Chris' Christian Blog

March 27, 2019

"March 27, 2019" 

Prompt: "What are you praying about?"

I have been praying that the major depression and anxiety I have been suffering will lift. I have no idea why I am depressed aside from having bi-polar disorder and just going through a normal mood swing: this time to depression. I prayed about it and went to see a sleep specialist, who also happened to be a psychiatrist. She took one look at me and asked how long I had been depressed. I told her it had been going on for a month. She looked over my list of medications and determined that the mood swing had been triggered by a medication called buspirone or buspar, which the psychiatrist I had been seeing had prescribed. This was the second doctor who identified buspar as the issue. The first doctor reduced the dosage and this doctor discontinued it altogether. She also started me on another medication to supplement what I am taking and advised me to fire the doctor who insisted that I take buspar. The new doctor and one other doctor said that buspar is known to cause depression and anxiety in people with bi-polar disorder and should never have been prescribed for me to begin with. I give the glory to God for He is the one who sent me to see the doctors who identified the issue. My answered prayer was a solution to the inexplicable depression and anxiety I was suffering. God is good all the time and He knew what my issue was. He seen to it that I went to the right doctor to find out. I still have a way to go before I am well but I started the new medication last night. My doctor said I should feel better within a week and if not I was to return. So given a few days I should be back on track. The point is that depression is real. Generalized anxiety is real. God knew I had both and He knew the cause. He saw to it that I did not follow with my regular psychiatrist because she had a hand in triggering this episode. So He sent me to the clinic on a day she was not working and I saw another doctor who started the process of treating her mistakes. Then God sent me to my sleep specialist for a medication refill and my sleep specialist took over my mental health care as well and added the final touches to fixing the problems caused by doctor incompetence. Under normal circumstances I would have followed with my usual psychiatrist and things would have spiraled downward. Thank you for intervening Lord!

Prompt: "Discuss something you didn't know about Wednesday..."

As of Wednesday I did not know that people who suffer from bi-polar disorder, a major mental illness that affects millions of people, should not take buspirone (buspar) for bi-polar related anxiety. Apparently the psychiatrist I was seeing did not know either because she had me on high dosages of buspar for several months. My diagnosis is bi-polar disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. Two doctors told me she had made a mistake so I am no longer seeing her. I did want to warn everybody that if you have bi-polar disorder not to allow your doctor to give you buspar! Having bi-polar disorder is not a sin or a crime. I know there is a lot of stigma attached to mental illness. Mental illness does not make anybody a freak or second rate citizen. It is not due to being "crazy". Mental illnesses are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain and are very treatable. The real sin is in suffering with one. I hope my experience helps somebody else. If so my suffering is not in vain.