Bipolar 101 -- Answers to basic questions

Diagnosed with Bipolar II and recent with BPt . Medications I take which are quetiapine 75mg per night and venlafaxine 150mg every morning. Are they the right medications for Bipolar and BPt? Why my psychiatrist kept changing the meds and the doses? My mood etc are all over the place at the moment.

i totally know how you feel!

I'm fear I may be bipolar. I haven't had any history of ADD or anything, but my grandfather was schizophrenic.
I match many of the symptoms, but rather than cycling every few months, I go through many cycles a day. Can this be something other than bipolar disorder? Should I seek help?

Ihave adhd and I think I'm bipolar I'm to scared to tell my mom and don't tell my therapist anything he thinks I'm just depressed and have other issues what do I do ? This is ruining my life and friendships

What do I do here ? It seems to me I've ruined my life already and I feel like its just me

im the opposite of you...ive got bipolar and think ive got adhd. and i know i don't know you personally or anything BUT, your life isn't ruined. as im writing this im feeling a bit hypocritical cause i say that almost daily (that my life is ruined) and now that im thinkin bout it...im just 22. and ya know...even if i were 82...i know i would still have at least the next 10 minutes to be JUST ME!! i can be screwed up and bipolar (maybe adhd) and the rest of the world may hate me lol, but if i can spend just 10 minutes living life MY WAY...i know life isn't TOTALLY ruined!!!

well...hopefully my lil way of goin through crap can help ya out a lil bit.

and with the whole bipolar thing, it may be super crappy but trust me....it DEFINITLY has its plus's!! also...some of the coolest and most influental people in history were bipolar.

good luck and lemme know how things go!!

koren

My bf lives with BP and I'm trying to get a better understanding. I have stood by him through alot, but some things he has said and done (website for affairs, called cops to have me taken from home, etc) has been so hurtful. He is on meds and a new doc, which is great, but if your significant other changes constantly (in a moment getting along great to throwing you out of home)....how do you cope and what are some of the things you do to get you through?

I have the same problem. Me and my doctors finally connected the dots and figured out I was bipolar (that is I stopped denying it) and now I worry about telling my friends and family. They don't know how much of a problem this is for me and I doubt they will be supportive since they've always known me to be depressed most of the time and assume my manic episodes are me just being my true self, which is artistic and clownish. I don't think either are the real me now. It's like I'm 2 different people at opposite ends of the spectrum trying to compensate for each other. Somewhere in between must be the real me. I try to hide my emotions but it's getting harder in my 20s and likely to only get worse. I'd say you should talk about this to your therapist and if he doesn't want to ask you questions or be supportive about why you think you have bipolar, go to a psychiatrist who is more experienced with such things, tell him/her your concerns and at least you can receive some treatment/meds that will help.

I too was ADD in my childhood, but only sporadically where I got punished by teachers for being hyperactive. I guess this was before they put everyone on Ritalin and most of the time I could stay in my seat, I just fidgeted a lot and was easily distracted. I'm sure future studies will confirm that ADD and ADHD can be early warning signs for bipolar or other disorders in adulthood, but I'm no expert, so we'll wait and see.

Hang in there. It's better to reach out for help from the proper experts rather than struggling alone. You can decide if you want to tell your mom after you get an official diagnosis, that way it can't be as easily dismissed.

I have never been diagnosed I am 49 years old. I go into me thinking last year in July I quit a really good job and asked for unemployment. The day I left they said you were the best we ever had and I got in my car and drove away. I did not remember what happened or why I quit. I looked for other jobs and about four months later went into depression. I did not know the day of the week or month of the year I still went to work every day. I would not let the other job go that I quit in July. It was stuck in my mine for six months. I would go in the front door and come in the back. I would not get out of bed all weekend. I thought I was the child and my children and husband were the mothers. I thought my employer worked for me. I was think ing backwards. At this last job I told them it was not working for me and I wanted fired. I am on my third job this year I am making 1/2 as much money as I was last July. I did not know I was that sick and would not go to the doctors I wanted to die for what I did to my employer. I never seen anyone or heard of anyone being like this before. I will get a diagnosis on Monday I wish I was diagnosis correctly eight years ago when this happened I lost my Career the best job I had in my life and hurt my family financially over this. We had to sell our rental houses. I don't listen to anyone when I am sick. I have a answer for everything. What ever I have is a horrible disease.

