their deafness, they would not be far behind in education. Over the years, I see them got angry at their parents and educators for not bringing them the best FOR THEM. Which is why you see some "deaf extremists" out there. They are just angry and speaking up as much as they can educating the public about deafness. There are many deaf bloggers who wrote so many negative thoughts about AG Bell.

My wife and I talked often to make sure we are doing right for our girls and the directions they are going and seeing how happy they are, I think we are going the right dirctions. Its not about how we think they should live, but rather how they need to live according to their abilities. They ARE ABLE according to their own abilities. Sometimes unorthodox is needed to get out of the traditional agendas and get the "right" care for each individual disabled child.

I love reading parent bloggers of disabled children. Most of my bloggers are parents whose children are autistic or deaf. There are others and I am still reading.

What do you take for Depression?

I was posting my experiences with antidepression medication with fellow MS blogger and I thought I post and ask other MS bloggers about what depression medication they are taking. Antidepressant medications that affects chemical messengers within the brain. These chemical messengers are called neurotransmitters. Many experts believe that an imbalance in these neurotransmitters is the cause of depression. Fluoxetine is believed to work by inhibiting the release or affects the action of serotonin. The medications for antidepression are usually classified under "Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)" which are a class of antidepressants used in the treatment of depression, anxiety disorders, and some personality disorders. There are at least 7 SSRIs products out there and its good to get familiar with all of them. Also, for people with Multiple Sclerosis, there have been reports stating that Tricyclic antidepressants works for management of depression; thought to increase synaptic concentration of serotonin and/or norepinephrine in the CNS by inhibition of their uptake by the presynaptic neuronal membrane; useful in the management of neuropathic pain.

I hear success stories about antidepression medications from fellow MSers. In fact, I might post a question asking people with MS what kind of antidepression medication they are taking and which ones have been working for them. I noticed that there are different kinds of depressions and I think people with MS are in common when experiencing depression. I am doing a poll right and I already voted which one works for me.

I use Fluoxetine for my depression and this week, my doctor increased Fluoxetine (i.e. prozac) from 60mg to 80mg and I hope this will help my mood and bring back my sexual desire that my wife misses. Flueoxetine have been working for me since I started taking it in 2001, just before I was diagnosed with MS. I have never really experiences any nausea, headaches, anxiety, insomnia, drowsiness, and loss of appetite that they have labeled. I do wished it help me with my appetite because I do need to eat less. However, Fluoxetine helps me last longer sexually for there have been studies that they are effective and used in treating premature ejaculation problems for men.

You might be interested in reading this article that was published in October 16, 2007 called Fluoxetine Shows Promise in Multiple Sclerosis. According to the quote from the article: Studies have shown

"a trend toward a reduction in new enhancing lesions with fluoxetine treatment in patients with relapsing-remitting or relapsing secondary progressive MS."

Saw my doctor today..........

My wife and I went to our quarterly doctor visit for our diabetic and blood pressure check up. A week prior to our appointment, we go in and let them take our blood for the lab so our doctor can determine our health status. By the way, we do this "together" and we will support one another whenever we get sad information about our health. Oh... when we go in for "urine" sample, we go in together because we find this intimate and supportive. (TMI ? LOL).

Anyay, today's appointment, my doctor (who is a woman) picked me first which was unusual because my wife usually go first (she is with me). I found out why, my doctor was giving me "the look" about my sugar level. I hate that look and told her, don't give me "that look". She reply, is it working? I said "yeah". LOL ("the look" is her lecturing look" that most women gives). Remember Home Improvement's "The Look" (Season 5, Episode 7) which was about Tim getting a good deal on Pistons season tickets from Bud but doesn't consult with Jill before buying them for over $4,000. That gives him a "look" from Jill, the same Harry gets from his wife at the hardware store.

So, anyway, she increased Metformin from 500 mg to 1,000 mg a day for my diabetic problem and she also increased Lisinopril/HCTZ from 20/12 to 20/25 for hypertension. I am still taking the same Lovastatin level of 20mg for cholesterol as well as Aciphex 20mg for my acid reflux disease.

Now, when she started talking about my depression and asked how I was feeling. I told her I was feeling down lately and my wife spoke up and said "actually in the last 6 months he has been down". So, she increased my Fluoxetine (i.e. prozac) from 60mg to 80mg which is my highest level so far. She said she will share this with my MS doctor who monitors my Avonex medication which I take one shot each week. Depression is probably from combination from stress, MS medication and other complications.

And then it was my wife's turn and my doctor went through the same routine with her relating to her medications.

Oh, my doctor told me to visit my eye doctor since I have not gone to one for alittle over a year.

That's it for now. I am not into deep thoughts today so I will probably lurk around tonight.

:)