manic depressive with anxiety???

[JCM43]

Daughter, married, 3 children under 8 years old, husband who is in denial, self centered and running away from situation and family. Daughter symtoms:
anxiety swings, depression, medicated for anxiety and depression, can't hold meaningful conversation, can't hold eye contact, self centered, pick face constantly, spend thrift, can't focus on menial tasks, age 35 years old. Refuses therapy. Don't know what medications daughter is taking. Medication was perscribed by doctor. Medication perscribed one and onehalf years ago. Was in rehab for perscription drug abuse. Did not complete the Betty Ford program and has not appeared to help. Daughter was originally diagnosed during college. Was on Zoloft and was stable until 3rd child born which has thrown her life into termoil.  Parents would like to know how best to help daughter who lives in different State.

[kris123]

Sound like bi-polar - i would go from one extreme to the other - very manic to very derpessed and tried to blance mood with drugs - coke was my first choice, pot, pills - i tried to become stable - go to the bi-polar forum - i take three meds for bi-polar and i am very stable - i had this disoder when i was young and neither of my parents helped me and if they did, they could have saved me a lot of pain - i know what it is like to go from one extremem to the other and being manic staying up all night - with no drugs it sucks

[3grlz'mom]

Is there any way you can take some time and go and stay with your daughter for awhile?  Someone needs to step in and help.  I am a mom with 3 children and have been where your daughter is.  It is likely that there is a postpartum depression issue, and someone really needs to know what anti-depressant she is on and how much - if she went off of it during pregnancy, what type of Rx was she abusing and is this still a problem.  Zoloft is a middle of the road SSRI but there are stronger ones out now, such as Effexor, that may help a bit more when the depression is more stubborn.  It also helps amxiety.  Someone needs to go with her to the doctor, spend a good quantity of time with him and get to the bottom of every nitty gritty detail of what she is taking or not taking, when the symptoms started, stopped, changed, etc.  This cannot be dome in 10 minutes, someone needs to stay on top of this for her, with her.  The drug abuse could be adding to the depression - the chemicals can be affecting the brain while she takes them and if she stops abruptly or changes the amounts, how and when, etc.  It sounds as if she is detaching and this is really not good for the children at all.  Those kids need a fully aware and engaged mom.  Has she always been "self-centered" or is this a new tendency?  She should becoming less self centered upon becoming a mom, not more so.  The face-picking can also improve when treated with the right med - seems like a symptom of anxiety, maybe borderline OCD, and if she cannot concentrate, she needs to be on a different med.  Many of them can cause this sort of detachment and difficulty focusing, but not all do, so she needs to be seeing a psychiatrist VERY regularly so they can get her on the right stuff.  This can take lots of time and patience, as some of the anti-depressants take a few weeks before their full effect is achieved.  If her husband will not pick up the ball, I pray that you can take on this very crucial responsibility of helping her - for her sake and for her children.  It doesn't seem like she has much support and her spouse is ignoring this situation, and her parents are in another state.  Being a good mother to 3 small children is an enormous task, exhausting, lonely and thankless.  When you have a mental disorder and/or a drug abuse issue, it becomes overwhelming.  She needs to be gently shown that refusing therapy is not acceptable.  he doesn't get to refuse - she has children and they NEED a good mom, so when she chose to have kids, she chose to give up her right to refuse therapy.  She must get therapy and someone needs to step in and be strict about that with her or this will get worse.  Her load is too heavy right now.  Please help her.  Please keep posting and ask me anything you want - I willhelp you any way I can.  Unfortunately (Or maybe not)  :)   I am now a single mom now but doing very well because my father was relentless in making sure I was getting what I needed - treatment.  BTW - what state does she live in now?

[toxictome]

Welcome to the forum.
I'm sorry you are going thru this.  I don't have an answer for you.
Could this be post partum depression on top of everything else? Does she want any type of help?
Do you feel the children are in danger?
Keep posting!

[allaboutmary]

having trouble posting . It was there , then gone so retyped, then there again.  lol

[allaboutmary]

This is a really tuff one, because she lives out of state and is an adult.  Has she asked for help ?  Do you think she is still abusing drugs ?   Hopefully someone with more knowledge will respond.  Hang in there.

[allaboutmary]

So sorry you are going through this.  It is very difficult because she is out of state and an adult.  Is she asking for help ?   It really sounds like she needs talk to her doctor.  Do you think she is still abusing drugs ?  This is really tuff one. Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me will respond.