Treatment resistant

Has anyone here been told they are treatment resistant?

I can't seem to go three months without some kind of psychosis or mood disturbance. I'm probably in need of a med adjustment again. I'm wondering if I might be treatment resistant or if this is just the nature of BP/SZA in general.

hi. long-term stability can be difficult. i think "treatment-resistant" is usually a label applied to people who are chronically impaired, despite standard treatment. you might just be a rapid cycler or have psychosocial stuff going on (I don't know you, clearly), etc. etc.

have you tried some sort of talk therapy? id go for that (personally...) before adjusting the psych drugs, but...its your life, your business. in terms of drugs, there's always clozapine, if you're willing to take the risks associated with treatment.

Talk therapy sadly isn't an option here in Egypt. But in the US I'd go for that first before med adjustments. I'm just so tired of the constant changes. Every three months or so something goes wrong somehow. It's hard to plan my life around this instability.

I've always been treatment resistant until I started taking clozaril about 2 years ago. Since then I've responded well and barely had a dose change of anything. It took a lot to get to the point clozaril was appropriate and it was scary to go on it but I'm really glad I did. I especially benefit from using it with Emsam for depression.

I hope you find something that works as well for you. It's really frustrating to try med after med, dose after dose and still struggle.

I have the "treatment resistant" diagnosis. BPII.
I am sorry you have that as a part of your experience, too.

WC

Yes. The longest I have been ‘normal’ between episodes has been 7 weeks. My meds are constantly needing tweaking.

Yeah, it very difficult to have to keep changing your meds. But it might very well be part of the disorder you have. With your diagnosis, there is a lot of mood change and thought process change going on. I truly admire you for getting the help you need and still traveling so far and making the most of your life.

Basically the same here. I went years of trying dozens of different medication combinations, but when I tried clozapine, the cycling stopped. After a few years on clozapine I needed to get off it for a myriad of reasons, and now risperdal/lithium is keeping me stable when it wouldn't treat the rapid cycling I was experiencing the first time I tried it. Weird, but awesome.

I was treatment-resistant for the first three years after I was diagnosed. I just kept having meds added until I was up to six. But for the past three years, I've been mostly stable on my current combination in my current dosages. No wild manic episodes or deep depression, just mild hypomania (in the spring and summer) and minor depressive episodes (always in the late fall and winter). I hate having to take so many meds, but if it's what I need to remain stable, that's what I'll do.