Quote:
Originally Posted by Miguel'smom
Abilify/Lamictal combination is good for me for now but I'm not depressed right now. When I do get depressed again I'll be put on welbutrin.
My husband was like you misdiagnosed and just on an anti depressant. He was fine just had recurring depression. He'd quite his job when depressed and be in the room all the time. Then he'd get better Ace the job interview, be the best worker, be outgoing and just love life. His Psychiatrist didn't even pick up that he was hypo manic because it was so light. Then one day years after taking just an antidepressant He had stopped taking the antidepressant awhile ago. He had a manic episode.We waited it out and then went to a psychiatrist when he was safe to drive. He's stable now Still outgoing, volunteers 3 days a week, but still gets depressed at times. As we learned about his cycle we could see more and more that his problem dates back to his teens just no one caught it.
|
Thank you for sharing that. My cycle has generally been feeling off and out of it during the day and coming alive at night. I definitely had major depression at 16 and recurrences in my early 20's but on Lexapro (which was only prescribed for migraine, rather than depression), I had no debilitating depression for 10 years and no hypomanic episodes for 10 years also. I'd had the elevated mood and confidence frequently in my early twenties; coffee was just magical and seemed innocent enough perhaps even with health benefits.
I would have an elevated mood the first day or two if I didn't get enough sleep, but I always figured that was cause the part of my brain that conducts depressive/analytical/existential negative thoughts was too tired to contribute and so everything moved a bit more organically, on intuition/instinct. The same way people who are drunk are more freely "themselves" and a bit better feeling (I don't drink much personally).
On 10 mg Lexapro, coffee, a cigarette, and food (especially after accumulating good sleep) basically never failed to make me feel that everything was right. I had a lot of flexibility with my sleep schedule and never felt crisis-like. Naps were beautiful and I'd feel super afterwards. I was more engaged and enjoyed so much, focusing on other things instead of having myself under the microscope.
I got overexcited this summer delving into a new keyboard and all the possibilities it offered for composing, performing, etc. and spent so much time enjoying it, I lost track of time, accidentally doubled my dose of Lexapro, didn't sleep much and then wasn't able to sleep, so I became exhausted and scared and also had some recurrence of trauma about my best friend's suicide from 3 years ago. I went to the ER and felt good again once I'd slept after they gave me Ativan.
My "up" moods felt confined to a healthy range. I didn't do anything reckless, never hurt any friends or loved ones, no radical spending sprees, no drugs or alcoholism, just a feeling that life was fundamentally okay and that I was justifiably confident in myself and gifted. I'm having a really hard time processing the idea that many of the traits I valued most in myself are apparently just symptoms of a degenerative illness, except for default kindness which is constant whether I'm depressed or not. And I'm afraid to push myself too hard now out of fear it could lead to insomnia or mania.
I can appreciate why it takes so long for someone like your husband or me to receive a BP diagnosis. I'm having a tough time with it; not sure how severe mine is and how I want to live in the future in terms of meds, since I felt good/healthy for a good part of almost every day without any negative consequences on just an SSRI.