I don’t have a life

The 56-year-old man, Eric, is among several patients seeking drugs for bipolar disease and other similar conditions but have been hard pressed to source the medications elsewhere because of shortages within the public health sector.

Speaking to Newsday, Eric said he felt his life was slipping away after being unable to source the drugs. The man, who works for a Government ministry, has been using Debakote, Effexor, Paxil and Respidal.

“Right now I feel like my life is over,” Eric said.

“I can’t get anything done when the day comes. The drugs have been helping me, but it is about one month now that they don’t have any. They had been cutting it down for a while now at the Pembroke Street Mental Health and Wellness Centre, Port-of- Spain.

They had some generic drugs, and now they don’t even have that, and even then the generic drugs do not even work.

“I just want people to know how people suffering with mental illness have been suffering from lack of medication.” Eric, a father of three and now into his second marriage, told Newsday that while he was on the prescribed medication he felt “normal.” “Now, I can’t get anything done,” he revealed. “Right now I just can’t function at my job. I just try to reach and sign my name.

They understand the situation, but when they tell me I have to go out and do something, I feel like I just don’t care anymore. Sometimes I have to force myself. I couldn’t even drive today.

“My wife is not really coping too well with this because sometimes I get in a bad state and I take it out on her unconsciously. She tries her best to tolerate things.

She understands the situation. If I get irritated I might bawl her out and that would affect her as a human being, but I can’t help it. She really tries to understand.” Eric said he needed these medications to be able to function normally with his personal life, job, and everyday things that some people took for granted.

“You can’t even control money.

Sometimes I buy a lot of things I don’t need. When you have money you go on a spree spending, thinking you need things, that is what you call a high. Sometimes you just give away all kinds of important things. Afterwards I question why I would need to buy certain things, but I would not know at the time.” Eric added, “When I am on medication I can drive okay, but now I can’t take chances because sometimes I could just snap and I won’t know where I am at the moment.

That could be a danger to me and other drivers. A lot of times I have to park up and wait until the moment passes. Today I stayed home as a precaution. I can’t say how they could let something like this happen in the country and they (Government) say they care about people.”