We were your typical all American family. My husband and I have two daughters. At this time they were 12 and 4 years old. We lived in a nice suburban area in a 2800 square foot home on a quarter acre corner lot. He and I had really great careers earning a healthy income. He was an Executive Operations Manager of the fastest growing electrical and HVAC services company in Colorado. I held a human resources position where I recruited staff and managed marketing for a small business. We were happy.

Needless to say, my husband worked around he clock and under major pressure daily. Most mornings he was at work by 6:00 a.m. and got home at night around 7:00 p.m. Due to the position  held, he had a lot of responsibilities.  Even though he got home around 7:00 p.m., he would bring work home with him. There were countless evenings where he spent an hour or two on the phone with his employees or the owner of the company.

It All Began Summer of 2014

In June 2014 I noticed my husband experiencing different behaviors. Periodically, he would have severe panic attacks in the evenings and in the mornings. At times his condition grew so bad that he would become very nauseous and would vomit uncontrollably. When he Bagan getting physically I’ll, vomiting like this, we’d end up at the Emergency Room. Then after the medical staff couldn’t get his symptoms under control they would admit him. Each time he was admitted to the hospital his stay would last a week before his health was sustainable enough to come home.

These events took place every couple months. However, we did not make a correlation between the vomiting hospital stays and his anxiety. In fact, the doctors could not determine the reason why he’d get so sick. My husband ended up with a diagnosis of cyclic vomiting syndrome. In layman’s terms this means the Doctors had no clue as to what was causing it.

Several Months of Anxiety & Panic Attacks

As months went by, my husband’s anxiety and panic attacks became more severe. The duration of these horrible episodes grew longer and longer. In October 2014 I took the initiative and started calling local psychiatric providers to find him some help. After several phone calls I found a psychiatric board certified nurse. Everyone else was not taking new patients. Although I felt relief finding her, she was booked out until January 15th 2015! We scheduled the intake appointment and waited anyway.

In the mean time my husband’s Primary Care Doctor prescribed him an anti-anxiety medicine. It worked on some occasions but the anxiety would get so bad that nothing helped. But, after the long wait, we finally got in to see the psychiatric nurse. She scheduled regular sessions with him and began prescribing specialized medications. This process was that of elimination. Trying different meds to see which ones suppressed his symptoms and prevent anxiety.

First Diagnosis

As the nurse practitioner met with my husband regularly, and with both of us most times, his situation keep progressing despite the proper medication regimen. Through various tests she diagnosed him with generalized anxiety disorder and attention deficit disorder. As she watched his mental status decline she cautioned us that if he didn’t cut back at work and reduce his stress that his condition would be lethal.

I’d like to mention that this woman was not a therapist. Her expertise was in medicine management. She was a very nice, caring, and education woman. We grew quite fond of her. She continued trying to help my husband’s condition over the next couple of months.

In May 2015 right around “Mother’s Day” my husband’s mental state took a huge turn for the worst. He went into complete psychosis and became Suicidal.

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