Designated Problem Solver...
Are you the parent, spouse, child or significant other? If you are reading this I know that it seems like you have become the designated problem solver in the cycle. You’ve been waiting and watching for the time you will have to take things in hand. I know I played that role, I saw what was coming and decided that I needed to be ready with information on treatment facilities, phone numbers to call and the maps to get there (don’t be afraid to get info on more then one, since they may have limited bed space and it changes from day to day). I was lucky to have found what I did when I did. So it is equally important that you be prepared since the time of crisis may be the only window of opportunity that you have to help your loved one. It has to be their decision, you maybe the one calling the 1-800 Crisis number and putting the phone in their hand, packing the clothing and driving them to the help they need, but they are the ones that must admit themselves for treatment (It is the law, not a good one, but the law no less). I found the link below to be very insightful on what role I, myself had been playing in my personal cycle. Maybe it will be of use to you.
A Note on Medication
If your loved one is started on medication for depression during his or her stay in a treatment facilities or by your family physician you need to be aware of something that has just been found out. All depression is not the same. Clinical depression is treated differently then manic depression and the "selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs" have new warnings when it comes to their use especially with children and adolescents. They seem to start out with few or no side effects, but they can take up to a month to get the full side effects of the medication and for some people that is too late. In manic depression/bipolar then make the person "cycle" faster then they already do. Contact your doctor immediately if you see a sudden change from improvement then back to depression. This is the start of the "cycling". These drugs back these off of and not stopped "cold turkey" or there could be more complications.
Please take the time to find out about the drugs being prescribed. Ask your pharmacist, read the sheets that come with the prescription, but remember that they do not list everything about the drug. I surfed the internet until I found websites that gave me all the information I needed to know. Again Knowledge is Power. The best thing is to go to a search engine like www.yahoo.com put the name of the medication in the search text box and let it hunt for all the sites it can find. Compare the information you come up with, since not all sites are going to give you ALL the side effects and problems people taking the drug have encountered. Beware of the drug manufacture's sites since they want you to take the drug not scrutinize it. Believe me now a days you need to scrutinize it, because sometimes the FDA doesn't.
One thing that you must always remember is that you or your loved one did not know they would become an alcoholic. The only way they found out was to take the first drink, and it probably never crossed their mind that it would start a cycle. If you are reading this you are feeling the effects of that cycle. No matter what part you yourself are in or what role you are playing in another person’s cycle, unless the need to quit comes around, the cycle will continue to repeat it self over and over again and if there is an underlying contributing problem it may never be found until sobriety is.
