Mental Health Bipolar Disorder Mega Thread

[mgmt&mdma]

thanks for all the support guys

i freakin love TDS. im gonna try my hardest to incorporate your advice into my life. i feel like if im comfortable with myself that when im in a social situation that ill be able to handle it 100x more smoothly. summers coming up so ill have ALOT of time to work on it.

im gonna take st. johns wort until my psych appointment.
you guys are right, 3 weeks is way too long to wait, especially for those of us who are suicidal.

 

[Eyes On the Roll]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQD_ALkz3xc
describes how i feel

 

[mgmt&mdma]

what are you guys prescribed for MD? im gonna try and ask my psych for manic depression meds instead of antidepressants.

 

[paranoid android]

Well i'm diagnosed as bipolar NOS with mixed state, rapid cycling and psychotic features as well as probably a few other things. Right now since my mania has calmed down i'm only prescribed lamictal and wellbutrin for bipolar and the clonazepam i take for anxiety helps the mania abit as well.

Anti-depressants or atleast bupropion are often prescribed for people with bipolar but a mood stabilizer is usually the first line of treatment. It depends alot on what symptoms you get with bipolar.

 

[Cloudburst]

what are you guys prescribed for MD? im gonna try and ask my psych for manic depression meds instead of antidepressants.

Lamictal 500mg (good stabilizer but not as much as lithium which ruined kidneys)
Wellbutrin 150mg
Klonopin 4mg
Vyvanse 50mg (I never take it)
Remeron 15mg
Risperdal 0.5mg

Those are the lowest doses possible, I'm amazed I survived with the concentration of chemicals in my bloodstream in the past. The psychiatrist initially diagnosed me with Severe Major Depression but still put me on mood stabilizers regardless.

If you're not diagnosed bipolar (this is my presumption since you're just getting antidepressants), you can always request the questionnaire that greatly helps with getting a proper diagnosis. He/She'll know what you're talking about. Prepare for like 200 questions though. This is serious shit.

Well i'm diagnosed as bipolar NOS with mixed state, rapid cycling and psychotic features as well as probably a few other things. Right now since my mania has calmed down i'm only prescribed lamictal and wellbutrin for bipolar and the clonazepam i take for anxiety helps the mania abit as well.

Anti-depressants or atleast bupropion are often prescribed for people with bipolar but a mood stabilizer is usually the first line of treatment. It depends alot on what symptoms you get with bipolar.

I dunno if you're already aware, but the rapid cycling (which obviously has a more severe symptom profile and more debilitating) will very likely go away. It took me a good 3-4 years till one day, I realized I wasn't constantly switching between short-lived episodes, mixed states/depression/psychotic tendencies. After all those years, I had abandoned all hope of escaping it but was wrong.

I'm taking the exact same meds you are. Clonazepam is pretty sketchy but it does have mood-stabilizing properties as well. Lamictal's always been nice to me. Wellbutrin is the most kickass antidepressant I've ever taken.

 

[greenberryhaze]

This may go without saying, but not taking my meds + taking MDPV = full on schizophrenic break.

 

[mgmt&mdma]

alright i got prescribed celexa and lamictal.

ill be starting the celexa thursday and lamictal about a week after celexa. i hope it helps :/

 

[godlovesugly]

i dont know how to help my boyfriend anymore. the past three days hes hardly talked to me. then today he told me " fuck you. i hate everyone in this world. i have no hope i will ever have a good life." he says hes going to kill himself. ive been through this many times with him, he always threatens suicide, but never goes through with it. im afraid that the one time i ignore it or walk away from it, he will go through with it. i love him, but i dont know how to help him.

 

[nuttynutskin]

^ thanks PA, glad to hear that some awesome things have entered your world

When I saw my counselor the other day, she told me that she thinks the psych nurse I see diagnosed me wrong, and I'm more likely bipolar 2 + borderline than major depressive + borderline...I feel like every time I go near any form of psychiatric care, they seem to make their diagnosis bleaker and bleaker.
I don't really want to work my way up on the risperidone dosage, since it can have some nasty side effects, and whenever I feel 'good' (today is quickly moving into manic/hypomanic though) I decide I don't need to take any medication and then everything crashes again.
Are there any of you in here that have bipolar disorder and/or borderline personality disorder and do NOT take any psychiatric medications daily? I'd like to be one of those people within the next year even though I'm being told by mental health professionals that I will have to be on medication forever, but I'm more or less out to prove them wrong at this point.

