Quote:
Originally Posted by ajreacs
1. Are you periods of mania less recognizable than your periods of depression, or was it like that before you knew you had the disorder?
2. Did you doubt that you could actually have the disorder even when you heard about it earlier in life, or did you know quickly?
3. Were you put on antidepressants prior to your diagnosis that wrecked your normal mood patterns?
|
1. I think it started that way, but circumstance may have allowed that previous mania to just look like having lots of physical things that had to be done in fairly short order. The last one though... it was going "for the money" as it were, but I'd also promised myself to see a doc, so I went anyway, and she stopped it before I broke my life.
2. My depressions always got better in a reasonable amount of time, and bipolar people switch by the hour or day, right? A few months down, an occasional "ability" to work incredible hours with incredible levels of energy for a few weeks, that's just me being healthy and awesome! yes?
3. I've never been on an antidepressant. Kinda hope I don't have to use one. Most of the academic stuff I've read&watched gives me the feeling that half the problem is an AD making things worse, but the withdrawal effect making it very difficult to get the patient off. So, if I can end up on my stabilizer and maybe an AP for the paranoia, I think I can sleep discipline and CBT myself safely to the other side of the void.... (course, I'm still mildly 'up' so I might be overestimating myself again....)
fwiw, I am recently diagnosed, relatively old.