May 3, 2016, NEW YORK, NY - Adults with bipolar are just as likely to develop anxiety following an episode of mania as they are to have depression, a new survey suggests. American researchers said their findings align with earlier research showing that depression and anxiety commonly co-occur, as well as with studies indicating that depression and generalized anxiety disorder behave virtually as the same genetic condition. Lead author Mark Olfson, MD, said a broader clinical definition of bipolar disorder that includes episodes of anxiety along with mania and depression might lead to earlier identification of people with bipolar and different approaches to treatment. The study, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry online ahead of print, was entitled "Reexamining associations between mania, depression, anxiety and substance abuse disorders: Results from a prospective national cohort."

That's the entire printed article as it appears in the Summer 2016 issue of bp Magazine. I typed it out here because I have been experiencing increasing levels of paralyzing anxiety, distinct from depression, only for the past 2-3 years of 25 years of typical cyclical garden-variety manic/depressive bipolar disorder. I had rationalized that the anxiety was just a manifestation of more severe depression, since it usually occurred most following mania, but seeing the headline "Post-mania anxiety as common as depression" yesterday was an epiphany that nearly brought me to tears because it validated what I've been going through. I thought I knew everything about what bipolar had to offer, and I didn't even know that 'post-mania anxiety' was a thing, a recognized phenomenon. I hope that this information helps someone else as much as it has helped me.

[zijax]

Seroquel has completely removed my anxiety. Also I stopped drinking alcohol and doing pain killers-prescribed. I think this also took away the anxiety. I have Bipolar 1. I used to be on Klonipin but I started to snort it and take too many so I had to stop it. I take nothing for anxiety because the Seroquel takes care of it. Maybe you need to change your meds to help with the anxiety?

[bioChE]

Back in the day, I was initially diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, and put on clonazepam. As time went on and that didn't take care of my symptoms, I was diagnosed with depression and put on SSRIs. After years on those, the standard kindling phenomenon took over, and I was diagnosed BP. Through it all I've had anxiety issues, most often treated with benzos. My doc where I used to live weaned me off the benzos and tried to keep things under control with other meds. It seems to be working pretty well, especially after I was put on gabapentin. The gabapentin is a treatment for my peripheral neuropathy, but it has also had a tremendous effect on my moods overall and my anxiety in particular.

I know some psychiatrists are open to the idea of gabapentin or pregabalin as an anxiolytic. It might be worth a conversation about it with your doc. I'm not trying to armchair prescribe for you, just letting you know something that has been of help to me.

[bioChE]

Originally Posted by zijax

Seroquel has completely removed my anxiety. Also I stopped drinking alcohol and doing pain killers-prescribed. I think this also took away the anxiety. I have Bipolar 1. I used to be on Klonipin but I started to snort it and take too many so I had to stop it. I take nothing for anxiety because the Seroquel takes care of it. Maybe you need to change your meds to help with the anxiety?

I'll second the vote for Seroquel helping with anxiety. If you can avoid the common side effect of weight gain, it has tremendous anxiolytic properties.

Seroquel stimulates too much weight gain for me; just like you, bioChE, I am weaning off benzos in favor of gabapentin (in conjunction with Depakote). Thank you both for your responses.

[bioChE]

Originally Posted by Lefty the Salesman

Seroquel stimulates too much weight gain for me; just like you, bioChE, I am weaning off benzos in favor of gabapentin (in conjunction with Depakote). Thank you both for your responses.

Your journey sounds very similar to my own. Best of luck.

[~Christina]

I have yet to meet a person with bipolar that doesn't deal with anxiety the majority of time or found a med that works with there body to ease it down, well unless someone wants to be a zombified non stop wanna eat my sofa kinda deal.

Thanks for this Lefty ! Hope you feel better soon.

[Bigmike727]

Used to take 20mg of Prozac in addition to K-pin for anxiety. Came off of the Prozac and now Klonopin handles it fine. Most of anxiety is OCD related though. Obviously the addiction factor for benzos is present since I've been on Klonopin for so long I get really anxious if I stop taking it, which is why it is the first pill I take in the night.

[Unrigged64072835]

Thanks for the article, Lefty. I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression long before BP. I also take gabapentin and it helps quite a bit.

[xRavenx]

Thanks for this article. It makes a lot of sense.....for the longest time, I have had terrible anxiety, especially following a manic episode. When I first started experiencing issues, I just thought I had very bad anxiety/paranoia, until I learned more about mixed episodes, which helped validate what I've experienced as far as my issues go.

Like many people here, I am on clonazepam for anxiety. I've also been on Xanax and lorazepam in the past. There's a number of medications my pdoc said I cannot take for anxiety due to my Asthma being a risk, but clonazepam is okay for now.