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Mental Health Bipolar Disorder Mega Thread

Yeah see man I miss that feeling. It makes me wanna just stop (well ween off of) all my meds and take mushrooms every few weeks. Like that was my medicine. Something purely natural.

Only problem is having a constant legal supply to it... That's one thing pharmacies don't carry.
 
ColdNorth said:
Good day fellow roller coaster riders. I got prescribed sodium valproate today after complaining about lithium and asking for lamotrigine which I understand is relatively safe with many drugs. I trust my doctor is far more qualified to decide what I need than I am but I don't remember that substance at all. I remember the HUGE box from my teenage years and everything I had back then had that zombie effect. He knows I intend to do psychedelics and claimed it's very friendly with interactions but I'll triple check that, he's an old man (great doc though) and in general the doctors in my country seem very ignorant about the pharmacology of illicit drugs.

So I wanted to ask your experiences on this. Does it kill you inside like lithium did very sneakily? Or make you a zombie like neuroleptics? Do any possible bad effects go away with time? I'm facing the worst hell (not directly drug related) and I need a decent bipolar medication, one less thing to worry about.
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I've been on Sodium Valproate since 2009 and tbh I've had to keep a close eye on the levels in my system. Stress can deplete the levels so be careful. I'm not a recreational drug taker but do drink and passed out (from a standing position) on one occasion because of drug / alcohol interaction.

I started off on 800mg and now am on 1600mg but I am starting Wellbutrin today because my depression is so bad.

Side effects, weight gain, listlessness, I take the full whack at night so it knocks me out. Increased appetite, hair loss (and when your hair grows back it's curly).
Water retention so bad that you can't bend your fingers in the morning, so drink plenty of water and keep an eye on your salt levels. Tremors.

Despite all these, I still think it's a good drug. I've tried everything else and this (apart from Lithium) is the only one that has worked to keep my mania at bay. Wellbutrin is to get me out of a hole, but I'm not sure if that's going to work. I'll be on small dose of Prozac if Wellbutrin fails.


HTH
:D
 
Hi. I've been on Lamictal as a mood stabilizer for several years. It's much easier to deal with than lithium, which is a bitch for side effects (but I guess you knew that). The only side effect I have is that my hair is thinning. Since I'm a woman who used to have extremely thick hair, that's pretty uncool for me, but other people have told me they don't notice any thinning. Maybe it's not as bad as I think it is. I have never been on Depakote. I used to take Seroquel, but I had to get off it because I developed a mild case of tardive dyskinesia. Having bipolar disorder is such a bitch. I'm 54 and have had it since I was 12, but didn't have my first manic episode until I was 29 (at which point my dx was changed from depression to bipolar). Sorry, I guess I'm rambling on ... I would tell you this about Lamictal: most people have little to no problems with side effects with it. It's supposed to be especially effective for bipolar people who experience much more depression than mania. It's the only drug of its class (anti-seizure meds) that's been shown to be really effective for bipolar depression. And it's supposedly a better choice than lithium for rapid cyclers (like myself).
 
peroxide said:
Does anybody here ever go to sleep feeling "stable" and wake up in a massive depressed state? .
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OMG, yes, I do. In fact, that's exactly what happened yesterday: went to bed the night before doing pretty much okay, woke up feeling like I'd stick a gun in my mouth if I had one. I feel for you.
 
Lithium can also wreck your thyroid function. (Pretty common side effect with lithium, and it happened to me.) That's probably the least of the side effects, though--at least the solution is just to take a little thyroid replacement pill every day. I hate lithium with a passion.
 
Anybody ever get these weird flashes, like you're afraid you're gonna just jump in front of traffic or knock everything off of a shelf?....I get these weird thoughts, I don't act on them but they come up sometimes...
 
peroxide said:
Does anybody here ever go to sleep feeling "stable" and wake up in a massive depressed state? this seems to be the standard for me recently, it takes most of the day to get my shit toghether as far as feeling mentally sound, it definitly falls in line with the above about generally feeling like a different person, in tune when i go to bed if i do, and wake up near suicidal scribbling in my notepad about what troubles me, only to reread it later when ive changed moods and embarass myself at the things i thought and the outloooks i had, but its a ever revolving cycle.
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Yep pretty much describes my day, It comes in equal measures of depression and agitation. It's a constant battle. :!
 