I got diagnosed with a few things, possible bipo being one of them. I have wondered about the borderline thing too because I seem to fit a lot of the criteria for that, but I never gave it much thought and the psych diagnosis that I got wasn't all that. I've been on and off various meds, now I just take xanax but not everyday. I sometimes wish there was something that worked for my depression that didn't give me a bunch of side effects and that was affordable.

 

[Eyes On the Roll]

hey guys i was prescribed lamictal and have been on it for over a week, along with clonazepam.

Does Lamictal cause significant hair loss? because I have male pattern baldness and my hair started thinning last year, slowly but surely. If this drug is going to make me loose my hair faster than i absolutely cant do it, it will just make me feel worse

 

[purple_cloud]

hey guys i was prescribed lamictal and have been on it for over a week, along with clonazepam.

Does Lamictal cause significant hair loss? because I have male pattern baldness and my hair started thinning last year, slowly but surely. If this drug is going to make me loose my hair faster than i absolutely cant do it, it will just make me feel worse

I'm female, but I'm going to take a guess at this because I take lamictal too: for women on birth control, they have to use a barrier method anyway, since it makes birth control less effective, so perhaps this drug does something to hormones?

 

[Asclepius]

i dont know how to help my boyfriend anymore. the past three days hes hardly talked to me. then today he told me " fuck you. i hate everyone in this world. i have no hope i will ever have a good life." he says hes going to kill himself. ive been through this many times with him, he always threatens suicide, but never goes through with it. im afraid that the one time i ignore it or walk away from it, he will go through with it. i love him, but i dont know how to help him.

This is a really late response but just saw this now. GLU I was in a similar position not too long ago with my ex, I was always calling ambulances, in hospitals, demented whenever I was away from him etc...he often threatened and then did nothing also but I was always worried about him, I always felt responsible and it is not a position anyone should have to endure.
My ex would only threaten to do this when he was under the influence and would tell me when he was straight that he had no intention of doing it.

Now having been a para-suicider myself and having made attemptes myself a long time ago, I can understand where he was coming from to a point but YOU do not have to suffer the threat of anyone's suicide GLU. Have you talked to anyone about it? I found just meeting up with some third parties kept me feeling somewhat sane(that and BL!). As luck had it the Anger Management group and Councellor I was encouraging him to see actually ended up supporting me when things went awry, I still get phonecalls from the woman that deals with spouses/partners and it is a support as I have no Family or Close friends nearby. So maybe do a search and see if there is anything like CODA or anything else and see which one you find the most helpful to you. I remember you saying that you went to meetings sometimes, maybe there is some women there you might get some info from? Anyway, its worth having something there for yourself hun just to help.

Carrying this on your own can be devastating and I know how hard you are trying to deal with your own stuff hun. Keep minding yourself and set him straight that he has to look after himself and his side of things(Bi-Polar/Addiction) fullstop-that you cant do for him or anyone else.

 

[paranoid android]

^ I would say if her b/f is like that she should demand he get immediate help or get the fuck clear of him. I don't care what disorder a person has they have no right to pull shit like this on other people and make them feel miserable as well. I don't as a rule act out on people no matter how bad my bipolar get's although i do act all fucked up when im in a mixed state or majorly depressed especially. If i am manic i will look like someone who is very fucked up on amphetamines or i assume that's what i look like so yeah not a good sight

 

[psyckokilla]

This will kill me..

Ive been diagnosed with severe depression and bipolar my whole life...when i was younger i was on 3 different types of anti ds and they all made me CRAZY and the last one Effexor i woke up from a black out with no bf a restraining order from my own house and in a jail cell...

i wont get into my childhood but after years of partying and running and self medication it all went down a couple years ago and i WOKE UP! Now im in therapy once again as an adult and really trying to get some help but im scared of the meds other then benzos which are my life safer but i know they don't help forever i was on xanax for 2 years and was in and out of the hospital trying to get off...

anyway now at 25 years old ive lost almost all my friends family and almost my bf now of almost 7 years....Im so scared to try anti psychotics i feel effects from everything but if i don't do something now im checking myself in somewhere asap....or i feel like ill hurt myself or others..

ive had some extreme mood swings lately where i tend to RIP peoples lives apart to their faces and rip at everything negative about them and i justify it to myself which half the shit is true but this is a toxic dangerous way to be i also almost punch and friend thats a girl right her the nose the other day i wanted her beat so bad it drove me crazy and i had nightmares and have been dwelling on it for months unable to function whatsoever and this is me just in general...my depression has advanced into a severe bi polar up down every second of the day non stop rollercoaster ride....HELP ME! I could go on and on and on...

