</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
if I refuse to get medication, I was gonna ask about that. How does medication for bipo work? What kind of drugs and how much do you have to take? What kind of side effects? How LONG do you have to take them? What if you don't? Is there someone, who used to feel like they didn't want anything out of life, didn't care if you ended up living on the street... and now with medication would actually want something out of life?

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

Bipolar is today by a number of different medications. First, however is a drug to control the mood swings. Traditionally, this has been lithium carbonate, a naturally occurring salt. Lithium works well as a mood stablilizer, but can have a number of different bothersome side effects like shakiness, feeling "slow" and so on. Personally, I take 1800 mg of Lithium a day, that is, 2x300 mg capsules 3 times a day. It made me feel a bit strange at first, but I don't notice it now. There are newer medicines, notably Lamictal and Depakote that work very well for many people that have fewer side effects. They are a different class of drug entirely, so they are often used in conjunction with Lithium, at the doctor's discretion.

OK, now the hard part...since bipolar manifests in so many different ways in different people, lots of differing drugs may be added to the mix; any of the antidepressants, antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, you name it...it just depends on the other symptoms that are present. There is a significant body of opinion that says antidepressants may worsen the cycling of BP...my personal feeling is that is true for most folks. I have been BPII (Depressed) for years. I now take less AD medication than I have for years, and I have been more mood stable than I have been for years, but the jury is still out.

If you decide to try medication, do some homework and find a pdoc who is keeping up with what's going on in the field of bipolar treatment. You will have a much better chance of receiving proper care.

If you don't take meds, research shows you will probably get worse as you age. You may or may not have trouble with jobs and relationships due to your condition. A person close to me managed to hang on to a good job for nearly 20 years, getting average reviews and raises...she was then DX'd BP, started lithium therapy, and within 6 months was getting rave job reviews and promotions. So, yeah, I think it's worth it. Also, you'll probably take the meds all your life.

The good part is, bipolar folks are generally incredibly bright (myself excepted) and capable people, and function at a very high level, so there's no reason to think of this as something to be ashamed of...it's just a chronic disease that has to be managed, and the tools to do this are getting better and better all the time.

Good luck, Neri...I hope you will get the right kind of help. You have a good heart AND a good mind, you just have to take a little extra care of them. I'm here and so are lots of others who want to help you do that.

DJ