Bipolar check-in #42

Thanks! And it's great to see you around here again

Welcome back Christina

I’ve now been stable from a bipolar perspective for 6-7 months which is fantastic. Anxiety is pretty severe. I’m weaning off Seroquel under pdoc supervision which is probably why the anxiety is so severe. My pdoc has asked me to consider an AD for my anxiety. We’re not sure if it’s a good idea given that an AD may destabilise the bipolar.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Welcome back Christina!!!

I am feeling well now. Turns out my low mood was due to getting my period. I didn’t connect the two because I haven’t freaking had my period since July, when I started my new birth control. Who knew it could just appear out of nowhere to **** up my day? I’m in the middle of my pack too, so no telling when it may show up again. Damn being a woman.

I’ve had a good week work wise. Monday was rough because my student was super upset about missing school on Friday and an upcoming psychiatrist appt. he has never been to a psychiatrist before (he’s 11) so he was convinced the dr was going to berate him for being stupid. I tried to calm him down telling him that’s not what doctors do, but once he gets something in his head, he can’t stop ruminating on it. But on Tuesday, he was calm as can be, because he said the dr told him there was nothing wrong with him. Today he told me he started on a medication to help him with his anger, but it wasn’t helping. I asked when he started and he said last night. I then assured him it will take some time for the med to get into his system and then it should help. It’s nice to have the personal experience I do!

It was really crappy out today weather wise. Cold, pouring rain, 50mph winds. We usually go out to eat on Fridays but I absolutely did not want to set foot outside again. So I made a microwaveable Aldi meal with some quick brown rice. It was good enough.

Tomorrow we are taking my mom to the shore to eat at one of our favorite bbq restaurants. On Sunday my son has a birthday party. Then next week, four day weekend for Presidents’ Day! Yay!

My cat is doing well. He’s much more cuddly and doesn’t seem to be in too much pain. I got his special food yesterday and he likes it. I was worried he wouldn’t. That **** is $70/bag! If he didn’t like it I don’t know what I would have done lol.

Thanks !

Well trying to live with ongoing stress that does in fact effect your daily life is to me really not acceptable, eventually that stress will probably flip you into a nasty Bipolar episode.

There are AD’s that some people with Bipolar can take, in the past I was able to tolerate Doxepin , I took it mainly for the sedation effect at bedtime. When I first tried it I just had to be hyper aware to watch for a AD induced mood shift.

I personally would give it a try just start with a baby dose of whatever your Pdoc feels would be best. Keep a daily mood chart, make sure to especially watch your sleep.

Chronic stress is just hell.

Hope you find relief

Ahhhh yes the joys of being a female maybe write this down somewhere so if you start to have trouble again it could give you something to consider that it’s period related instead of bipolar related ..

You student is lucky that you do have personal experience. So many people do think meds should work in a day or two.

Ohhh I have been craving BBQ , enjoy some for me please

I’m glad your fur baby is better ! Yikes 70 a bag!!!! I hope it’s not a small bag. Maybe contact the company and ask about rebates or something... maybe it would be cheaper to order from them directly ? Worth a try.

Glad your doing well

Thanks! My lungs are improving fast, and my anxiety decreasing. You are right. Fresh air is good and although I live in a big city I’m right near the beach so I get plenty of it.

Good luck with your French class.

I ended up walking to the store. Wasn't as cold as I feared. It actually worked out that I could count this as my exercise for today as it took about 20minutes there and back and then I went halfway back to the bins to throw out some old shoes, a total of 30 minutes, which is about what I typically do. I might still do some yoga tonight though. I feel tight and the stretching should help that.

Kinda weird how I ate at like 3/3:30 and it's now 830 and I'm not really very hungry. hmm

Copy/paste from another thread so I don't have to try to remember it all again...

.....

Sorry I've been non-existent lately. I've been pretty busy with school and stepping out of PHP into IOP and doc appointments and everything else going on.

School is really taking up a lot of my time.

My speech class is online and it is a lot of work, but I think the workload would be the same in a classroom. I'm just getting overwhelmed with the level of work there.

