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Mental Health Bipolar Disorder Mega Thread

Eryximachus said:
If you are truly working hard at this and taking a high dose of seroquel, get your head doc to testify. 600mg of seroquel is a high dose.
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I have had him Lower the dosage mostly because the dosage I had been taking was when I weighed 400 lbs. I am at 450 mg now and we are considering another drop. I just run high manic alot of the time. We will see where it all ends up.
 
I started living with nearly constant depression from about age 10, primarily resulting from bullying at school. At this time (early 50s) no one understood or talked about depression. I started seeing psychiatrists in the 60s. I've been through all the meds in the PDR with only the side effects & no relief from the depression. The one exception was in the late 60s I got a bottle of meth tabs from a friend. Getting high on one of those lifted the depression.

The basic nature of my problem appears to be an anxiety neurosis. If you live with unresolved conflicts inside you, the result is neurosis which leads to depression. The amygdala responds by sending nerve pulses to the adrenal glands which pump out stress hormones (epinephrine & norepinephrine) that have a negative effect on brain function over time. The existence of the anxiety part is the basis of frequent panic attacks that I would have for which I was prescribed Xanax which works like a charm.

In the 70s I discovered pot. My wife & I would get stoned & sit at the kitchen table & just talk. I was suddenly free to verbalize a lot of the internal conflicts, which made some of them easier to deal with. Pot is a great adjunct for psychotherapy IMO.

In the 80s I was making a lot of money working as a consultant & as a result the manic phase set in. I traveled to Amsterdam several times to vacation & spend more money than I had, which resulted in a crash back to depression.

I visited a DO therapist who suggested I try anti-convulsant drugs. Sodium valproate had no effect on my depression but gabapentin worked like magic. If I felt anxious or depressed, a 100 mg cap would make me feel better in less than an hour. I now take 400-600 mg/day. It works on the depressive phase but not on the manic.

I am not clear on whether my bipolar is type 1 or 2 as the symptom descriptions that I've read seem to cover both types.

I have no interest in Seroquel as it can cause elevation of a liver enzyme & even liver damage. This is one area that my DO keeps her eye on because I take Lipitor which acts in the liver.

Others here have had a variety of experiences with this disorder & I hope to get some positive feedback.

Jack
 
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JacksinPA said:
I started living with nearly constant depression from about age 10, primarily resulting from bullying at school. At this time (early 50s) no one understood or talked about depression. I started seeing psychiatrists in the 60s. I've been through all the meds in the PDR with only the side effects & no relief from the depression. The one exception was in the late 60s I got a bottle of meth tabs from a friend. Getting high on one of those lifted the depression.

The basic nature of my problem appears to be an anxiety neurosis. If you live with unresolved conflicts inside you, the result is neurosis which leads to depression. The amygdala responds by sending nerve pulses to the adrenal glands which pump out stress hormones (epinephrine & norepinephrine) that have a negative effect on brain function over time. The existence of the anxiety part is the basis of frequent panic attacks that I would have for which I was prescribed Xanax which works like a charm.

In the 70s I discovered pot. My wife & I would get stoned & sit at the kitchen table & just talk. I was suddenly free to verbalize a lot of the internal conflicts, which made some of them easier to deal with. Pot is a great adjunct for psychotherapy IMO.

In the 80s I was making a lot of money working as a consultant & as a result the manic phase set in. I traveled to Amsterdam several times to vacation & spend more money than I had, which resulted in a crash back to depression.

I visited a DO therapist who suggested I try anti-convulsant drugs. Sodium valproate had no effect on my depression but gabapentin worked like magic. If I felt anxious or depressed, a 100 mg cap would make me feel better in less than an hour. I now take 400-600 mg/day. It works on the depressive phase but not on the manic.

I am not clear on whether my bipolar is type 1 or 2 as the symptom descriptions that I've read seem to cover both types.

I have no interest in Seroquel as it can cause elevation of a liver enzyme & even liver damage. This is one area that my DO keeps her eye on because I take Lipitor which acts in the liver.

Others here have had a variety of experiences with this disorder & I hope to get some positive feedback.

Jack
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It's great to know Gabapentin is working well for you. I've been experimenting with it for a while and it does wonders to stabilize my mood and ease anxiety. Only thing is it makes me ravenous so I haven't been taking much of it lately due to fear of weight gain.

