Posted by susan C on June 29, 2001, at 15:20:45
In reply to RESPONSE ?????, posted by sweetmarie on June 29, 2001, at 13:54:48
> Hi, I found it very helpful (being a visual person), instead of using numbers, to make a colored bar chart. Using graph paper and color pen, or the MSword. I use the same numbers 0-10,though at one point I added a couple numbers on each end (11-12 and -1 and -2) 4-5-6 being what I consider OK or even and steady.
I had started this because just doing only the numbers is confusing to me. I could then line up the pictures from one day to the next and compare, did I really feel the same as yesterday, or was it better or worse? And from one month to the next and see right away what the difference was. I even pasted together a whole string of them so I could really see it. I think i did several meds this way and when I started on depakote and ambien for sleep, after a month or so it was very clear that my cycling had evened out. I was more toward the middle not jumping up and down, not as high highs and not as low lows. I still have them.
I still have to control the stress in my life. I am still at home. In some way there is a dullness which I understand is part of depakote, which I don't like,I miss part of the intense manic part,(my creative art part of me is too confusing) I don't miss the deep depression.
I travel 1 1/2 hours to see my pdoc with my husband and he is still investigating as nothing has worked completely. but he listens, he is smart and intuitive and I trust him a lot more than the other doc I had for 12 years.
I check in on this board because I am looking and learning and appreciating how hard everybody is working. I hope this helps.
> I`m sorry - I seem to be all over this site.
>
> But, I just want to ask for any feedback on how to `tell` when a med is working or not.
>
> I`ve been on my current combo for 7 weeks now, and over the past week or so, I have had about 3 evenings where I`ve felt a bit better. Prior to this, `good` times were very infrequent, e.g. one good day every 2 months. The depression was pretty much wall-to-wall. The hospital where I am being treated have asked me to keep a chart of how my mood is with ratings out of ten. This is divided into Morning, Afternoon, Evening and Night-time. Last w/end I had a `7/10`, a `8/10` and a `5/10` on 3 consecutive evenings. This is as opposed to straight `0/10`s in the past (maybe a `2` or a `3` if I was particularly lucky).
>
> Could this be the beginning of a response? Obviously no-one knows for sure, but ...
>
> I`d be grateful for any feedback.
>
> Ta,
>
> Anna.
poster:susan C
thread:68360
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010625/msgs/68368.html