I also thought about having Bipolar Disorder, but it seems more like i'm suffering Borderline personality disorder. Most Uppers make me just jittery and give me the feeling of being "wired", but i had phantastic results with consuming Shrooms and/or Methoxetamine.

I've an appointment tomorrow, finally, after more than half a year, i'm looking forward to see what the Doctor is saying about what i tell him about me.
 
I wonder how you guys deal with your prescribed meds and drugs taking.
I've been clean for almost 2 years now, but I've been depressed for about 6 months straight and i'm sick of it. Therefore I decided to start using again.
I haven't yet, but the package is on its way. after a lot of researching what drugs i wanted to use i stumbled upon the 2C-x family and some methylone and 4FA.
After a while I realised however that i'm taking abilify and wellbutrin. Research told me that the wellbutrin shouldn't cause any problems but the abilify certainly would. In fact it would counter all psychedelic effects.
Since the abilify doesn't really do anything about depression I think, I'm just going to stop using it for a while.

So how do you guys deal with it ? do you also stop taking your meds or don't you take any meds at all ?

and am I right that the wellbutrin won't cause any problems with any of the aforementioned drugs ?
 
new one here..i was diagnosed as bipolar 2..im on seraquil, fluxamine and topamax, ativan just in case...i take vikodin and morphine b/c i feel for me they help me be in better moods..untill the high wears off and i become tired
 
No meds for about 6 mos for me. I'm manic as hell and intermittent drug use is likely making me a lil more unstable. These mood swings are fucking terrible. I'm pretty much white knuckling an emotional rollercoaster.

Although its better than a month or more of depression it's not better by that much.
 
Well, the rain exploded with a mighty crash as we fell into the sun, and the first one said to the second one there: I hope you're having fun.

STAY UNIQUE FELLOW BI-POLERERS

The starman in the sky told us not to blow it, because it's all worthwhile.
 
^
nice!
it is bittersweet-being Bipolar. I have been through every possible cocktail and I see my shrink 1 x per week for the past 11 years. If you want it-you have to work for it!
I have. I wouldn't trade my illness for all the money in the world. It is what makes me.....ME.

If any of you other artistic geniuses out there want a GREAT read on the link between Manic-Depressive Illness and the artistic temperament(a.k.a. mad genius),you should read these 2 books(for me,they are my bibles):
"Touched with Fire" by~ Kay Redfield Jameson
and
"An Unquiet Mind~A Memoir Of Madness" also by~ Kay Redfield Jameson(Prof of Psychiatry @ Johns Hopkins-and a life long sufferer and successful manic-depressive(Or Bipolar Illness-semantics).

I've been MIA a while but I am slowly finding my way back. I saw this link-thanks PiP! and thought I would contribute.

Much peace and love..................................skillz :P
 
Better write this out while I'm feeling up to it...

I had been taking lamotrigine for the last 7 years for my bipolar II disorder. But I just recently got over a nasty rash which I thought might be caused by the lamotrigine. This rash was progressively getting worse, producing large red patches of irritated skin all over my body accompanied by raised, itchy bumps and stinging, itchy palms. Diphenhydramine did not touch it. It was starting to break out above my neckline, so I abruptly stopped taking the lamotrigine. Without consulting a doctor. The rash went away.

But now I've been experiencing even deeper bouts of depression than before. (I'm always lower than I am high.) I usually have hobbies to keep myself busy, but now I'm more apt to just stare blankly at the computer screen. As I pass into these troughs, I find it hard to communicate with anyone, let alone articulate my depressed state. I have no desire to do anything when I'm like that, and I wonder: what is the point of doing anything at all?