I wish weed worked well for me, but it doesn't feel good. It can trigger paranoia and even more anxiety. Weed is one drug I can actually resist doing with no problem.
 
I take Depakote for my mania. It doesn't feel as "heavy" as Seroquel and other drugs. I know it's not as hard on your liver as lithium.
 
Yeah tell me about it! I have to be on it or I?m in hell. I spend 45 bucks when I have a prior auth through me insuarance or it would?ve been 500 bucks. So I had to jump through hoops until next year lol
 
Hello all. I usually post in the drug sections but I've found solace here on Mental Health so I figured I should share what has helped me. Bipolar 2 here but with ultra-rapid cycling and I'm almost as prone to mixed phases as I am to purely hypomanic ones. I'm also diagnosed with BPD (and a laundry list more) and I think that speeds up the swells and makes them bounce around a lot faster, but that's just my hypothesis.

Like a bunch of other people in this thread I've had good results from Lamotrigine. I was on 250mg/day for a long time but after a particularly bad episode my doctor decided to raise it. I'm on 350mg/day now and I have to say the difference is pretty remarkable. The way it was described to me by another prescibee (I'm making that a word) was that if mood was measured 1-10, 1 being suicidally depressed and 10 being dangerously (hypo)manic; A lot of the meds I've tried (antidepressants, antipsychs) seem to block basically everything except 4, 5 & 6. The Lamotrigine seems to successfully knock out 1 and 10 respectively, but I can still feel all the normal range of emotions between. I do still get full swells occasionally, they just seem to be fewer and farther between, and not quite as dangerous when they happen. I haven't been nearly as self-destructive, though there are other factors at play though*.

The one antipsych I consider an absolute necessity in MY medicine cabinet though is Olanzapine. I prefer it to Quetiapine because it kicks in way faster (under 45min), whereas Quetiapines 1-2 hours leaves more room for danger, but I know that most people prefer Quetiapine.

I almost never use the Olanzapine though. It's only for when I am in a fully hypomanic phase and I realize I've been awake for 40 hours, eaten exactly 1/2 of a sandwich, and still think I'm the smartest person on Earth, or when I'm in a mixed phase and am literally putting together a suicide plan. But in those times it is the ONLY thing that will shut off my brain. I have an Rx for Diazepam, and live in a medical marijuana state, both of which help slow me down during less intense swells, but when shit hits the fan they don't do anything. But 5mg Olanzapine will shut down any suicidal thoughts, any sense of being better than anyone else, and ensure that I NEED to eat and then immediately sleep. I'll take another 2.5mg the next day, and maybe a day or 2 after that just to make sure the cycle fades completely before I take back the reigns myself. Those few days are always a boring blur where I don't get anything done and don't really enjoy anything (trapped between 4-6) but if I was at a 1 or 10 that's what needs to happen.

*I've been practicing DBT a lot and I find it extremely helpful in managing certain lesser symptoms. Specifically "opposite action" helps me be productive during depressive cycles. It's really fucking hard to convince myself to cook dinner when all I want to do is order Chinese food and feel sorry for myself, but as many of you know laziness usually only exacerbates itself in depressive cycles. During hypomanic phases I use mindfulness exercises to try and measure whether or not I actually am hypomanic or just feeling uncharacteristically optimistic. Simply the act of putting a few minutes between impulse and action to consider what my motives are for that action has really helped me catch myself before I make regrettable choices.
 
mgmt&mdma said:
^^alright thanks. maybe im seeing a psychiatrist, ill ask my mom later.

should i tell them that ive used ecstasy before? im afraid if i tell them that part then they'll tell me theres nothing they can do. or theyll tell my parents which will = mega fucked
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Psychiatrist fall under doctor patient confidentiality so unless you sign papers for the doc to disclose it to your parents then the doc won’t disclose the information you tell them. It’s best to be completely honest with your psychiatrist so they can get to know you and your bodies problem if there is an underlying problem if you have any! Hope this sheds some light on your situation. Sorry If i answered too late, I just joined the Bluelight fam!
 
