[browneyed_wreck]

When I was around 14, my psychologist of about 2 years at the time suggested I may have bipolar disorder. At the time they were juggling the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, but I really grew out of all the symptoms I was experiencing of that. For the past three years now I've been experiencing off and on psychotic symptoms and have been diagnosed with psychosis NOS. But I am a really up and down person, I mean one month I am so productive and will sign up for school and have all these aspirations and once I start I don't stop until I hit one of my dull stages again when I just kind of want to lye in bed and never get up.. I get so happy for that month that I will sit in my bed at night and just shake I'll be so full of excitement and I don't know what about.. Sometimes it scares me and other people like my friends, because I'm so unpredictable sometimes, but when I am in those moods I am so much more popular among my friends, always wanting to do stuff, until I crash bad. I used to use drugs a lot but went to rehab 6 months ago and have been clean since then and it has literally gotten worse, so it is not drugs. I am not compliant with my psych meds most of the time because they make me so dull and I am so full of energy off of them, but usually when I get down I will go back on them and see what happens. I'm only prescribed risperidone now because I stopped taking everything else and refused to even take a prescription home with me for anything else. Also I get a really good outlook on life during my ups and I'll feel good about myself, because I usually lose weight when I'm happier because I don't stop. But I'm getting tired of these episodes whatever it is , I just want to be able to live normally and sleep and not have everyone think I'm on drugs because I get so happy. I've never mentioned this to my psychiatrist at the time and I don't know if I should or not. Any suggestions or experience ?

[Blue_Bird]

Hi browneyed_wreck, welcome to the forum

As for your question, you should definitely tell your doctor what's going on. They may want to put you on a mood stabilizer or adjust your Risperidone to help manage the ups and downs.

Also, are you in therapy? It can be very helpful in conjunction with medication to help teach you coping skills.

-Take care,

[SmileHere]

Hi B W & Welcome!

BW, how is your nutrition? Do you eat a lot of sugar and processed foods? Do you drink a lot of soda or Red Bull or such? I find sugar and caffeine can give me 'ups' and downs.
Do you take fish oil/omega3? - There's a woman in Stephen Fry's documentary who takes fish oil and is bipolar-free. I highly recommend watching that documentary.
Things to consider, if you wish to be relatively med-free.. (I wish as little meds as possible too)

Drug use can make things bad, even after discontinuation, you were possibly 'self-medicating' with the drugs, so it makes sense that it would get worse after rehab.

People with borderline personality might need a support group, do you have a good support system?

There's a schizoaffective sub-forum here, not sure if you might have that or bipolar with psychotic episodes - these are just labels and we are people...

Too sleepy to post anything more right now, just ((hugz)) & know you are not alone!

[browneyed_wreck]

Thanks for the response guys!

When I'm not on my meds, I eat really small and quite healthy meals. I don't drink any caffeine besides a cup of tea every few days.. One of my old doctors did suggest omega's so maybe I will try putting them into my diet.

And the BPD thing, turned out to be a wrong diagnosis as the only criteria I meet at all now is the mood irregulation, but it's much different than BPD which is usually hours or a few days at most, my moods will last for periods of time like months, and are extreme. Other than that, I have psychotic symptoms but that's it for the BPD criteria. I always wondered about schizoaffective too actually..

Thanks so much both of you though, I am gonna try to bring it up, I just don't know how exactly to go about it.

[pegasus]

Hello browneyed wreck, a diagnosis of psychosis nos often means they are not sure what the diagnosis is. Psychosis can be part of many mental health issues including bipolar. Have you tried these online tests? Psychological Tests and Quizzes and The Sanity Score - Test Your Mental Wellness

It's definitely worth going back to your doctor/psychiatrist to see if there is anything to help you with these symptoms.

[browneyed_wreck]

@pegasus, I have done those tests and I got severe bipolar and mania symptoms.. I've read that about the psychosis NOS diagnosis, as well. So maybe I should mention it, it may help them give me a more definitive diagnosis or at least understand better. I am gonna re-do some of those tests later as I haven't done them in awhile.

[Thunder Bow]

Toss those labels, definitions, and terms. Talk with your doctor about quitting those meds. altogether, even get a second opinion. I think feeling good about yourself is a good sign that you have healed mentally. You are now ready to get on with you life, without medications and labels. Being happy is a natural state of mind.

[Disorder7]

Toss the meds and labels? She just said she was getting worse. She said she has psychotic symptoms.

If she were happy she'd be out experiencing life and not searching for answers on a psych forum.

[Butterfly443000]

I think that's great advice, Thuder_Bow.

[browneyed_wreck]

Originally Posted by Disorder7

Toss the meds and labels? She just said she was getting worse. She said she has psychotic symptoms.

If she were happy she'd be out experiencing life and not searching for answers on a psych forum.

Yeah, definitely need some help with this. So out of control.