Struggling with anxiety and bipolar disorder (m)

Have been doing so for over 10 years. I am going to therapy and am on meds. Yet, the effect of treatment seems transitory. On the outside, I seem to have it all. On the inside, I'm a mess. It is so frustrating to understand what is going on, yet not be able to solve the problem. I shouldn't think and feel like this, but am helpless in trying not to do so.

Just venting here.

welcome to psych central.

Bipolar is not an easy thing to cope with. Have you tried talking to your pdoc about maybe switching up yor meds. Sometimes meds poop out and stop working. Also it's ok to feel what you feel. You have every right feeling frustrated.

Welcome to PC!!

I also have bipolar and anxiety. Yes it took a while with the meds, but I'm getting more stable now. Just hang in there. I've been ill for over twenty years and I'm just starting to feel better.

I understand your frustration. I've been fighting depression/bipolar and anxiety for over 30 years and it seems to get better and then worse again. Hang in there and keep trying.

I also have bipolar and anxiety. The anxiety problem is relatively new. I am doing CBT therapy for the anxiety, but am not sure if it is helping. Klonopin is my friend.

I have both bipolar disorder and anxiety as well. I am pretty stable now, but it took a few tries for me to get the right medication combo. Hang in there, and keep trying!

Sometimes an extreme anxiety can come along as part of bipolar disorder, and that severe anxiety is a 'dysphoric mania'. When I was younger my hypomania took the form of elation, then it would tend to go into anger issues. As I've gotten older, the hypomania is all about a very severe anxiety. One of my pdocs a while back told me it's a 'dysphoric hypomania'.

I am pretty stable right now. A year ago my OCD had me rather worked up and impacted a healthy 'routine'. My Anxiety had me afraid of crowds and even waking down a street. Those things still weigh on my mind but the difference is I've some coping skills to deal with it.

A combination of medication and CBT became my lifelines.

Are you currently in therapy? Have perhaps a discussion on what is working and not working. What do you want to achieve. Make a plan with your therapist about how to do so - the plan should be incremental. Perhaps mention CBT or the Burns Model of therapy.

If the above is unattainable, consider turning to some self-help. The CBT model may be an answer for you too. Note: it takes a great deal of work - literally. Opt for a workbook with lots of worksheets.

Anxiety is exhausting - especially when we wear that public mask of being perfectly okay. It will build and build. Be careful then of sabotaging what is good in your life. That certainly was the pattern I followed for 30 years.

StrugglingLawyer..be careful...make sure to take the time to take care of yourself.
I for YEARS was doing great on the outside...horrible on the inside...I did not address it and ended up walking out on a great career...throwing my hands up...and life is hard now.

If I had taken care of me when I should have..I may not be sitting here in the shape I am today. Please heed warning.