[wotchermuggle]

Can someone remind me why I am even on medication? My moods are still up and down. Maybe I'm not even bipolar. My t thinks I have PTSD. Maybe meds are pointless?

[vans1974]

Hey wotchermuggle- I've been down that road along time ago, and so I tried to get off my meds, but felt so suicidal I ended up having to check myself in a psych ward. For me it's all about finding the right dosage and right med cocktail which takes so much time and effort but is so worth it to feel good! Best of luck and hang in there!

[wotchermuggle]

I've been at this for like 5 years

[venusss]

I don't know? Is is suck and less suck for you between unmedicated/medicated or is it rather suck and suck with side effects?

Are you dealing with your trauma issues? Once you get that under control, your bipolar will be probably much less bothersome.

Also... there is probably ALWAYS gonna be ups and downs. It's good idea to learn to be comfortable with them and body surf the waves more smoothly.

[czarina1984]

I've been playing the medication guinea pig game for almost 4 years now and my doctor just told me that the med they just put me on eventually stops working in your body as it gets used to it being there. Well what the **** is the point of putting me on something that's only going to work for a short period of time? I figure that med changes are my life now and just something I get to look forward to every month. As long as I make it thru that month I'm doing good.

[Phoenix_1]

I've been reading The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide. It's a very good book. He explains that with meds the highs are less high and the lows not as deep. We're still going to have highs and lows, but not as extreme as they would be without meds.

Sent from my Note 2 using Tapatalk 4

[nbritton]

Originally Posted by wotchermuggle

Can someone remind me why I am even on medication? My moods are still up and down. Maybe I'm not even bipolar. My t thinks I have PTSD. Maybe meds are pointless?

I spent the better part of a decade trying to find a cocktail of medications that worked well for me. It's extremely hard to find medications that control your symptoms and keep you functional. Finding a good doctor is just as hard.

Why does your therapist believe you have PTSD? What have you tried? Were you on anti-depressants when you tried x, y, or z?

[unlockingsanity]

erereere

[~Christina]

Medication isn't going to be a fix all. Dealing with underlying issues and building coping skills are just as important if not more important than just popping pills daily in hopes to not have mood issues ..
There is hope it just takes alot of work to feel better all the way around

[Victoria'smom]

Can someone remind me why I am even on medication? You have to decide that.

I've asked T over and over again. What we have decided:
- The mood swings don't go away with medication they just lessen the intensity and frequency.
- I actually don't put that much of a fight up when it comes to food. Which is a "good thing."
- I feel it keeps me out of incarceration whether jail or hospital. I forget this a lot.
- I can not go back on my current regimen if I come off
- I feel (but I forget a lot) it makes me a better parent

For PTSD there is medication
Antibiotics- for Anxiety, Sleep and emotional outbursts
SSRI- Concentration, depression, sleep and Anxiety
Prazosin. adrenaline responses, anxiety, and nightmare release
Anxiety medication

[wotchermuggle]

Originally Posted by nbritton

I spent the better part of a decade trying to find a cocktail of medications that worked well for me. It's extremely hard to find medications that control your symptoms and keep you functional. Finding a good doctor is just as hard.

Why does your therapist believe you have PTSD? What have you tried? Were you on anti-depressants when you tried x, y, or z?

My therapist has mentioned PTSD because of trauma, that I didn't know was "trauma".

I haven't been on a lot. My Pdoc said there aren't really other options.

I've been on Effexor, Lithium, Seroquel, and Zopiclone. There was another option other than Seroquel, but it has a possible side effect of ovarian cysts and I've already had a problem with that.

I just don't care. Does that make sense? I need help for sleep for sure, but I don't know if it really matters if I'm on meds or not otherwise.

I've been through this before. I have a hard time relating or remembering how things are when I'm off meds. Or if I'm depressed, I can't remember what it feels like not to be depressed. Or if my mood is fine, I can't remember the depression or relate to people who are depressed.

It's so messed.

[wotchermuggle]

Originally Posted by ~Christina

Medication isn't going to be a fix all. Dealing with underlying issues and building coping skills are just as important if not more important than just popping pills daily in hopes to not have mood issues ..
There is hope it just takes alot of work to feel better all the way around

Good point.

[wotchermuggle]

Originally Posted by Miguel'smom

Can someone remind me why I am even on medication? You have to decide that.