My other class is a lot of fun. It's Basic Illustration. We just turned in our first project yesterday. I got really good critiques from the other students (yes, we have to critique each other in class before turn in the project...) and I liked how mine turned out too. We were doing basic shapes and values (shading). The next project is single point perspective. We have to draw a city street basically, but we don't have to shade it in at all.

Chaos

Diagnoses:
PTSD with Dissociative Symptoms, Borderline Personality Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain

Congrats on the stability!

I'd be reticent to mess with things, too; yet, is sounds like the anxiety needs treatment.

Personally, Celexa is a friend of mine. it both takes the edge off and treats my anxiety. I will share the fact that my pdoc took it away. She thought I might be more stable without it.

I am concerned. Please be extra careful that you don't choose an AD that carries the potential for QT Prolongation.

Here is a great explanation, as well as a partial list of meds that do have this potential. both antipsychotics and AD meds are listed:

Drug-Induced QT Prolongation

I hope you find a med that both does the trick and honors the many months of stability you have already achieved.

I have a three day weekend. Oh joy! I need to clean up my house. I will listen to my music now.

Enjoy your days off !

Feeling flat and overwhelmed. My poor physical health (Fibromyalgia) is getting to me. I try so hard to be zen about it and do all the right things to help it improve, but sometimes I just can't stand it anymore. I hate the limitations it forces upon me. Tomorrow I am taking my 12 year old niece snorkeling as I promised her for her birthday. I really don't have the energy but I don't want to let her down. I just hope the crash afterwards isn't too bad. It breaks my heart that I will have to limit the time I spend with her due to my health. I don't want to live like this.

Think I'm hypo. Or is this anxiety from atypical depression. But I'm thinking hypo. My impulsive behavior is needing to come on this site. But I'm also needing less sleep, having more energy, racing thoughts and anxiety...and I felt this way around the time I felt most high last (or well, the last big one). I had a week of higher mood about a month ago followed by depression followed by normal. Just documenting this stuff.

Eureka! I have connected the dots. I was wondering why I suddenly got my period after months of not having it. Then I remembered my dr telling me I had high prolactin. THEN I remembered the last time I had high prolactin I didn’t get my period for a year. And I realized I stopped haldol about a month ago. So, out of curiosity, I googled prolactin and haldol. Apparently, haldol is the most likely of the typical APs to cause high prolactin! So in my non medical opinion, this is why I’m getting my period again. I bet my prolactin is going down.

So yes, I think I figured it out.

Excellent sleuthing!

I did a lot of cleaning today. My husband's friend coming inspired me to kick butt.

Hubby completed a huge project a few weeks back. Today he's giving his friend (who comissioned it) the finished products. It turned out truly great. All that's left is to confirm some details with his friend before the absolute last tasks, which are easy/quick, can be done.

I seriously need a shower.

Really glad to hear things may be calming down a bit for you!

I am very sorry the propranolol isn't doing the trick. I hope you can get some relief soon. Akathesia is hell.

Ive been at the book store for several hours now. I have to leave in a bit to get N3. The comfy seat I was in before k and I went to lunch was still open when I got back. Yay. Had to get n3 to work by 7:15 this morning. Got to sleep in!

This morning I looked on Amazon for a book about Disney World that was behind the scenes type of thing- i found one! And it has two sequals! I bought all 3 for my mom. They should be here tuesday. They are leaving for a MONTH at disney world on Thursday. Yes you read that right- a MONTH!! AND MY MOM TELLS ME SHE HAS TROUBLE WITH HER BILLS SOMETIMES- YEAH RIGHT. WHATEVER. Ooops. Didn't mean to keep the caps lock on. Sorry! Anyway my mom is going to buy me the boxed set of all 69 episodes of Are You Being Served? It costs just about what I paid for the books so we're even.

I am sorry about this. I get the cameras thing all the darn time. No fun. Hopefully, it is just a blip.

Super glad your new place is working out. That is very good news. I hope you feel better soon!!