I've been on SSDI for the last seven years. (I used a disability lawyer firm which helped a lot.) This has kept me from being homeless and hungry, and has paid for my meds. I'm currently on mirtazapine and gabapentin. But my condition--even before quitting the lamotrigine--has not been getting any better. I lost my drivers license for life a while back and live in a secluded area, so I rarely go out. I have no friends, as I feel my life is so damaged (many issues, many poor choices) that I cannot relate to anyone. I'm stuck in a rut, becoming more frozen with each passing day. I want out.

I'm used to doing innovative and creative things, but all my ideas are like noise lately. Lots of creative sparks, but no energy to carry out anything to its completion. Every time I get started on something new, the depression sets in and I'm left parked at the curb with no drive left. Then I build myself up again, work up some useful energy... and then the cycle repeats. All the while getting older and more withdrawn.

I cycle very rapidly. I'll go for one, maybe two days feeling good, almost normal, but then I hit a low that will last for days and days. My thoughts during these periods are very negative, no bright outlook whatsoever, and I truly feel like dying (but I refuse to kill myself).

And so I wonder: how should I proceed? You'll probably say, "go see a psychiatrist," but my faith in them and the drugs they prescribe is waning. I know the emotional & psychiatric causes of my condition (I've done a lot of soul-searching), so really it's an issue of brain chemistry and forward movement at this point.

Any thoughts?
 
brighton said:
Has anyone tried chlorpromazine (largactil, thorazine) as a mood stabilizer, or found that it helps their depression?
I have bipolar and I have been taking 50-100mg at night to sleep for the last week and it totally killed my depression and I feel great. I cant find any info on google about its use in depression....
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I take thorazine as a mood stablilizer along with seroquel and I rarely ever get depressed anymore. Thorazine was actually a miracle drug for me. It changed my life.
 
exists said:
Better write this out while I'm feeling up to it...

I had been taking lamotrigine for the last 7 years for my bipolar II disorder. But I just recently got over a nasty rash which I thought might be caused by the lamotrigine. This rash was progressively getting worse, producing large red patches of irritated skin all over my body accompanied by raised, itchy bumps and stinging, itchy palms. Diphenhydramine did not touch it. It was starting to break out above my neckline, so I abruptly stopped taking the lamotrigine. Without consulting a doctor. The rash went away.
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Ugh, lamictal is the only drug I'm on right now, it helped me so much. I don't do anti psychotics, unless I take as needed. I think about that rash on and off and get so paranoid about it. Lamictal has been so great to me. It was the first mood stabilizer I was on.. Still on it. : )

I also heard it can stop working after a couple years or so sometimes? I am not looking forward to that day. When that happens, I think I will abandon pharmas. Which sucks, cause it has helped keep me in check. I guess I should be optimistic and say "if that happens." I just hate searching for the right drug, well, them doing it for you.
 
JarBag said:
I think about that rash on and off and get so paranoid about it.
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You shouldn't; it's very rare.

I do find it strange that I should get a rash after all those years, but it evidently does happen. I used to wonder how a rash could be life-threatening, but I just wasn't using my imagination. If I had taken the time to look at pictures of Stevens-Johnson syndrome victims I would have understood immediately. What a horrible, horrible thing to go through.

But it is a very rare condition, and if you get a rash on lamotrigine, chances are it won't progress into a full blown case of SJS. And if my rash was any indication, there is time to turn things around before it gets bad.

I also heard it can stop working after a couple years or so sometimes? I am not looking forward to that day. When that happens, I think I will abandon pharmas. Which sucks, cause it has helped keep me in check. I guess I should be optimistic and say "if that happens." I just hate searching for the right drug, well, them doing it for you.
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Don't sweat it. The drug will probably keep working for you indefinitely.

I'd like to find something that works; I just hate it when the crippling depression sets in. I guess I'm going to have to see a psychiatrist again. Sigh. I'm thinking about finding some references to scientific studies involving ketamine used to treat bipolar depression, and hand them to the psych. Maybe try to get treated with something that will work.
 
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