 

[Asclepius]

Hey psycho, you've been through a lot of grief with this.

i wont get into my childhood .../

There are loads of threads on here dealing with various forms of abuse etc. Or you can post anonymously also. It's can be cathartic to get stuff out for yourself and sometimes, seeing that others have gone through similat can help.

anyway now at 25 years old ive lost almost all my friends family and almost my bf now of almost 7 years....Im so scared to try anti psychotics i feel effects from everything but if i don't do something now im checking myself in somewhere asap....or i feel like ill hurt myself or others..

Being scared of them makes sense but compared to what youv'e been put through maybe it is a feesable alternative to try out anyway. You must be terrified at the moment, so sorry things are so difficult for you, I commend you for taking responsibility despite all your going through. It does seem like you need help with this and you know that.

ive had some extreme mood swings lately where i tend to RIP peoples lives apart to their faces and rip at everything negative about them and i justify it to myself which half the shit is true but this is a toxic dangerous way to be i also almost punch and friend thats a girl right her the nose the other day i wanted her beat so bad it drove me crazy and i had nightmares and have been dwelling on it for months unable to function whatsoever and this is me just in general...my depression has advanced into a severe bi polar up down every second of the day non stop rollercoaster ride....HELP ME! I could go on and on and on...

Sounds like your rapid-cycling. This is majorly traumatic and you cant do this alone. Your obviously intelligent and know whats goin on but do seek help you dont need to bear the brunt of this fallout alone. Have you seen a decent, trustworthy, psychiatrist? I assume because you were perscribed anti-psychotcis you have, or maybe you have just looked up on the matter yourself??

 

[psyckokilla]

Thank you for the reply...i am finally with a good therapist for the first time in over 10 years but im on a waiting list for the med doctor...Ive only been on anti-ds and benzos. never any anti psychotic but i am very well knowledgeable about them im a crazy research freak..PLuuuuuuuuuuus i was a heavy heavy drug user so thats another thing that scares me is if that would make the drugs effect me different...But i dont want to go back to a hospital i want to control this NOW.

 

[psyckokilla]

might just check in to the hospital no meds and im cycling every goddamn fuckin hour and everyone around me is driving me insane and vice versa....and i can't wait for meds this has to stop..........

 

[paranoid android]

If you have bipolar disorder they should have you on a mood stabilizer and possibly a anti-psychotic if needed as anti-depressants alone often trigger rapid cycling or mania. I finally got my bipolar under control with the help of a mood stabilizer and im grateful for it.

If your freaking out then i would say go to the hospital. I know what kind of hell rapid cycling is and you should really be seeing a psychiatrist about it.

 

[psyckokilla]

after crashing hard tonight i jumped down a flight of stairs at my father who would not leave my house when i told him he was being a huge trigger...i will be going to the hospital in the morning my regular doctor won't give me anything but vistiril and im on a waiting list to see a psychiatrist but i can't get in till july 21st..i do go to therapy once a week but it is def not enough im going violent at a fast pace like never before.......this is also the first real time as an adult im getting help to truly heal my horrible 25 years of leaving and putting up with addiction and severe abuse...i just hope i make it through...but then again i have nothing left to lose....

 

[ColdNorth]

Lithium is very effective and in my case free of side effects. It's the first bipo drug I can consider using on a daily basis because of that. It doesn't make you feel like a zombie or noticeably unnatural really in any way. Blood monitoring is every 6 months so that's not a big deal. There are more of them in the beginning.

The only problem is it doesn't mix well with some recreational drugs. I've been off it for about a month to be able to do MDMA. Hopefully experienced enough to recognize the extra energy and lack of sleep if it starts to happen and get back on. Ok, I've been awake a couple of days in an overactive mode but not rushing to conclusions.

Weirdly, after over a year without an episode I sort of of miss it. Not spending money or wreaking havoc on social relationships but the energy, feeling excited about stuff, total absence of boredom and intense emotional rushes. Just existing is boring. But combined with (probably) some damage from early years of irresponsible drug/med abuse they have started escalating into psychosis as soon as I get too tired or take a benzo or certain amphetamines. That changes the nature of it, it's an awful feeling to wake up on a drunk tank floor remembering only flashes from the last week and not having been in control at all during that time. Or does that happen normally for manic people?