Do any of you notice labile emotions since being diagnosed with RA? I am
really observing this in myself in the past several months. One day I feel
normal and the next I feel down and the glass almost empty...if not
completely empty syndrome. I also wonder how to balance my moods out
and keep them more even. I know much of it has to do with the way I
physically feel. Last few days I can barely get out of bed before noon and
just have no motivation for anything. I used to enjoy so many different
things and lately find myself just sitting, staring. How do I get past this? I
never used to have any of these issues. I know it is the RA as this is when
this all started. I would not really call this depression but rather a lack of
motivation. Do any of you understand what I'm talking about? Or is this all
in my head?
My emotions definitely ride along with how well I am feeling. When I am really fatigued, then I feel down. Or in pain, I certainly do cry. And a good day makes me estatic. Sometimes I will think why do I feel so down today and then I flare later that day. It's almost like an early warning signal at times.
But over time, I think depression is very common with a chronic illness because of the constant fluctuation between good and bad days, losing things you used to be able to do. The list is so endless.
You are hardly alone or unusual in this. So many people are using antidepressants to help. And good support is so important. Here helps me tremendously. But I've decided I need in person hugs too. So, I'm looking for that.
Thank you Deanna. I think the hardest thing for me is the lack ofLorster,
I know exactly how you feel. That's where I'm at. I wouldn't classify myself as depressed, however, I am not my old self. I was the person with a huge smile on my face constantly. I lived for my family and playing racquetball. Now turning on the faucet or cutting my own meat at dinner on most days are not possible. I also spent my summers swimming in the ocean, screaming at the top of my lungs, "woohooo", when I caught a wave on my boogie board. My Raynaud's disease didn't allow me to get a toe in the ocean last summer because the dark purple and pain was too much to handle. Oh, and holding a cold drink, forget it. So, simple things are gone for me.
I cry for what I had and don't have. Then I slap myself and say, "grow up, others have it worse, stop being a baby". The next day, teary at times, okay at others. This is the first time in my life my emotions are all over the map. Yes, I know some of this is menopause, but I stopped having my periods in 2003 so you would think things are settled a bit on that issue. (sorry men, for that, lol) Anyway, I guess the bottom line...I know how you feel. Two words come to mind....this sucks.
Believe me honeu you are not alone.....It bothers me much that I am not the same personh before this damn RA...we are still trying to find the rught combination of meds....i try not tolet this get me down but everyday in your face pain does me in most days. I have a wonderful supportive husband but mu guilt gets in all the time...I dont sleep well and toss and turn all night and the longer I lie there the worse it is and I have suggested sleeping in another bedroom so not to keep him up but he says NO...and not to worry about him so much !!!!
I feel down alot because there is no cure....down because we havent found the right combination...right now just started humeria had been on enbrel...and arava mtx raised my liver counts so here we go again
Remember all though we are not alone in this fight we first have God and then each other.......Take care
I have noticed a complete change in my demeanor with this, Half of the time I just kind of stay the old war horse as I always was, taking it in some sort of "this figures" manner... Then something goes wrong whereby either the pain increases as it normally would only more pronounced, or it comes back in full force after a short course of prednisone, The last time the Duragesic patch was faulty, and sets of an increasingly predictable set of events that leaves me feeling like life is just OVER. Then it's pretty much crying alot as I am re-reminded of everything I can't do. Reliving the whole loss thing...
It takes intense amounts of distraction to get back to the "This figures" mode...which nowdays is pretty much as good as it gets. At least I can live with that for now. I just wish that wasn't interrupted so much by the very bad pain triggers. I could use a break for a week or two..... I get very tired.
The psychiatric disturbances include depression , euphoria, insomnia, mood swings, personality changes, and even psychotic behavior. Prednisone suppresses the immune system and, therefore, increases the ...
I have definitely been more depressed since I was diagnosed last year. I've been on Wellbutrin for a few years but it doesn't seem to be doing much. My mornings usually start out good and I'm so hopeful but then by afternoon I'm so fatigued and sore that I rapidly go downhill. I try not to think about how active I was a year ago. And I try not to think about how so much of my body aches now. But when I get down, it's really hard not to.
Not all my aches and pains are from RA. Right now I'm battleing a bone spur on my heel and Bakers cysts, which prevent me from walking, my prime source of exercise for years. If I could just start walking again I know my mood would lift. Plus, I've put on about 13 pounds since last year
miles2go, Personally, I would go back to the Doc. and say there's gotta be something better or more effective than welbutrin. It just doesn't sound as if it is helping... I have had the same experience and "I" wouldn't wait on these kind of meds forever anymore. Mental health can be something that can be dealt with alot quicker in many cases. I may have to learn a whole new "waiting thing" for RA. In fact I am already. but I wouldn't wait 2 or 3 years for an antidepressant to work. Yikes! I would be in pretty bad shape. There's relief out there!
I learned that the hard way.
One of the first questions a good pdoc (pyschiatrist) will ask a possible BP patient is, "Have you had a mood reaction to prednisone?" Both Jane Pauley and Patty Duke were diagnosed in part due to their reaction to prednisone. Patty was taking it for a sore throat - she ended up in Vegas marrying a man she didn't even know! Her book on Bp is very good, A Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic Depressive Illness.
From About.com: http://bipolar.about.com/od/causes/a/bpsteroid1.htm
"In her memoir Skywriting, NBC-TV newswoman Jane Pauley disclosed that she has bipolar disorder. The illness appeared, she says, when she was given steroids for a case of hives. This revelation focuses attention on the relationship between steroids and manic depression.
Pauley writes, in the portion of her book excerpted in the August 20, 2004 People, that she experienced hypomania following the first administration of steroids for her hives and depression with the second. The depression was serious enough that a low-dose antidepressant was prescribed for her, and she rebounded into an agitated mixed state and rapid cycling. Her doctor explained, she says, that the antidepressant "unmasked a never-before-suspected vulnerability to bipolar depression." But in fact the mood swings had begun before this - with the steroids."
Steroid psychosis can also happen with intra-articular steriod injection. http://ard.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/59/11/926a
i'm there with you guys! I started taking anti-depressents about 7 years ago and am still on them. But the mood swings/depression from the pred and the RA don't seem to be controlled by them very well anymore (I take 2 meds for depression: welbutrin and zoloft). Would actually love to get off them altogether.
Lynk-great info. thanks for sharing.
Hi Jen101
I tried Lexapro a couple of years ago because Wellbutrin wasn't working well. It is a stronger drug and it did work better but the thing is....
Yes, Lynk. Thanks!
I know it (Pred) has played absolute H**L with my moods this week. Right now I am still in the early process of just seeing if I can tolerate MTX, it seems as though it is taking forever, but Reumy wants to take no chances. I don't blame him. it gets really complicated (I guess) when a bunch of psychopharmaceuticals are involved. So it's a small dose of prednisone and not moving nearly at all. which is ok but I hope it's over kinda soon. And thanks for the abbr. I didn't know one...another thing is that I had to go in on an emergency basis for a shot for some huge swelling. That may have done more harm than good now that I think about it. I am so glad you posted that Info. It's really hard to try and get the whole team of doctors on one page. So far it's gone alot better than I expected. But still.... I guess I wonder what are they supposed to do when a person flares up bad. I have never lost memory, but yeah, I'm a blabbermouth...
THanks so much Lynk!
Hmm Interesting. My family has just informed me that my Lexapro is NOT working aymore. Could have fooled me, ha ha. Going back to the head Dr for a different one.
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