Category: Medication

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Medication Ulcerative Colitis

How I manage my Ulcerative Colitis

baby wipes for Ulcerative Colitis

Things I do to manage my Ulcerative Colitis which is Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD):

  1. I have my Colitis ‘kit’ which I take out with me (spare underpants, baby wipes and couple of nappy sacks, in case of any accidents)
  2. Take my medication regularly
  3. Use the enema when I have an attack
  4. Try and drink lots of water and/or squash
  5. Go to bed if an attack is to bad, sleeping it off, eases UC
  6. Think about my diet, wheat and spicy food are bad news
  7. Talk to my wife and family about it.
  8. I have managed to get a disabled parking Blue Badge so I can park easily if I need to dash to the loo
  9. I am going to look into getting some Incontinence pads or pants, to help me feel safer when out.
Categories
Anxiety Medication Therapy

Primary & Secondary care

Following a recent visit to the GP, I think I have a slightly better understanding of how care operates in the NHS, UK

Initially a patient approaches their Doctor, our General Practitioner (GP) when we feel unwell. The GP can prescribe certain medication for mental health illness, including Citalopram which was prescribed to me initially The GP, Primary Care can also access their own Therapy options, which in my area operate as Well Being Team, who offer Therapy which may include Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Solution Focused Brief Therapy.

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Categories
Anxiety Medication

SSRI’s & SNRI’s

My Anxiety Blog Post

Medication for Anxiety & Depression seems to fall into 2 groups:

  • Selective Serotonin Reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s)
  • Serotonin Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRI’s)

SSRI’s include Citalopram and are supposed to increase the level of serotonin in the brain which lifts mood, as people who are depressed produce less serotonin which is a neurotransmitter, that is it carries signals to the brain. SSRI’s are supposed to reduce the intake of serotonin into the brain so that levels increase over time. Whilst not a cure this is meant to help us to recover by increase serotonin levels for us whilst taking medication.

SNRI’s include Duloxetine and are a newer medication, similar to SSRI’s in that they increase levels of serotonin and norepinephrine both neurotransmitters in the brain meant to lift mood.

MyAnxiety

Categories
Anxiety Medication

My Medication

citalopram medication

My Medication for anxiety and depression is considered below, click on the image for more information from NHS UK about the drug

citalopram medication

Citalopram was initially prescribed and my dose was slowly increased to 40 mg per day. My health got worse, whether this was eased or exacerbated by the Citalopram is unknown, this prescription was changed after 18 months. I found it had no side effects on me.

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Categories
Anxiety Medication Therapy

Treatment for Anxiety & Depression

sad man with anxiety

The general principle of treatment seems to be that medication will help you on the road to recovery whilst therapy and/or time will actually enable the recovery; well this is the case for anxiety and depression so they say. I am told to use the analogy of a broken leg, the medication is the plaster cast and pain killers and the time and physiotherapy exercise after the removal of the cast is the therapy. My only observation is that three and a half years is a blasted long time to mend a broken leg!

Below I consider the therapy and medication treatment I have accessed

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