Posted by Wendy B. on August 8, 2001, at 14:16:49
In reply to 2 rage incidents in one day with wellbutrin, posted by akrake on August 8, 2001, at 8:29:35
Amie,
Taking care of a 2 and a 4 yr old every day is HELL! You have so many needs to attend to! Give yourself a break! You don't have to be SuperMom who never rages... They even can understand, you know, because they're kids. They experience their emotions very viscerally. Tell them, "You cry and carry on when you don't get what you want, so does Mommy once in a while!..." And leave it at that.
I've been on Wellbutrin for 6-7 months. It is a good drug for me. I still have occasional meltdowns in my daughter's presence. But far fewer than when I started the meds (different ones) 6 yrs ago. Before the meds, I was such an anxiety-ridden mess, as a working, single mom with no support (as in a significant-other type of daily support). I raised my daughter every day by myself, and had a lot of anger and resentment and fear and sadness.
We still might have the occasional outburst, though. More recently, my 9-yr old was driving me nutty over her music lessons and practicing. I threw a Copco strainer utensil on the kitchen floor in anger. It was supposedly manufactured of unbreakable plastic-resin. And guess who broke it? Moi!
She was in the living room, though, so it wasn't at her or toward her in any way. I was just doing it for effect, really... Like: "I'm pissed, and I'm gonna show you just how much!" She ran to her room and continued crying. I cooled off, we had a talk about it in which I apologized. We kissed & hugged, and I told her I was working on it with my therapist. She saw a child-psychologist last year, so she knows there are "feelings doctors" who can talk to you if you have a problem, etc.
I just try to be out in the open with her, as much as she can understand conceptually about my illness. I don't say to her: I have a debilitating mental illness, or whatever. I don't want her to think I'm going to try to kill myself, like Sally Field did on "ER," twice. There are too many TV representations of mental illness as: this is what crazy, wacko, nuts, people do when they get upset. They die and disappear on their children. She just can't understand that some people really DO get to that point, she doesn't relate to dysthymia or psychotic episodes, etc., cuz she's a happy child. Luckily!
Anyway, this is all to say: you are going through an adjustment period to your meds. Cam says it won't last long. Whenever you can, get away from the kids - use your husband, babysitter, mother's helper, neighbors, etc., to watch them, and do something you want to do, something for you, not for anyone else. That will relieve the pressure built up in your Anger-Valve for a little while at least. Hope this is possible for you.
Any time you want to vent here, go ahead, it's a help, people are listening...
;-] Wendy
> I'm preplexed. yesterday, approx. 1-2 hours after i took my wellbutrin sr (150mg), i experienced the most awful RAGE. my 4 & 2 yr old were acting like kids....maybe a bit more irritating than usual, but i just couldn't stand it. i put them in the car and we went to the park right after the 1st rage so they could vent their excess energy.....turning the radio on loud seemed to chill me out.
>
> the second rage (1 hour after dosage) occured because they were acting like the biggest brats in the world....fighting and climbing all over me while they fought...each one wanting to be the only on my lap...and all the while i'm trying to talk on the phone! needless to say, i was pretty pissed.....i had to go outside for about 5 mintues...ALONE. then i came in and put each in their own room....then they pissed me off again because they'd snuck in to each other's room and were playing. i put them back in their own rooms and took a half a klonopin.
>
> what gives....i'm starting my 31st day on wellbutrin....i wanted to take this stuff to control my mood swings...but it's starting to make things worse. i guess maybe i should use more klonopin to get thru the rough parts....but i have some days that i do well on the wellbutrin, and other days are the worst.
>
> i spent 4 hours (too long) searching the archives to try to find a solution. i don't know if it's too early to try to add prozac into the mix.
>
> any advice will be appreciated.
>
> amie
poster:Wendy B.
thread:74114
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010804/msgs/74187.html