[Kooma94]

Hi! I'm new here, but an old hand at living with mental illness. I was diagnosed with MDD a year or two after I started primary school and had to spend time in psychiatric wards on several occasions during my childhood. I didn't question my diagnosis for a long time, but a couple of years ago I started to wonder if I was bipolar instead. I can recall numerous periods of elevated mood, activity and ambition that began occurring in my early teen years and have persisted to this day. I think I'm going through one now.

I let the idea sit in the back of my mind until a year ago, when my condition got unbearably bad and I had to seek professional help. I met with apsychiatrist primarily because of severe suicidal ideation, but I also wanted to talk about the possible bipolar disorder. Unfortunately the pdoc didn't seem very interested in my ideas and simply put me on an SSRI and prescribed a low dose of quetiapine to be taken PRN. I was assigned a psychiatric nurse whom I saw every other week so that they could keep track of my condition.

I didn't like the nurse. He seemed very cold and uninterested in what I had to say. I kept trying to bring up BP and he kept completely ignoring me. I cried after most visits. This went on for months, until I just stopped going. I also stopped taking the meds, since I felt like they weren't helping. I quit school (for the third time in five years) because at this point I had been to barely any classes for six months. Not a big loss since I wasn't cut out for marketing, I felt like it was killing my soul, figuratively speaking. Roughly three months later I met with a very nice nurse who arranged for me to get a new psychiatrist and psychiatric nurse.

My new pdoc and nurse seemed much better than the previous pair. They actually took my BP theory seriously and after a few visits the pdoc told me it had probably been a good idea to stop taking the SSRI. I was assigned a psychologist whom I met twice a week for a month to receive extensive psychological and cognitive testing. The tests are now done and in a couple of weeks at most I will meet with my pdoc, nurse and psychologist to receive a full diagnosis and discuss treatment. I predict it will be something on the bipolar spectrum, generalized anxiety disorder and avoidant personality disorder. Whatever they tell me, I'm sure it'll be a load off my mind.

I'm not exactly sure why I'm posting this, it's almost noon here and I haven't slept yet... I guess I just wanted to say hi and share a bit. Sorry for the rambling and any abuse of the English language I might have inadvertently committed.

From Finland with love.

[pirilin]

Hi Kooma,
Welcome!!!
It feels good to share our experiences. That why you're posting.
We are here to learn from everybody's experiences.
Post often!!!.

[Ocean Swimmer]

Hi. Finland must be a beautiful place.
I've been to France. Hong Kong. S Korea. Mexico. Now I live 6 mo a yr in Costa Rica.

[Bijinkies]

Originally Posted by Kooma94

Hi! I'm new here, but an old hand at living with mental illness. I was diagnosed with MDD a year or two after I started primary school and had to spend time in psychiatric wards on several occasions during my childhood. I didn't question my diagnosis for a long time, but a couple of years ago I started to wonder if I was bipolar instead. I can recall numerous periods of elevated mood, activity and ambition that began occurring in my early teen years and have persisted to this day. I think I'm going through one now.

I let the idea sit in the back of my mind until a year ago, when my condition got unbearably bad and I had to seek professional help. I met with apsychiatrist primarily because of severe suicidal ideation, but I also wanted to talk about the possible bipolar disorder. Unfortunately the pdoc didn't seem very interested in my ideas and simply put me on an SSRI and prescribed a low dose of quetiapine to be taken PRN. I was assigned a psychiatric nurse whom I saw every other week so that they could keep track of my condition.

I didn't like the nurse. He seemed very cold and uninterested in what I had to say. I kept trying to bring up BP and he kept completely ignoring me. I cried after most visits. This went on for months, until I just stopped going. I also stopped taking the meds, since I felt like they weren't helping. I quit school (for the third time in five years) because at this point I had been to barely any classes for six months. Not a big loss since I wasn't cut out for marketing, I felt like it was killing my soul, figuratively speaking. Roughly three months later I met with a very nice nurse who arranged for me to get a new psychiatrist and psychiatric nurse.

My new pdoc and nurse seemed much better than the previous pair. They actually took my BP theory seriously and after a few visits the pdoc told me it had probably been a good idea to stop taking the SSRI. I was assigned a psychologist whom I met twice a week for a month to receive extensive psychological and cognitive testing. The tests are now done and in a couple of weeks at most I will meet with my pdoc, nurse and psychologist to receive a full diagnosis and discuss treatment. I predict it will be something on the bipolar spectrum, generalized anxiety disorder and avoidant personality disorder. Whatever they tell me, I'm sure it'll be a load off my mind.

I'm not exactly sure why I'm posting this, it's almost noon here and I haven't slept yet... I guess I just wanted to say hi and share a bit. Sorry for the rambling and any abuse of the English language I might have inadvertently committed.

From Finland with love.