I’m waiting to be diagnosed if I am bipolar, when I checked myself into the psych ward on a 5150 I was feeling so damn low, I’m currently on just 100mg IR of seroquil 3 times daily and 400mg ER for sleep. I don’t feel any change. I still get super manic, crazy sad, I can never get back to my even keel I stopped takin Benzos which I honestly think the Morphine and benzos were masking a Bipolar disorder. I have Relapsing Remitting MS aswell. I need some help on what to ask my doctor when I see her for medication.. she’s Indian and she does not take any medication for herself even with migraines she gets. I feel as if she doesn’t want to give me any medication unless it’s absolutely necessary. I called her nurse when I was havin a very bad depressed low. He told me he’s talk to her then call back. He called back tried to get me in sooner to see her and would call back. I never got the call back... it’s so frustrating having to deal with these idk symptoms and wait for my appointment. What medication should I start tryin? What do I ask her about to start off?
 
How often do you cycle between highs and lows?

I have found lithium to be great for killing mania, and lamictal to be great for killing depression - both are mood stabilizers and should help with both highs and lows, but they work a bit differently as i've said.

The great thing about lithium, is you can throw yourself on a high dose immediately and don't need to work your way up. So it's good to stop mania dead in it's tracks. With lamictal you have to work your way up. I think that's why they use lithium more as an intimidate fix.

Any SSRI might throw you into a manic episode, so i'd be careful there.

As for the seroquel.. IME it was always supplemented with another drug. On it's own, i never found it that effective.
 
^Idk about that lithium part of throwing oneself on a high dose.

Lithium has a narrow therapeutic ratio, so the active dose is near the toxic dose. That's why they taper up, then do a blood test, then taper up, then do a blood test....

...but lithium is the gold standard for bipolar disorder. It has at least one mechanism that the others don't, beyond the typical aggregate GABA increase and glutamate decrease. And it's even, though lightly and I say this with advisement, effective for psychosis.

For what it's worth, there really isn't enough data to concur that lamictal is more effective for depression than mania.

Usually it's the (relatively weak) antipsychotics like seroquel that help one's inner state in bipolar.
 
Maybe my psychiatrist meant that since we already know my dosage, throwing me back on it would be easy, something because of how it's composed. Thanks for clearing that up.

Best to talk to your doctor, of course.
 
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Anyone ever been to a NAMI or similar meeting? I was in a DBT group therapy partial-hospitalization program not too long ago and I really liked it, then I was stepped down to a one-on-one weekly visit with a therapist, but I'm missing the group aspect and I'd like to find one again, but I'm doing a lot better now so I don't need to do PHP/IOP again
 
Factualist said:
Anyone ever been to a NAMI or similar meeting? I was in a DBT group therapy partial-hospitalization program not too long ago and I really liked it, then I was stepped down to a one-on-one weekly visit with a therapist, but I'm missing the group aspect and I'd like to find one again, but I'm doing a lot better now so I don't need to do PHP/IOP again
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No, I haven't been to NAMI. I completed DBT group therapy at a clinic where I saw my psychiatrist and therapist. They also had DBT group when I was admitted into a hospital years ago. You don't go to a clinic to see a therapist/psychiatrist? You could look up group therapy within the clinic or I'm sure you can find group therapy somewhere in your area. It doesn't necessarily have to be DBT. Google group therapy in your area.
 
CoastTwoCoast said:
No, I haven't been to NAMI. I completely DBT group therapy at a clinic where I saw my psychiatrist and therapist. They also had DBT group when I was admitted into a hospital years ago. You don't go to a clinic to see a therapist/psychiatrist? You could look up group therapy within the clinic or I'm sure you can find group therapy somewhere in your area. Google it.
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Well the thing is, a couple months ago after I got out of behavioral care, I did an 8-week program where I went to groups for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week for 3 weeks then went to groups for 3 hours a day 3 days a week for 5 weeks. Then a few weeks after that I did a two week stay at a voluntary in-patient dual diagnosis center. I'm no longer in need of something that intensive, so I figured I would just add some kind of other peer-based group to my weekly one-on-one.

Also, @Mr.Cmysterious I've found that Lamictal really helps regulate mood. I have BD and BPD, and my depressive symptoms have always been worse, so @madness00 may be on to something, but for me it's also kept me out of mania. Antipsychotics didn't agree with me at all, the three I've tried made me feel so much worse and so much more suicidal, because I felt like a life on them is not worth living, but I understand how they help when there are no other options, and a couple times when I've had a manic episode with psychotic features, a brief stint on Haloperidol has been very helpful.

Right now I'm on 200mg Lamictal and 300mg Wellbutrin XR and I'm feeling better than I have in years. Incredibly intense therapy is probably more helped far more, but the medications have given me the tools to really make something of what I've been through in the last couple years.
 
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