May is Mental Health Awareness Month and I wanted to share a tool that helped me better communicate with my doctor about my mood swings and how I was doing in between appointments.
Cleaned up repost from 2014
When I started seeing my Psychopharmacologist almost 16 years ago he intimidated me. He’s not a chipper guy and it took years to see through his shell. I was in a very dark place and spiraling down. I didn’t think he understood how depressed I was.
Psychiatrists are different from therapists in that, they only provide medication management, and appointments are 20 minutes at most. So we had a couple of frustrating meetings. I didn’t know how to reach him, I didn’t know doctor talk. He is one of the best in Texas and finding a Psychopharmacologist is difficult, I wasn’t walking away.
During another frustrating meeting, he left the room to talk to a therapist he worked with. He did me the biggest favor and no doubt saved my life. He suggested I sit down with a therapist to see if she could help me better communicate what was going on. They had worked together for 13 years, and she provided some insight into his personality and how best to communicate with him.
She drew a chart and we talked about how depressed I was. She repeated back to make sure she was on track and then gave me the chart. At that time I was rapid cycling, and adjusting to meds, and didn’t think I was improving. The Mood Chart brought our communication on the same page. I liked the log because it gave me an opportunity to show how I was cycling or any other significant change. I took out a journal and started keeping a daily log of the chart and any info about my state of mind. It gave me an opportunity to see exactly what was happening at any given time or day and look for trends, triggers, and side effect notes.
I want to share the chart for those struggling with their mental illness or who have trouble communicating with their doctor.
Once we were on the same page, he was able to give me the help I needed. I would suggest a larger sheet of paper to give room for notes.
My chart may look different than yours since I discovered my normal was actually below the normal line. You basically draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper. The line is normal mood. Then you track 1-10 above the line or below the line. Mine is not the best example but it’s the only one I kept.
I would track 1-10 below the line if I was depressed and 1-10 above the line if I was feeling good or high. I would also write some notes in there to help describe the mood or feelings at the time. There are some mood charts online that you can print off that might help.
Tracking my moods gave me a way to spell out exactly what I was going thru with documentation that helped me answer questions from the doctor that I may not have remembered otherwise.
Melinda
Looking for the Light 
It’s a good thing I’m mood charting cause I feel like I’m on the upswing since it’s a day shy of a week being off the Abilify. Manic episodes are common when I come off a med. But mine are milder than others, just a lot of excitability, wanting to go places, etc…
I’m almost two weeks off of Rezulti and unfortunately, my mood is going down. I knew to expect it and have increased one of my other antidepressants to help compensate. I spent the better part of 10 years hypomanic, it was great until you fall off the high. Then I touched bottom and ended up in the hospital. Just keep a hard look at how high you go, you know the higher you go the harder you fall.
Rexulti was one of the options she gave me for a different drug to try once my body “rebalances” itself and I lose the weight.
I turned it down because it’s very similar to Abilify. I instead chose her other choice, Vraylar. While I’m not crazy about trying another anti-psychotic; I know I can’t go unmedicated forever.
Yeah, I know… the high feels so great until I crash and then it’s like a blackhole sucking me into darkness. I tend to stay in depression longer which really sucks. I will definitely watch my mood chart, and myself
I haven’t taken Vralar but you need to prepare yourself for weight gain with it too. Maybe not as much, but they all pack them on. I gained 40 pounds with Rezulti. It sucked but I was so depressed that without it who knows how far down I would have gone. I know it’s very hard to accept the weight gain, it was hard for me too but I was so much better that life was worth living again. I did eventually lose most of the weight but it took a lot of work.
She said weight gain wouldn’t be an issue with Vraylar, least not as much as a risk as Abilify.
If that’s the case than I’m not going to take that either
I get health issues with weight gain, like heartburn and worsening back pain and foot pain… not to mention unhealthy cholesterol and BMI levels
We’ll have to keep searching then
Talk to your doctor maybe Vraylar is different. It’s a newer drug that may not have the same issues.
We did speak extensively about it, and she said weight gain would not be an issue with it, which is why I agreed to give it a go upon losing the weight I’ve gained now
However, like I said before; I’m not crazy about taking anti-psychotics
And I told her this, so she may have other options by the time we check back in July when I’ve had time to get back in shape
She may, she knows the drugs and she said it’s not a problem then she should know from experience and she knows how strongly you feel.
Vraylar is still a contender… but we’ll see. Right now it’s all about getting back into shape and just watching my moods