Hi everyone. Bipolar, currently rapid cycyling (or mixed). Strange thing is, for my whole bipolar career (past 23 years) I've been very stable. When foolishly off meds, I either had longish periods of depression or longish periods of mania.

Now, 23 years into, my stabilizer apparently stopped working and I have rapid cycling/mixed. When I say rapid, I mean back and forth and all over the place numerous times a day.

Has this been anyone's experience - - where illness changes course decades later? It's been so intolerable. Getting off tegretol and starting lamictal next week. I need relief!

[Trippin2.0]

and yes there definitly are changes in how cycles present themselves.

I've gone from Bi-weekly to weekly cycles... then to ultradian cycling (when I quit my meds). That lasted about 3 months, multiple shifts a day was exhausting Currently I'm at maybe once a month or so, idk, haven't really been keeping score.

My symptoms have changed too, I'm way more aggitated and irritable. My hypomanias are never euphoric anymore, and become dysphoric after day 4. My depressions are no longer dramatic, I rather cease to care about anything, and basically "check out" of life for a while...

Didnt mean to type so much, should of just said "Yes, I get it"

[BipolaRNurse]

I get it, too. Used to be that my depressions happened at least annually and went on for months, and my hypo/manic episodes were blissful but lasted only a week or two. I also had long periods of normal mood in between. Now it's almost the opposite; I have far more hypomania, full-blown mania and mixed states than depressive episodes, and my "stable" periods last only for a few weeks, maybe two months if I'm lucky.

I'm sure the main reason for all of this is the enormous amount of stress in my life during the past couple of years; it seems to have turned a mostly sub-threshold type of BP into a monster. My hope is that either the stress will resolve or I'll continue to develop better coping skills---or both---and the disorder will go back into its nifty little hiding place.

[ultramar]

Originally Posted by newgal2

Hi everyone. Bipolar, currently rapid cycyling (or mixed). Strange thing is, for my whole bipolar career (past 23 years) I've been very stable. When foolishly off meds, I either had longish periods of depression or longish periods of mania.

Now, 23 years into, my stabilizer apparently stopped working and I have rapid cycling/mixed. When I say rapid, I mean back and forth and all over the place numerous times a day.

Has this been anyone's experience - - where illness changes course decades later? It's been so intolerable. Getting off tegretol and starting lamictal next week. I need relief!

Since this is not at all normal for you, is there anything going on in your life (stressors) that might be contributing to this? I think, like bipolarnurse said, if there's a lot of stress going on it can send episodes into overdrive. If not, maybe it's a medication issue. I hope the new one helps --good luck!

[PBCMom]

I recently had a psychiatrist tell me it is not uncommon for cycles or episodes to become more frequent as a patient gets older.

[BipolaRNurse]

Originally Posted by PBCMom

I recently had a psychiatrist tell me it is not uncommon for cycles or episodes to become more frequent as a patient gets older.

Well, now THERE'S a happy thought....... But it does seem to be happening that way, although the episodes are shorter and somewhat less intense now that I'm on multiple medications.

Which is why I'm glad I can't see into the future---if I knew I was going to wind up like some of my nursing-home residents with bombed-out minds and horrible psychoses, I'd rather check out now, thank you very much.

[ultramar]

Originally Posted by BipolaRNurse

Well, now THERE'S a happy thought....... But it does seem to be happening that way, although the episodes are shorter and somewhat less intense now that I'm on multiple medications.

Which is why I'm glad I can't see into the future---if I knew I was going to wind up like some of my nursing-home residents with bombed-out minds and horrible psychoses, I'd rather check out now, thank you very much.

I don't think more frequent cycles are necessarily the case --I have heard that without treatment, it will get worse with time (obviously there are exceptions). I would think, actually, if you (anyone) is on a good treatment regimen and don't have comorbid issues that might trigger more frequent mood swings, then with time episodes may well get more few and far between. I think this is a reasonable way of looking at the crystal ball. There's no reason you'll get to that point, bipolarnurse, you have a good treatment team, you're going to be okay!!

[Tsunamisurfer]

Originally Posted by newgal2

Hi everyone. Bipolar, currently rapid cycyling (or mixed). Strange thing is, for my whole bipolar career (past 23 years) I've been very stable. When foolishly off meds, I either had longish periods of depression or longish periods of mania.

Now, 23 years into, my stabilizer apparently stopped working and I have rapid cycling/mixed. When I say rapid, I mean back and forth and all over the place numerous times a day.

Has this been anyone's experience - - where illness changes course decades later? It's been so intolerable. Getting off tegretol and starting lamictal next week. I need relief!

Hi Newgal2.
I had a fairly similar experience to yours.
I was on and off antidepressants for 2 decades, then began a slide into deep depression over 3 years. A pdoc put me back onto antidepressants, and I immediately went into a manic state which turned mixed with ultradian cycling. 3 years later, I still ultra rapid cycle, but the peaks and troughs are less severe. I have been on Valproate and Lamotrigine for a year now. Lamictal has been the best stabiliser I have had. I hope it works well for you.

TS