CP and Bi-polar?

Question

My wife is bi-polar and has CP. the primary indicator of her CP is her myo-clonus. The medication she takes for her bi-polar increases her jerkiness to the point she has a hard time typing and drinking from a cup. Her walking is becoming more spasctic. She is almost falling. Her psychiatrist has given her depakote for this. Other meds are lithium, klonopin, effexor xr, and luvox. Over the weekend the Dr also decreased her lithium from 300 in the am and 450 HS to 150 am and 300 HS. What can I do about her myoclonus problem? She seen a neurologist but was referred back to her psychiatrist. Her psychiatrist is not really listening and there is only 4 other psychiatrists on my side of the island---live on the big island of Hawaii.

Answer 1

Why haven't they tried treating with an anti-convalescent? I am Bipolar w/myofascial disorder (disorder of the muscles) and I take Neurontin, which is an anti-convalescent, but also helps with moods and rage, I take one other medication for pain which also helps with mood stabilization. She also sounds pretty heavily medicated. Can you go to another doctor? Tell them your concerns and ask them if they could start reducing her meds to try something new.

The reason I suggest an anti-conversant is because myo-clonus is a sort of seizure. An anti-conversant helps controls seizures.

Also, check out this site, which you may have already:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myoclonus


Also, how about physical therapy? PT can help with regular movements of the muscles that twitch. Just a few suggestions. Good Luck

Answer 2

My daughter swears certain meds made her jumpy and twitch a lot. She gets very nervous and is now only taking zanax. She feels better than ever at 26. They started her over from scratch because meds were all messed up and she was not taking them properly. This could be the problem and one that is hard to fix. However getting clean then finding what works will help. She may need to go to a clinic for awhile but we did whatever we could to get her better, she was not embarrased at all but was desperate.
She still suffers somewhat from depression but zanax helps keep everything even keel. Now in nursing school. But too much stress causes more problems just taking a few courses at a time
I would suggest you find a medical person to help weed her off of all meds then go from there. Again, my daughter knows her body better than any doctor and says some meds or worse for you than just being clean.

Answer 3

I have worked with some students who have CP. We have used weighted utensils to help them be able to feed themselves without loosing the food. Possibly a weighted cup of some sort would help with the drinking. An occupational therapist may be able to help out with some of this. Maybe a consult with one of the other phychiatrisits would also help......i would think you want the doctor to be someone who listens to the patient.....Good luck.

Answer 4

for CP i suggest using a physical therapist.