It's interesting how the specialists have different opinions and experiences. I've never heard of it being used for bipolar. I got the prescription as a sleep aid, to stay asleep, not to fall asleep. They don't make me groggy the next day like immovane or valium. Mine told me basically to treat them like candy and take between 50-100mg per night and that is a super low dose so to use my discretion.
I know how you feel though. If I don't take my meds and smoke lots of weed... I can't sleep for at least 2-3 days. I find you get bored, frustrated, and ruins the next day.
Doctors obviously differ from one another, and this can be a huge difference which can cause people who don't research their medications/conditions to not fully understand, which leads to being misinformed unfortunately.
You are right though, it's not really a bipolar medication. It is used for 'major depression' as stated on many websites, for a quick reference check out wikipedia. I have noticed some help from it though, and I just started lamictal but I'm noticing a very large increase in my appetite and my sleep is 10x worse then it was before since I'm an insomniac already, and this shit keeps me up.
I'm glad it works for your sleep though, the only medication that really ever helped me sleep was seroquel, but that made me gain a lot of weight real fast so I got off it. It's too bad because it works like a charm, and it helps bipolar as well.
As I've mentioned - 2 psychiatrists diagnosed me (and and 2 MDs agree) with mild-moderate depression. I will pursue the issue further with them, and maybe have to try with other docs.
Just wondering if anyone knows why the guy sitting 2 offices away from me at work is labeled as a rage-a-holic and sent to anger management (since we share most of the same symptoms and resulting social problems).
Does anyone know if there absolutely needs to be a "down" as in "sad" to qualify as uni or bi polar depression?
Are there possibly a bunch of people with temper problems that are in reality depressed... or maybe the other way around, people diagnosed as depressed that in reality are slightly "maladaptive"?
Mild to moderate depression is very treatable, so be happy that it isn't worse. If you feel though that you have been misdiagnosed then find another doc and get a third opinion. When it comes to being bipolar, usually mood swings are noticed because of the depression/mania.
I'm bipolar and I rarely get manic. But when I do I feel like I'm on ecstasy x10, and on some meth. My pupils enlarge to the size they would if I was rolling, and I make crazy decisions like wanting to move away all of a sudden, or more recently I actually decided while manic, that I wanted to join the military (which I have been considering but definitely don't know if I want to actually do it). My point is, bipolar is a very hard thing to diagnose, some doctors will take their time with you and it could very easily be months, or up to a year even I've heard, to be fully diagnosed as to what sort of mental illness you have.
To answer your question about having to be 'down' or 'sad' to be bipolar, the answer is no. There are plenty of people who are usually manic or just neutral feeling. I think sometimes to myself I'd rather be manic than being depressed all the time since I get suicidal, but then again being manic all the time would definitely not be a good thing.
Anyone else have a difficult time with therapy?
I can abrely talk to my parents and people close to me, how the hell am I suppose to open up to some stranger who I know is observing and making judgements about my every word? I went to about 5-6 1 hour sessions and didn't feel like talking was helping my problem one bit, I just felt uncomfortable the entire time as I never had anything new to say or desire to talk about myself so it usually ended up me starring at the psych and her just starring back at me -- like thats suppose to help an anxious person...
Having trouble talking to someone you have just meant, or even have known for a while about your problems and issues is not that uncommon. In fact a lot of people have trouble talking to a therapist/psychologist at first.
The first thing you need to realize is that you not being able to open up freely to a professional is actually a problem in itself, and should be brought up to the doctor so they can help you adapt to the idea of sharing your issues to a trained professional. Talking to your parents, or friends first may help you get started with learning to open up more. You need to realize that until you can fully talk about your problems with somebody, you wont get the proper help that you need. And that is why you are going to the doc in the first place, correct?
Just relax when you see the doctor, and slowly, gradually, begin to open up more and more each time. However, you don't want to waste your time and be too slow, time is money and docs aren't cheap at all, so try and make the best out of the hour you get to talk about everything.
If you have any other questions or need some advice or anything at all, don't hesitate to PM or IM me. My screename is in my profile.
Hope I have answered your question well enough for ya. Good luck with the doctor and opening up, you will find peace within yourself once you truly open up and allow yourself to get help from another human being.
-dp
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
I don't know, some therapy sessions seem to be better than others. 
