[mhess]

Hi. I am looking for your advise and guidance. I want to know if this is part of his depression or could be something more.

My husband has been told he has depression (Prozac 20mg) and should go to counseling (first appt later this month - Jan). But one thing we are dealing with is when he gets stressed. He turns into "not him". His speech slurs, eyes can't focus, talks and sounds drunk (I KNOW he hasn't drank - had many of these instances where I was there to witness the transition from no symptoms to symptoms), short term memory loss. If he hasn't eaten much that day it makes it harder to stay in control (I should mention he isn't hungry most days / doesn't want to eat). The only thing that we found helps to get out of it, is sleep. He says he feels normal during the symptoms but after knows it wasn't. He has been known to rage if I don't recognize and respond badly. It just creates a storm. He says it is the depression and adrenaline rushes because of the depression. He went to the doctor by himself and he shared the symptoms but I don't know in what context or if the depression took precedence in the conversation (because it was critical). Can anyone relate? Should I be concerned about more than depression?
Yes we do have another doctor appt to ask same question. I just want to know from others that can empathize. Having had depression myself I know it is a complicated disease and his story may be similar to others and the doctor may just not know.

Goodness, no - his symptoms are not depression. My immediate thought is that his body is reacting to something. I read A LOT about health, am NOT a doctor, but believe strongly that we must be our own health advocates by being as informed as possible.

So, my first thought was fluoride poisoning? Mercury poisoning? Decided to do some online checking and two of my trusted online health resources implicate aspartame. Yep, that stuff in diet sodas and goodness knows what else. Many docs are misdiagnosing aspartame poisoning as MS! I used to poo-poo these kind of assertions, but not anymore. In any case, I provided the links to the 2 sources (if you are open to it.) I wouldn't be surprised if your hubby's depression is a symptom of something of else and not a root cause. That's actually a positive thing, and if it's diet-related then that means that relief could be almost immediate just by eliminating the source from one's diet. Wouldn't that be nice?!

Oops, Psych Central won't allow me to post the URLs, so first go to earthclinic dot com and type "slurred speech" in the search tool. One of search results leads to a discussion on aspartame poisoning.

The other is on mercola dot com, search for "sweet misery", title of an article posted 6-29-2013 (Sweet Misery: The Eye-Opening Story Behind Aspartame).

I hope you find this useful. Good luck!

Hi mhess,

My thoughts are if he isn't eating, getting grumpy and instantly angry, his blood sugars are going low. Get his blood sugars tested, make sure they do an A1c, this will track how his sugars have been for the past 3 months. He could be diabetic. Take care and best wishes to you and your husband!

[mhess]

I never thought of this!! Very interesting> I will definitely do some googling on the subjects you brought up. Thank yoU!

[mhess]

Thank you! Great advice!