Hi Finland. greetings from the bottom end of the world in australia. Our former primeminister used to call it the arse end but in space, which side is up.?I think its you guys, Anyway I'm just rambling too. You sound like you've had a rough trot. It is so sad that you started getting sick as a little kid. I hope you are getting good psychiatric help at last and have a good support network. It's hard to maintain friendships when you are sick. But you'd be surprised at how compassionate people can be although you are going to get your os and sos. I'm sort of speaking rubbish because I'm here for a support network. I'm manic and I've got a family to look after. My best friends are either having marraige breakups, one's a psych nurse which is funny and one is bipolar and she has just got married so I don't to burden them right now. BUt the wheels are falling off. I've gone to my excellent psychiatrist (shop around by the way and get a goody.I got a rubbish one to start with he was talking about his book tours.)It takes a couple of weeks for the meds to kick in.I'm not full blown crazy yet which is good.What do you do in your down time do you like to read. Sometimes my concentration is an issue but I usually like too. Do you go cross country skyiing. You lucky thing I love the snow. Anyway good luck and best wishes I hope your life turns out well with this new diagnosis and treatment.

[1278]

Hi Kooma, welcome to the forum! I'm also new here and have received a lot of support and great advice from everyone. Don't feel hesitant to post, everyone is very welcoming.

[gina_re]

Welcome!! And thank you for sharing! Please feel free to post as much as you need. This is a very supportive community. We're glad you're here.

[violetgreen]

Hi Kooma, I'm new here, too, and sharing helps. So does the right dx and treatment.

[Kooma94]

The appointment has been set, it'll be 3 weeks from now... I'm really anxious about the whole thing, especially the results from the cognitive tests. I scored well when they put me through the tests as a kid, but I really think I might've gotten worse. I was so nervous while taking them that I felt sick and tensed my muscles so hard they hurt for a couple of days. I think it's because I'm afraid I'll disappoint people if I don't do well, even though I can't think of who those people might be. I might have to ask the psychologist not to tell me my scores.

On more positive note, the last of the results from my second round of blood tests (they're being really thorough) came back and they have improved a lot compared to the previous ones from December. Everything is within normal levels now, probably due to weight loss, eating better food and taking supplements.

Oh, and I'd like to thank you all for the warm welcome.

[1278]

Hey Kooma I'm glad your blood tests came back normal The cognitive tests seem stressful Try not to worry about it, and you can always discuss with your psychologist if you actually need to know the scores or not.

[ComfortablyNumb5]

Originally Posted by Kooma94

Hi! I'm new here, but an old hand at living with mental illness. I was diagnosed with MDD a year or two after I started primary school and had to spend time in psychiatric wards on several occasions during my childhood. I didn't question my diagnosis for a long time, but a couple of years ago I started to wonder if I was bipolar instead. I can recall numerous periods of elevated mood, activity and ambition that began occurring in my early teen years and have persisted to this day. I think I'm going through one now.

I let the idea sit in the back of my mind until a year ago, when my condition got unbearably bad and I had to seek professional help. I met with apsychiatrist primarily because of severe suicidal ideation, but I also wanted to talk about the possible bipolar disorder. Unfortunately the pdoc didn't seem very interested in my ideas and simply put me on an SSRI and prescribed a low dose of quetiapine to be taken PRN. I was assigned a psychiatric nurse whom I saw every other week so that they could keep track of my condition.

I didn't like the nurse. He seemed very cold and uninterested in what I had to say. I kept trying to bring up BP and he kept completely ignoring me. I cried after most visits. This went on for months, until I just stopped going. I also stopped taking the meds, since I felt like they weren't helping. I quit school (for the third time in five years) because at this point I had been to barely any classes for six months. Not a big loss since I wasn't cut out for marketing, I felt like it was killing my soul, figuratively speaking. Roughly three months later I met with a very nice nurse who arranged for me to get a new psychiatrist and psychiatric nurse.

My new pdoc and nurse seemed much better than the previous pair. They actually took my BP theory seriously and after a few visits the pdoc told me it had probably been a good idea to stop taking the SSRI. I was assigned a psychologist whom I met twice a week for a month to receive extensive psychological and cognitive testing. The tests are now done and in a couple of weeks at most I will meet with my pdoc, nurse and psychologist to receive a full diagnosis and discuss treatment. I predict it will be something on the bipolar spectrum, generalized anxiety disorder and avoidant personality disorder. Whatever they tell me, I'm sure it'll be a load off my mind.

I'm not exactly sure why I'm posting this, it's almost noon here and I haven't slept yet... I guess I just wanted to say hi and share a bit. Sorry for the rambling and any abuse of the English language I might have inadvertently committed.

From Finland with love.

Hey there and welcome! If you feel you're not getting adequate care then there's nothing abnormal about switching docs. It can get frustrating depending on insurance and availability (however I'm not familiar to how it is where you are). We all deserve good care and a proper DX so we can take the needed steps to treat our MI. Your doc did the right thing probably for taking you off the AD. If you are in fact BP, you may be sensitive to it. So I think the proper tests and screening is important. Feel free to get cozy and post or ask any questions to ease your mind! Take care!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hopeless2015]

Hi and welcome, glad you found this place it's wonderful here

Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk