stopping taking bipolar meds. Is it wise???

...someone agrees with me for once! o.O

I went off mine recently and it threw me into a crazy depression followed by a very exhausting emotional roller coaster. Stay on your meds or be ready for a whole wave of emotions. Plus I've always heard anti-depressants alone are bad news for people with bp

I can only speak for myself, but I believe that antidepressants are what triggered my diagnosing manic episode in the first place.

sorry that you're feeling more depressed. I take BP meds and have stopped taking them before on my own. I found myself stuck and not able to pull my way out. The bad thing for me is the isolation and not wanting to go to the doctors for help.

I understand what ur all saying but I've been taking this combo of meds for nearly a year now and at first they seemed to help but now they are not.

That's why you talk to a doctor first...Get new meds, get a better dosage...

You are throwing the baby out with the bathwater! All you need is a dosage adjustment! At the most an additional or replacement med. You've got yourself so locked into this "oncoming depression, I can't take it" mode that you are setting yourself up for defeat at an even worse level than you could possibly imagine. Take the d*** meds, call your pdoc - and keep calling until you get a reply.

Harsh, yes, but it's something you need to hear.

I'm going to ring my GP in the morning if I wake up in time. Might not be able to get an appointment till friday tho!

I have an appointment with my GP in the morning so hopefully she'll be able to help

Larakeziah:

I'm sorry to hear that. I know it can be hard to find a new p.doc, have you tried that? And maybe look around in the community close to your home for support grous, etc. Where I live we have a "depressive's union"-sort of thing..

Not sure if we do or not have any support groups. I'll ask my GP. I've asked if I can change PDocs but the other one is booked up. So am stuck with this one!! I've been off my anti psychotics for over a week now might be 2 not sure can't think straight! Can't sleep more than a couple of hrs which is an improvement from spending all day in bed!! My thoughts are whizzing round I can't stop them I can't stop the voices. I want to do so much but don't know where to start!! Just keep jumping from one thing to another! I feel so restless!!

isn't that the truth.

It is not an improvement, it is equally bad.

What you are describing sounds like hypomania (if not outright mania). BE CAREFUL! It seems that Abilify was effective in preventing the high energy state. Please describe to your GP what you wrote in this post of yours; it is important.

Agree with hamster-bamster.
It sounds like some sort of mania-hypomania. It could get worse of you just let it evolve. You need extra medication to calm you down or you'll end up in a BAD depression. It's better to treat in advance, because then you can keep both the depressions and manias from emerging. They're always so closely related.

You can also look on the internet for support groups near your house, I was in one (sort of) where we discussed a lot of things. It was so useful. But I'd say wait till you're more stable.