Falling Again...

I have been bipolar 1 with rapid cycling for several years and have tried just about every treatment. On Sunday I was manic and took some sleeping pills to calm me down and it worked but now I'm falling into the depressive side. I guess the only thing that is consistant is that it will happen. I have an appt with my pdoc on Thurs so I just have to hold on until then. Just want this to end so I can live a normal life where I can not worry about what cycle I'll be on or if I will be able to control myself. I hate being afraid of myself.

Hang in there. I'm bipolar 1, too, and know how hard it is some days waiting for the pdoc appointment. I think that we all want to have a normal life, whatever that is. ;-)

Actually, by now, you have probably already seen your pdoc. Don''t know how we missed your message so long. Sorry for that. PM me and let me know how it went.

My pdoc wants to change my meds again. That has been and will be every two weeks now. Feels like a rollercoaster of hope and disappointment with no end.

Youll get you meds straightened out. Im bp 1 too. Just keep telling your pdoc how you feel.

If your Bipolar I and rapid cucle ... most Pdoc have a med rotation to use , specific sets of meds that you can tolerate , and as things shift you can pop on over to X set .

I dont know if you have a T but that is really helpful when dealing with rapid cycling . How many times are you cycling ? and how much "normal baseline" are you getting in between ?

Along the lines of what Christina said, my understanding too is that therapy can be very helpful for very rapid cycling; especially DBT -have you tried this? It does sound like you need some additional help aside from the medications. Best of luck.

I have a therapist I see every two weeks and we are working on DBT. I am very sensitive to meds so I don't even have a PRN med just in case. I have had a lot of problems with my liver and it failing and not being able to handle the meds. Usually I cycle every 24 hours but this time it seems like 2-3 weeks. Not sure which is better.

I've asked about peoples' experience of this on this forum before, because I find it intriguing (and actually pretty confusing to me): as BPD is characterized by (amongst other things) rapid changes in mood, how do you distinguish between a BPD reactive mood and a bipolar mood, when you're cycling so rapidly (especially 24 hrs)?

.From PC:

Emotional instability due to significant reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days)

So in this context, how do you distinguish between BPD depression and irritability and Bipolar depression and irritability?

Sorry about the inquisitiveness, I'm always trying to understand this, and the people who know best are those who experience it. Thanks.

Honestly, I don't know the difference yet. They added BPD to my list when I was in the hospital last and I haven't gotten a straight answer on how they could tell a difference. My thought is that it depends on the severity but thats just a guess.