Emotional problems

[marvin1106]

I I have been going through emotional anger issues and sometimes i can't control it. The doctor said it was a result of ms. Is anyone else having this problem, and what do you do to control it. It is taking a toll on my family, being angry all the time. This really sucks!

[MSer102]

Uncontrollable anger and other emotional issues really benefit the most from a combination of medication and therapy with a mental health professional. You can't handle it on your own. You already found that out.

Your doctor said your issues are a result of MS. Great! Has your doctor referred you to a mental health professional? If not, please contact your doctor ASAP and tell him or her that you would like an immediate referral for a therapist and medication. If you have already been referred then pick up the phone and make your appointments.

MS and its issues really do suck! But there is help available! Help can be just a phone call away. You just have to make the call.

[Goldfinch]

Marvin,

I have been through what you describe and I wouldn't be surprised if I go through it again. Fortunately you learn things once you experience stuff. If I may, I will share what I learned.

Under stress while working in a new job as a medical assistant alongside a bunch of gossipy back-biting women with nothing better to do than judge, critique, and point fingers. I was having a relapse at the time and so I was paying extra attention to my quality of work. I kept getting blamed for patient files being miscategoorized/lost. We filed alphabetically. I am a better speller than 99% of the population; I've always been a competent reader/writer and rarely misspell anything. Conversely, one of the other assistants couldn't spell to save her life but she was being treated for cancer and was open about it. Very open. In fact, so open she confided in patients being seen for pain management about her own treatment struggles. Unprofessional, I thought, but it seemed to result in me getting blamed for her filing misadventures. Docs and staff felt sorry for her and gave her every consideration.

No one knew I had MS and I sure wasn't about to come out; I did not want them to have an excuse to marginalize me or let me go. So I kept plugging along doing the best I could and the more I got blamed the angrier I felt but there was nothing I could say about it. If I did it would look I was denying responsibility to avoid getting blamed, or pointing fingers myself. In the end it didn't matter; I was let go for it even though I know good and well I didn't misfile patients' records.

The unfairness of it combined with relapse symptoms really had me depressed, and angry. I wound up feeling pretty useless and I went to my family doc complaining of depression and irritability. He put me on antidepressants for a short three months, which helped. The thing that helped the most though, was the department of vocational rehabilitation. They accepted me for services, evaluated my skills, and I even drew a small paycheck during their evaluation period. They told me I was suited for work in engineering/architecture, and talked me itno going back to school.

In a nutshell, I went back to school, took drafting and design, kepot my mind occupied in a constructive ursuit, and felt tremendously better at the turn of events. I have my associate in drafting and design now and am more marketable for jobs that I feel I am suited for. Rightnow I am in transition (the employer I scored a full time job with three years ago just laid me off due to lack of work in their field) but I learned quite a bit in my time with them and I feel poised to find employment again with another place. I just have to sell myself, that's all.

What does all this have to do with you? I guess what I'm trying to tell you is, take advantage of every support system you can during this period of darkness in your life. The anger you feel is a secondary emotion arising out of another emotion. With me it was fear of being consigned to a role I did not feel was valued or productive. I had to take steps to change my situation so that I could feel better. You can fix this if you accept help for it and make a plan to address things you can change. Good luck!