[insideout]

Are there any medications that can help stop swithching into different alters?
I need to know how to start this topic with a pdoc without him laughing at me, and I need to know if it's even treatable.
Why bother humiliating myself if there is no treatment.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by insideout

Are there any medications that can help stop swithching into different alters?
I am pretty sure I do this and that it is more than just Bipolar, because I have all the symptoms.
I am really embarrassed to tell a psychiatrist about it because once I start feeling vulnerable, I just clam up... and I feel like a little girl.
I haven't been able to really tell anyone, but my last boyfriend knew, and he didnt like my alter at all. He called her a psycho ***** and said she wasn't allowed in the house. That really offended me...
And she left for a while.
And he and I broke up, for more reasons than him offending me. He was doing things behind my back.

My best friend of 20 years says nobody could ever get bored of me because I am always a different person. He says it as a compliment, but admitted it was too much instability for him, and he remarried. (he's my baby daddy)
I asked someone else about it, and he was like "duh!" and said he had known for a while and that we had had this conversation before.
Anyway... I feel I am betraying myself by even talking about this, but I need to know how to start this topic with a pdoc without him laughing at me, and I need to know if it's even treatable.
Why bother humiliating myself if there is no treatment.

no there is no medication to prevent someone from dissociating (your words switching into alters)

dissociation is a normal automatic response/action just like a person breathing is a normal thing for humans to do...

dissociation is one of those things that go from normal and then on into the various dissociation symptoms and then on into the dissociative disorders depending upon what your combination of dissociation symptoms are and why you are dissociating...

example a normal form of dissociating is spacing out/daydreaming when you are bored, entertaining yourself or are feeling any number of strong feelings..

the cure for when you are dissociating too much is grounding yourself back in reality.

ie if your daydreaming to the point where its interfering with your life the fix is training yourself to not daydream, every time you daydream when you dont want to you refocus out of the daydream and back on to what you need to do.

one thing the mental health community in the united states knows is that dissociating into alters is a reaction to something that is causing them to feel panic/anxiety/depression, fear and other emotions,

example every time I was out in a public event like a party I would dissociate into an alter. on closer look about this problem my therapist and I discovered I would become anxious when I had to participate in large gatherings.

my doctor prescribed anti depressants which work for anxiety. with my anxiety under control I no longer switched into that party loving alter.

the medication wasnt for preventing me from switching. it was for lowing my anxiety. I still switched into alters even after being medicated.

medications treat physical symptoms like anxiety, depression, adjusting brain chemicals so a person wont have hallucinations, delusions....

but there is no medication to treat dissociation /switching into an alter directly because its the normal way that the brain works. a persons brain is supposed to allow a person to daydream, use their imagination, thing, process sensory input...store memories...thats basically what an alter is all about ..parts of a persons personality that stores, acts on what ever the host could not handle on their own, functioning on their own based on what their job, purpose and reason for being created is.

some people learn how to notice when they are triggered/ what their dissociation symptoms are/ what causes them to dissociate and with that information about their self can use self care, self nurturing, and medication for their anxiety and other emotions, learn how to stay grounded instead of dissociating.

talk with your treatment providers, they can help set up a plan for you that will enable you to discover what is causing your dissociation symptoms, teach you how to remain grounded, and face your problems head on instead of dissociating.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by insideout

I also want to know how to manage medications with multiple personalities...

I was taking medications before and the problem is that Sometimes I would have a crazy mood swing and I believed that I didn't have bipolar disorder at all and I went to the doctor and changed all my meds/
Then I forgot doing that and found myself without meds and reuesting refills... my doctor was irritated that I would keep coming in requesting different meds and presenting with completely different diagnoses, and he said I was a very difficult patient.

If this is DID well,,, and Bipolar 1, how in the h am I going to manage to stay on meds.

I manage my memory with lists. I have a notebook for all my accounts and passwords.
Maybe a notebook for each "mood" for each "me"?

i am just trying to manage this and forgive me if I cannot explain myself fully, and that I do not have a formal Dx, (as far as I know).

each person manages their medications based on what kind of medication they are on for their problems and based on their own treatment plans on how to take that medication, how much and other medication issues..

so my suggestion is contact your treatment providers that are prescribing your present medications and any future medications. they are the ones that are treating/prescribing the meds and what dosage, when to take them and all that medication issues /so they are the ones that you need to talk to about these medication issues.

[Meisjes]

I think there are meds that slow down one's mind so the insiders wouldn't be as busy. there is no medication to cure insiders. One med that I was given was seroquel but I felt like a complete zombie. I took anti-anxiety meds instead to help with panic - then the switching didn't bother me as much - didn't happen as often.

To attempt to stop insiders from switching, its about going through it - finding out why they're there and with some hard work, you may be able to integrate them. But it does mean getting to know them and validating what they've experienced. Even if they don't integrate you can learn to get along and be friends.

I've heard of some people with insiders attempt to stop the switching by refusing to listen to the insiders and use all their energy on focusing on the present. Don't know how successful they've been though. Kind of like the movie "A Beautiful Mind" - Russel Crowe is dx with schizophrenia and decides he wants to overcome it - he refuses to listen to the voices in his head and practices living a normal life until he's living a life that he's comfortable with.