Trippin,

Thank you for your reply.

After I read your reply I Googled Bipolar Affective Disorder. I found your viewpoint repeated over and over. "Affect" equals mood.

So, apparently the two terms are synonymous. Strange.

I guess kind of like calling an old dog an 'old dog' or calling it a 'mutt'. Here is one example of many:

BIPOLAR AFFECTIVE DISORDER - FACT SHEET

Bipolar affective disorder is also known as manic depression or bipolar depression. It is a mood disorder in which the sufferer experiences marked mood swings which are beyond what most people experience.


Now, any one got any ideas what is meant by 'NEC'?

Trippen, I enjoy your sig line. That is cool. I'm not judging but I am curious, do others judge you negatively when you talk about being BP but that you don't use meds? Who cares with others think. No one knows you better than yourself.

One of my hopes/wishes in life is to be med-free (Wellburtin - 3 tabs of 150 mgs per day, Seroquel 300 mgs at bedtime - 3 tabs of 20 mgs of Ritalin a day, and up to two mgs of Klonopin per day).

The Ritalin is for ADD (inattentive type). Plus, it helps with depression. The Klon is for anxiety. I tend to be an anxious person. Genetics. Somedays I go without any Klon.

My shrink retired last month. The dude that took over her practice . . . He was ONE and DONE. He wants to taper me off of Ritalin. He would not write a Klon script. He labeled them as 'bad' drugs. 'Highly addictive'. Well . . . if he would have checked my 8 years history (I'll be fifty in May) of using those two meds - he would have found that neither has been abused. I have been taking basically the same dose of those two EXCELLENT meds for the last 8 years . . .

Additionally, the shrink above wants me to take 300mgs of Seroquel at night and during the day. I tried a 150 during the day (like around 1pm) and I could barely finish the work day. I teach elementary P.E.. And I could barely jog. I could not catch a ball. Seroquel is very sedating and after 25 years of teaching elementary PE and having 3 daughters of my own (all under the age of 11) - I do not need to be a ZOMBIE during the day. I need energy during the day.

My brother is a MD. General practice. His thoughts were some docs just don't prescribe those medications because of the POSSIBLE hassle with them. He said personally he does not prescribe narcotics anymore.

However, big bro also said I need Klon and Rit to do my job. So, find a shrink that will prescribe what has worked for you in the past. Hence, I'm currently shrink shopping. Anybody got any tips on that? Big bro's thoughts were that the shrink I just got down with is very, very bad. He said, "RUN FROM THAT DUDE!"

I told that shrunk, "Can we try this in the summer? Changing my meds so radically in the middle of the year . . . could result in a BIG CRASH and loss of employment for me." Mr. Bad Doc said something to the effect of "NO! No better time than to start today!"

Big bro said that showed no empathy towards my current position in my life. Then bro asked me a very insightful question: "Did he ask how you were feeling? Did he ask how you were doing?" I reflected back . . . "NO! He did not!" That seems like Psych 101 . . . ask the patient who they are doing . . .

I got a Feb 18th appointment with a different shrink. I will never see the above one again. As stated above, he was 'one and done'.

Thanks again!

PS: on my meds - they are all generic. Insurance company pulled the plug on branded Seroquel. Therefore, I am not able to take the longer lasting kind. The old shrink said she would write a letter to the insurance company about 'me doing better on the branded' but she never got around to it. I mentioned it to BAD Doc, He said, "NO . . . we are not going to call/mess around with insurance companies..." He had my scripts already 'cookie-cuttered' out before he even said a word to me. Before he ever say me.