hey there i was just wondering about after geting treatment for there bipolar with takeing meds doing self help things to help with there bipolar how long do you keep your mood in control can you go on without your mood haveing mania all depressed do you go for years months days without haveing any ups all downs get back to me i would love to hear your storys

hobssy

I was originally diagnosed as Manic Depressive (Bipolar I) when I was 13 years old. The doc put me on Welbutrin that didn't help so after a couple of months he took me off of it and I didn't get further treatment again until May of 2007. I was then put on Depakote 2000mg and Effexor 75mg. It helped somewhat. My current doc (the one who put me on the two meds) has taken me off the Effexor, lowered the Depakote to 1500mg, has just recently put me on Lithium 300mg and Geodon (160mg currently even though we have stated that the 120mg was enough). I haven't felt any change for the better and I also have to take Cogentin to ease up the tremors I have from the Depakote.

I have a friend who is a nurse for a local doctor (with my permission) talk to the doctor who has stated flat out that I am being severely over medicated. I can't be left alone at all without someone to contact in case of an emergency.

Not only do I have BPI but I am also diagnosed Scitzoeffetive (hence the Geodon to keep the auditory and visual hallucinations at bay) I can't afford to go to another doctor (the one I am going to now is based on income and makes it so that I don't have to pay because I don't bring in any money) I can't work because it is just to stressful and throws me into a severe panic attack. The longest I had ever worked at any one job has been 7 months... and even then I lost my job because I was considered a "liability" to the company (2 different work comp claims in the 7 month span. The first incident I am still being treated for with surgeries).

I know that I got off on a spiel. Sorry for that.

Zara

i hate the fact that u dont know what mood ur gunna be in , so cant enjoy things in life. i feel sum days that the most simple things are like mountains and other times i could conquer the world.

I'm new to the program and am very interested in learning as much as I can about the disorder I have been diganosed with. I don't know if I have bipolar I or II and don't know the difference really. I just know that taking the meds to treat bipolar are helping keep me normal or I turn into one of two monsters. A crying monster or a pissed off monster.

I have a son that I am doing this treatment for, if it wasn't for him I wouldn't give a rip what happened to me. And that's the god's honest truth.

Doing martial arts helps some, gives me something to focus on and I've been offered classes to learn meditation, which I've been told by my therapist will help. I know that listening to classical music helps when I'm irritated, and I've noticed I go into a meditative state when listening to classical at night. I just need to find music that helps when I'm depressed.

But like I said, I'm on here to learn and get support and maybe support others.

Dear Mom!

Welcome to PC!! My name is Holmes, & I am a PC member & host the Bipolar Chat on Friday nights at 7:00 pm (est). Doc John has given you the excellent guided introductury information on Bipolar. If you would like to talk w/ me before Friday's night's Bipolar chat, plz PM at your convenience. I will be in the Lobby, Wed. night, at 7:00 PM. (est), if that is convenient, hope to meet you!

All The Best To You,
Holmes

i was diagnosed with bipolar, received medication but nothing changed.
i stopped taking the medication. now after researching i think i have a personality disorder, a distorted way of thinking that brings upon my ups and downs

I think my dd might be bipolar and I'm trying to research as much as possible ..she is 12.

Hello! Im newbie,
Just wondered if anyone on here seem not as moody as others?
I feel Im not as moody if Im on my meds prior to being on meds I believe I was more moodier anyone relate. I feel moddy but I dont take it out on my friends or family maybe hubby gets the grunt of my moods at times very rarely I think he is more moodier then myself I sware he has bipolar his Mom has Clinical depression and her sister has the same he seems depressed and he always isolates himself from making any friends. I'm not like that I like people and want to try enjoy life Im concerned for him more then for myself his stress levels are way high and he tends to bite my head off over nothing alot.
I'm pretty reserved and actaully quit so is he bbut I do like to socialize at times not all the time I'm sure you all know what I mean by At times"
I have ramblings thoughts and tend to loose my place at times which is so embarrassing has anyone done that so not cool.

Raemay18

I dont think its safe for your brain personally I thought this was the old school way of treating bipolar. I thought5 they banned this kind of treatment quess I was wrong.
Why1 did your doctor want you to get this done?
It sounds not very safe but I never heard anyone talk about having it done.
Get sound advice on it or research it on google priot to doing it ok.

Raemay18

I started crying when I was reading this first paragraph, because it sounded so similar to me. I don't know who I am and it petrifies me. Am I outgoing, extroverted, overconfident, energetic manic me or the hermit/recluse unable to leave the house, depressed me? If I don't know myself, how can anyone else? I even go from one set of morals to an entirely different set of rules. Maybe this is one of the reasons that I find it so hard to make even simple decisions.