I've asked T over and over again. What we have decided:
- The mood swings don't go away with medication they just lessen the intensity and frequency.
- I actually don't put that much of a fight up when it comes to food. Which is a "good thing."
- I feel it keeps me out of incarceration whether jail or hospital. I forget this a lot.
- I can not go back on my current regimen if I come off
- I feel (but I forget a lot) it makes me a better parent

For PTSD there is medication
Antibiotics- for Anxiety, Sleep and emotional outbursts
SSRI- Concentration, depression, sleep and Anxiety
Prazosin. adrenaline responses, anxiety, and nightmare release
Anxiety medication

Did you really mean antibiotics?

[usehername]

Originally Posted by wotchermuggle

I've been through this before. I have a hard time relating or remembering how things are when I'm off meds. Or if I'm depressed, I can't remember what it feels like not to be depressed. Or if my mood is fine, I can't remember the depression or relate to people who are depressed.

It's so messed.

This is my experience too. If I'm manic, I feel like I've never been depressed before. My pdoc doesn't seem to believe me about it though.

[Victoria'smom]

Did you really mean antibiotics? Sorry, stupid auto-correct I meant anti-psychotics

[venusss]

Um, there is NO medication for trauma. All the stuff merely acts like pain-killers in that situation. You cannot medicate away trauma.

I actually heard nighmares, as horrid as they can be help you to process the bad ****. They keep one's brain from going all out crazy. So if this is true, I have no idea what good is it to supress them (maybe it's western medicine thing, treating body's coping mechanisms as something that needs to be done away with it. Just like fevers).

[Victoria'smom]

You take meds to refuse fever when it's to high until your body can handle it. I assume its the same thing.

[venusss]

Originally Posted by Miguel'smom

You take meds to refuse fever when it's to high until your body can handle it. I assume its the same thing.

Mild to moderate fevers are not bad for the body though and medicine to reduce fever, when taken in excess is harmful in the long run. Fevers are not pleasant, but they don't kill (mild or moderate level). Same with nightmares. It's coping mechanism, not something to be done away with immediatelly, imho.

Treating symptoms (or bodily coping mechanisms) as if they were the disease is not gonna help in the long run.

And trauma should be dealt, first and foremoremost, in therapy or simmilar process. You can do it totally without meds and imho, it's preferable way. Too much stuff in you can interfere with your processing stuff, especially the downers.

[Alokin]

Originally Posted by usehername

This is my experience too. If I'm manic, I feel like I've never been depressed before. My pdoc doesn't seem to believe me about it though.

I have the exact same experiences! Glad it's not just me!

[unlockingsanity]

Originally Posted by Alokin

I have the exact same experiences! Glad it's not just me!

Someone once told me there was a name for this experience, but I can't remember it. I've tried Google'ing it but I've never come across it again.

[Alokin]

Originally Posted by unlockingsanity

Someone once told me there was a name for this experience, but I can't remember it. I've tried Google'ing it but I've never come across it again.

It is some kind of amnesia LOL. Where is ResidentBipolar? He seems to be knowledgeable about such things....

[BipolaRNurse]

Originally Posted by usehername

This is my experience too. If I'm manic, I feel like I've never been depressed before. My pdoc doesn't seem to believe me about it though.

I'm the same way! I also have blackouts where I can't remember much about what happened during a manic episode.

[venusss]

You guys forget being depressed? Lucky you! I feel it's like a badly healed broken bone for me. It's alright, but it still is there. My memory recall in this aspect is too good.

[Victoria'smom]

I can even recognize being depressed when I am.

[IndieVisible]

Originally Posted by wotchermuggle

Can someone remind me why I am even on medication? My moods are still up and down. Maybe I'm not even bipolar. My t thinks I have PTSD. Maybe meds are pointless?

Since we are all different it's hard to explain or relate to some one else unless we experience the same thing. For me it's constant doubting because I can get stuck in what your in right now for a year and totally forget all the other 40 years. And begin to doubt every thing. I can also be stuck in a pretty much normal state or close enough to that for about a year and doubt there was every any thing wrong with me and forget the details from previous years. Then there is the times I get the rude awakening and reminder of what's going on. To say this is frustrating is a understatement! I've been off meds once for about 6 years! I thought I was cured or there was never any thing wrong with me! I thought as I get older things would mellow out, they have a little but not significantly. At 58 I some times just feel like giving up, what's the point? It never ends. Once again I forget all the good times! It is worth it my friend. However you feel right now will not last! It will eventually pass and perhaps you will even doubt there was any thing wrong at all.

As others have said, meds are not a cure, and some times they work and some times they don't work as well. Try to remember the good times you had. They will return!