[thebelljar12]

Does anyone else with type 2 experience this?

After being moderately depressed for a few months, I switched my meds and now I'm coming back towards a hypomanic/"stabilized" phase.

I feel like no matter what, I am either depressed or irritable. On the up side of the spectrum, I can't experience the good parts of being hypomanic. I just get a bunch of irritable-like emotions like pissy, paranoid, impatient, and genuinely female dog-like. I feel hyper for short spans of time but its never in a good way. There's always one of the negative feelings mixed in. Rarely can I truly enjoy being happy for more than a few seconds at a time.

I plan on discussing this with both my psychiatrist and therapist but I want to ask about peoples experiences with "mood stabilization". Is there such a thing as being truly stabilized? I have been what's called non-symptomatic but it was years ago, before I was diagnosed, not on meds, and I don't remember it. Is there any hope?

This is the 2nd time I've gone through the med cocktail fiasco and my 2nd time I've been in a sort of hypomanic state. It's sad to think that in just a little over a year I feel like I'm right back where I started. I've learned a lot during that time but it's still frustrating to still not understand it.

[Victoria'smom]

Readjusting medication sucks. but you're not right where you started, you know a lot more about your illness.I would seriously talk to your psychiatrist and therapist about your prognosis. and see what are the things you can do to become stable. A lot of people on here say dialect behavior therapy, meditation,exercise, diet, all help the mood swings.

[thebelljar12]

Originally Posted by Miguel'smom

Readjusting medication sucks. but you're not right where you started, you know a lot more about your illness.I would seriously talk to your psychiatrist and therapist about your prognosis. and see what are the things you can do to become stable. A lot of people on here say dialect behavior therapy, meditation,exercise, diet, all help the mood swings.

Thank you dear

[~Christina]

I think in terms of this ...

Most people aren't treated or diagnosed Bipolar until a Crisis of some sorts happens. So prior to that Crisis how was your life ? Did you have ups and downs? Or maybe your white knuckled life like I did. I never thought I could have Bipolar I thought everyone had a racing mind and ridiculous mood swings. I was diagnosed at age 44 , yeah shocked me.

So I get handed med combo after med combo , pissy side effects and all the unknown about Bipolar had me a bloody mess on all levels.

I started reading everything I could find on Bipolar. Saw my T weekly, used up way too many to count boxes of tissues . I kept searching for info, I stumbled across PC and I lurked for months, reading. I finally joined and posting a bit here and there... within a few weeks I met some of the most amazing people. I am lucky to have them as friends. So the unwavering support was and is huge for me.

I slowly started adding all the tips and ideas I read on here along with the things I learned in therapy . Slowly things were improving , yes slowly.

I have ups and downs like everyone on the planet Bipolar or not. I have a tool box over flowing with coping skills, breathing exercises, self grounding, oh the list goes on .. Some days I need one or two, some days I need the whole damn thing to keep going. But I have knowledge and support . So my good days far outweight the bad now. Many people think they will always suffer horrible moods swings and they have no control, I disagree .... I personally think its possible to decrease the amount or severity of mine by using all the skills I have learned .

If your on meds and not happy with them by all means talk to your Pdoc .. You have to be your own avocate. My Pdoc loves the fact that I research the hell out of medications and him and I both agree on what meds I would try or continue.

One thing I did have to do what change the way I thought about Bipolar and how it effects my life.. I was very negative about myself so it made my symptoms much worse.

I hope you can find ways to feel better

[BinaryMan]

*raises hand* Yep, over here! I have not been on meds long and they are stepping me up to working dose. Before I did not have this much irritability. But now I got Depressed-irritable and hypomanic-irritable. My girlfriend wants to strangle me. I am fortunate at work I can lock myself in my cube and plug in my earbuds and just drown everything out. Not so lucky at home. That's where the paranoia sets in (I keep thinking my gf is trying to control me which can not be further from the truth) and I get cranky with her. I try to limit contact but she is at the end of her rope and needs some affection from me to keep going. Not easy to do when I'm an irritable prick.