I haven't been diagnosed BP, but I fairly sure I have it, I've had several bouts of depression since my early teens (I'm now 30) and experience near psycotic PND after I had my son. Once I had been given medication, I got so well but I think on reflection the meds may have contributed to the period of mania from recovery.

I just want to know who I am.

my son-in-law is taking muscle milk and tons and tons of other supplements, which has changed his personality, mood , and has abnormal behavior. since he has been taking all this stuff, he has told his wife (my daughter) that he isnt happy and wants to leave her. He hasn't been doing any of the things he used to enjoy , only eats once a day is very moody, works out for hours very aggresively. please does anyone have any idea how we can get him help

Hi there,
I went through ECT treatments years ago....I had overlapping diagnosis of bipolar disorder with major depression, PTSD, and a dissociative disorder. I think there was so much going on at once, medications weren't enough. I went through three 6-8 week sessions of ECT over a two year period. The first and second sessions seemed to hlep quite a bit. It wasn't too scarey....you fall asleep with the anesthetics and then wake up and it's over. The third session I had didn't seem to help as much and I had one treatment which affected my short and long term memory some.
I thought that all was lost until I finally hit upon a medication combination that really worked for me. In retrospect, I think meds help some, but what is most important is the therpay and life skills learned over time to live with depression. Find balance in your life to keep your stress levels at bay. Good luck.

insightful. All my bipolar pills do is put me to sleep. And nothing change, maybe i have personality disorder. Lol i hope not

I've been diagnosed with depression a number of years ago and have a question(not sure where else to post it). I sometimes have what I can only be described as weird kinda of bursts of energy. I don't have poor judgement or inappropriate behavious which I've read is a sypmton. But I jus feel like I can't sit still. There's a sort of fuzzy static in the backround,I can't even read because I can't concentrate enough.there's also been times.there's even been times when my body jus doesn't feel real,I feel trapped or that somethings inside me and I need to get it out(which results in panic attacks and SI) Even tho I feel kind of 'happy' I still feel like my life is hopeless and feelings of SI and suicidal thoughts.
So sorry this is really long.never told anyone that before and jus poured out.reallly would appreciate ANY thoughts anyone has .
Thanks a mil
Carrie

Thats the way i feel. Ive got 2 kids if it wasnt for them i wouldnt be here. I am on medication but it seems like it only helps to a point. I have tried to commit sucidie twice. I have had it for 3 years and it still seems like it not getting any better. If you want to talk im here.

I think I have BP II - I'm always depressed, but once in a great while I will feel good about myself - within a couple of days I'm back to being super depressed again and just wish I were'nt alive. I tried to end my life once and thought about it a second and thrid time, but gave up the pills to my husband instead of taking them, like I did the first time. I feel guilty most of the time (and don't know why), I feel like crying, I have no self esteem (even though I'm told that I'm very talented in my writing and scrapbooking), and feel worthlelss - like I'm just taking up space - my husband and family deserver better than me. And I just want it to all end!! I want to end - but I don't think I have it in me to harm myself ever again dut to being Catholic.

I almost wish I had mania episodes! Instead I'm always depressed - very rarely do I do something mania - like spending money I know we really need to hold on too. I will order things on line and then be sorry and it's too late to cancel the orders and then I hide the things I bought and then will give them a presents for Birthdays or Christmas. That saves money during the holidays! LOL But those days are few and far between.

I'm just tired of being depressed.... I'm on Effexor XR and Abilify 2.5mg (5mg is too strong for me - I have sever reactions to 5mgs), I take benadryl for the side effects of the meds, and take a mood surpressent to be used as needed. I don't sleep unless I take the benadryl and mood surpressent - I stay awake for up to 3 days at a time or I want to sleep constantly.... Lately I just want to sleep all day. No energy, no interest in any of my "favorite" hobbies (reading, scrapbooking, crocheting). I have to push myself to just clean the house. I have to push my self to even care for myself - put on makeup, fix my hair, dress nice... I just don'g care and do the miniamul in caring for myself - wash, brush my teeth, shower, wash my hair.... I'm over weight and hate the way I look - I feel fat and ugly. My kids told me I need to lose weight too, but I just don't care.

I'm sorry for the novel and "self pity" - but it feels good to let all this out...and it's not anger, it's just feelings of depression.

Thanks for listening.