Stranger inside

Does anyone ever feel like there is a stranger inside not literally like a separate personality. When I get manic and get in a rage I do things that after I am horrified at. I simply cannot believe I behave and do some of the things I do. I am not that person but I keepmdoingthe same things over and over. I am switching mess so I am pretty unstable so I am feeling so down about myself.

It's actually a very normal thing. Basically your mind becomes too energetic and your thoughts take the path of least resistance. You can change the path over time through thinking about slowing down and peace. Literally distracting yourself and changing your thoughts before your brain takes the automatic path.

I have had a time recently where I feel that I had a huge increase in my anger. I've never been an angry person. Now I get really explosive in a yelling way. It makes me sad to become so angry.

Taking lithium really mutes that for me. I still get angry but I don't start yelling and screaming.

Lithium worked so well for me. However I could not sleep ,ore than an hour straight I was always going to the bathroom even though I stopped drinking by 6. My face broke out in horrible purple cystic acne that would break open and bleed. Now I am on accutane to help it go away. I tried to tolerate it but after 7 months I could not take it anymore. I went on 350 of seroquel and lamictal but the last Month my anger and mood swings are back so the lamictal is not cutting it so I am off that.. We are going to give tegretol a shot but I am only on 400 and 400 of seroquel. I am going to 600 tegretol tonight then 800 in a week. I hope it works. I think a big part of the way I feel is Otis hard not being able to find something that works I remember I was told it takes at least a year to find the right meds. I laughed and said I hit it right away with the lithium.

My therapist talks about recognizing the signs and trying to slow down before I explode. Problem is it is out of my mouth before I even have time to think. I hope the tegretol will slow me down.

I can relate to u and agree w/ ManicD. Last summer I was a mess. I was diagnosed last Aug. Aug-Oct was hell til I found help. I started praying more. Listening to jazz and classical music, taking walks in the park, going to bookstores and coffee shops, going to art classes. The above was my way of slowing me down. I also listen to uplifting mental health videos on YouTube (Mary Ellen Copeland).

In September 2012 I was put on Lithium. Lamictal didn't work for me. I'll be praying for u and wish u luck on ur journey to peace and mental stability.

Thank you. My doctor seems confident that I will like the tegretol. Easy for him. To say.

I can identify. I sometimes snap and get angry at people (and myself) in a really overblown way. In my head I can see where it would go if it escalated further, but I never go that far, though sometimes I want to. People always think I am weird for those snaps that happen. It's like it my head I know I'm snapping unnecessarily but for some reason it feels good so I do it anyway. It's like the devil on my shoulder telling me to go ahead and SNAP! I think though that since being on BP meds my anger "switch" is a more under control.

Have you tried taking Omega 3 fatty acids? They worked wonders for me, that and
studying the Spiritual Exercises of Ignacious Loyola (on the net) gave me insight into
what was happening in the brain.

The use of fresh lemon juice helps, too, especially in relieving the acidic ash of meds. (They all cause acidic residue when digested. We can become too acidic in fluids and tissues unless we do something to alleviate it.) Use of one squeezed lemon into a glass of 8 oz. of cold water does help for some folks. If it hasn't worked in 4 hours, repeat it with another lemon. That is enough to calm the self strongly.

I know that you're thinking, "why lemons are extremely acid; how can that be?"
Yes, they are, but when they are digested, they leave an alkaline ash which is
extremely helpful to the kidneys in removing the acidic residue of meds.

Watch your intake of caffeine, please. That is a very strong problem for those of
us who are sensitive to caffeine. Alcohol should be eliminated, too, since it causes
depression to become worse.

The feeling that someone else is inside you is a toxic reaction to something in your
system, I think, and from the research I've done and from my own personal experience I know that it comes from caffeine in chocolate, coffee, tea, and anything else that has caffeine in it. I am one who is sensitive to them all. And
it causes the exact thing you are talking about.

Hope this helps.

Genetic

I see that you are taking fish oil. Good. It takes about three weeks or
so (for me) for it to show up in better feeling tone, but it is known that
the mediterranean diet, which is much higher in omega fatty acids than the western diet, is much, much healthier. The western diet is high in transfatty acids--wrong kind for the system!

I really hope you're going to find the right things to help. This is a matter
of eliminating the things that bother us chemically, I think.

Take care of yourself.

Best wishes,

Genetic

I can totally relate. The last time I was manic, I verbally accousted a teenage girl. And another time I started yellling and crying to an elderly lady in the dentist office. Yep, I worry about getting arrested if I get off my meds haha

I have been taking 4000 mg of fish oil for a year. I found the best thing that worked was lithium everything rolled off my shoulders. The change was dramatic however the side effects were intolerable.i think the missing piece at the moment is the correct med I am hoping my new med tegretol is going to help mellow my agitation which is what leads to me losing it.