Fibromyalgia
Joanne responded to one forum member in the SHM Community Forums who was worried about her husband who's suffering with fibromyalgia. She wrote:
Hello Orchid!
I was to second Lizzie's welcome. You are doing the right thing by trying to gather as much information as possible.
If your husband is taking a variety of medications and he's been acting odd for a couple days, it sounds like you're husband is headed for trouble.
Short term, I'd get him of your concern and ask him if you can put your own mind at ease by checking his meds with him.
Then ask him to write down everything he's taken for the last 48 hours. Then ask him to show you all the medication bottles.
When he has them all out on the table, ask him if that's it, or if he has forgotten any? This is an important question.
Then you can read all the instructions on each bottle out loud. It is very easy for someone in a lot of pain to get confused about medications, their proper doses, and frequencies.
You read all the instructions out loud and compare them (nicely – be sweet and caring) to what he wrote down that he's taken. Now like Lizzie suggested, people can suddenly display odd behavior when their medication is off. That can happen if they double doze because they forgot they took a dose and doubled up, or if they are taking medications that are incompatible with one another.
If any discrepancies come up, tell him you love him and you will help him sort this out with his doctor tomorrow. If he faints, call 911. Make sure he is breathing.
Tomorrow, you can ask him if you can call his doctor (make sure only 1 prescribes all his meds) and see if you can get in for an appointment asap with your husband. If he wants to go alone, cancel your work day and go with him anyway. Insist and leave the room.
You are making a statement and will need to be kind and loving, but firm. I would say anything about the cutting until you are sitting in front of a professional, but once there, let the professional know the whole ball of wax.
If you have not established an open relationship with your husband's treating physician, or whomever is giving him medication(s), you might want to make sure you open that door and keep it open. That means that everyone knows you might be calling the doctor if you see something that worries you. You deserve to be fully informed and in the full loop when you are married to someone who is so ill that he hasn't worked for 3 years. If that doctor won't let you into the loop, see to it that you find one who will work with you and your husband as a team, and not leave you in the dark so that you panic about things like him carving his name into his arm.
When we marry, we often don't take the "for better or worse" part seriously. Your husband probably needs you more now than ever. help him through this and then decide what you want to do with your life.
Carving names into your arm is the sign of something very serious. Or let me put it this way: it is very unusual, and typically only happens when people are seriously disturbed/disturbing.
Write back and let us know if any of this helps, and also, how you are feeling for the next few days, ok?
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