Kimmy,

I am so glad you made this post. I have been dealing with mis-diagnoses for the last 10-12 until three years ago when they finally pinned down I am in-fact bi-polar. The last four years have been (for lack of better term) Hell, with the new meds, the dosage changing, the other symptoms themselves, and changing of the dx.

As many of you know (thru chat) I recently sought a 2nd opinion because I didn't feel my pdoc was listening to me when I was TELLING him I was getting manic. In some cases, SSRI's/AD's (like Paxil CR) can cause manic symptoms/episodes (this is straight from family doc of 15yrs). Yeah, put myself in the hands of a professional, and he screws me up even more by throwing me into a manic state for 4 months.

My new pdoc has excellent credentials and (shock) he actually listened to ME, not what was on a piece of paper. I'm not thrilled about Lithium, but I am going to do whatever it takes to get back to being myself again.

I agree with you, the meds are necessary, but another thing to remember is you have to have the will to want to get well again, and therapy is ALWAYS a plus.

Every person is going to react to every med differently, just bear that in mind.

Jenn