Hey peeps, I really avoided this forum bc before it was so contentious. But things seem to have changed.

I'm really struggling, went into a psychosis 3 yrs ago and was diagnosed with bp and PTSD. Things haven't been the same since the psychosis. I struggle with paranoia more now than I ever did in the past. I just started taking risperdal again to deal with it. I've been on the non weight gainers, but I get really bad akathasia with them. Yesterday I was about to end it, but I decided I needed extra help and started the risperdal disoablevible again...it sucks, already feeling really hungry and eating more. I just hate having this disorder....

[Double Edge]

Originally Posted by sunshine1995

Hey peeps, I really avoided this forum bc before it was so contentious. But things seem to have changed.

I'm really struggling, went into a psychosis 3 yrs ago and was diagnosed with bp and PTSD. Things haven't been the same since the psychosis. I struggle with paranoia more now than I ever did in the past. I just started taking risperdal again to deal with it. I've been on the non weight gainers, but I get really bad akathasia with them. Yesterday I was about to end it, but I decided I needed extra help and started the risperdal disoablevible again...it sucks, already feeling really hungry and eating more. I just hate having this disorder....

I'm sorry to hear you're having such a rough time. I get akathisia from Abilify, and I cannot freaking take it anymore. Also hate the weight gain. I'm talking to my pdoc tomorrow about switching to something else. Maybe there's something you can change in your meds that will be easier to deal with?

I just found out I have BP I last week. I was dx'd with PTSD back in June of 2010; dealt with major depression for many years. I found I felt the most paranoid when my PTSD flares up. It took about two years for my PTSD to subside after the initial dx, then I had my first retrigger last October which brought back all those paranoid (among other things) feelings. At least, I always attributed my paranoia to PTSD, but I've noticed many people mentioning paranoia as a symptom of their BP, so it makes me wonder if it's better accounted for by BP? Or maybe it's worsened when a person has both PTSD and BP? I still get a lot of paranoid thoughts around/about other people, which I previously attributed to social anxiety or PTSD, but now I'm thinking it's more likely a function of my BP, or some kind of interaction between PTSD and BP.

You're definitely not alone, and I wish you the best in managing your symptoms. Just the fact that you're cognizant of your paranoia is a huge thing and means you can work with it, so don't give up. Maybe some cognitive behavioral therapy to help with rationalizing thinking when you get paranoid thoughts? Everything takes time and it sucks, and as lame as it sounds, sometimes you just have to take it one day at a time, and that's 100% okay. Hang in there.

[Love&Toil]

Originally Posted by sunshine1995

Yesterday I was about to end it, but I decided I needed extra help and started the risperdal disoablevible again...it sucks, already feeling really hungry and eating more. I just hate having this disorder....

I'm glad you didn't end it and decided to look for something else to help!!!

[tailie angel]

I wish I could stop gaining weight! I currently weigh 240 lbs!! I'm so HUGE. I feel so ugly, but I can't seem to shed the lbs. I don't know how to deal with it. I wish I would excerise more but sometimes I'm just so down I just don't feel like doing anything at all.

Originally Posted by Double Edge

I'm sorry to hear you're having such a rough time. I get akathisia from Abilify, and I cannot freaking take it anymore. Also hate the weight gain. I'm talking to my pdoc tomorrow about switching to something else. Maybe there's something you can change in your meds that will be easier to deal with?

I just found out I have BP I last week. I was dx'd with PTSD back in June of 2010; dealt with major depression for many years. I found I felt the most paranoid when my PTSD flares up. It took about two years for my PTSD to subside after the initial dx, then I had my first retrigger last October which brought back all those paranoid (among other things) feelings. At least, I always attributed my paranoia to PTSD, but I've noticed many people mentioning paranoia as a symptom of their BP, so it makes me wonder if it's better accounted for by BP? Or maybe it's worsened when a person has both PTSD and BP? I still get a lot of paranoid thoughts around/about other people, which I previously attributed to social anxiety or PTSD, but now I'm thinking it's more likely a function of my BP, or some kind of interaction between PTSD and BP.

You're definitely not alone, and I wish you the best in managing your symptoms. Just the fact that you're cognizant of your paranoia is a huge thing and means you can work with it, so don't give up. Maybe some cognitive behavioral therapy to help with rationalizing thinking when you get paranoid thoughts? Everything takes time and it sucks, and as lame as it sounds, sometimes you just have to take it one day at a time, and that's 100% okay. Hang in there.

Yeah, I really think it's a combo of ptsd and bp 1 for me. They seem to feed off each other. It really sucks.

Well this may be tmi, but I just started my period, so I think that led to the increase in paranoia. It's weird, since I've been off the aps, I seem to get my period frequently???

Oh yeah akathisia is horrible. I'm so sorry you're dealing with that. you can look into congentin, benadryl, mirapex and other meds to help with it. But my problem was I would have to take massive amounts of those meds to get the akathasia to go away. And I was taking them every 45 min so it would take like 5 hrs to get it to go away...it was horrible.

Now I think I'm either gonna see about going on a low dose of latuda with congentin or see about getting metformin by my gp for the weight gain from the risperdal....Ugh, it's so hard when you deal with the paranoia too.

I hope everything works out for you.

Originally Posted by tailie angel

I wish I could stop gaining weight! I currently weigh 240 lbs!! I'm so HUGE. I feel so ugly, but I can't seem to shed the lbs. I don't know how to deal with it. I wish I would excerise more but sometimes I'm just so down I just don't feel like doing anything at all.

I know it's so hard.

I've been crying so hard tonight over some abuse I went through in this organization. It's soooo hard.

I don't feel comfortable saying what organization it is, sorry. It's just twice as hard imo when you're bp with ptsd.