Drug users and mental illness

[Pothedd]

idk why i've been diagnosed bipolar when i'm clearly major depressive. i haven't had a single manic moment, ever. i'm just depressed day in and day out and it gets really really gay.
wish i owned a gun...

 

[paranoid android]

idk why i've been diagnosed bipolar when i'm clearly major depressive. i haven't had a single manic moment, ever. i'm just depressed day in and day out and it gets really really gay.
wish i owned a gun...

Youve probably been misdiagnosed although i could not tell that i was having manic episodes at first. Other people picked up on it though and often asked me why i was chatting non stop and could go days without sleep. Other people picked up on my rapid mood swings as well because i would be really happy one minute and the next i could be really angry for no reason or just totally in a depressive slump.

They usually put it down to cocaine use even though ive never been a heavy cocaine user (havent touched it in 4 years) and i was never on coke when they pointed these things out.

Anyway id say keep trying different anti-depressants until you find one that works. One of them will probably work but it might take awile. Also going to a different shrink to get a second opinion would be a good idea.

And forget about the goddamn gun man. Ive actually been to the point of having a gun on the table ready to blow my brains out but thankfully i thought of a few reasons not to do it. Mainly because it would really hurt the people i love. Suicide is a rather permanent fix to a most likely temporary problem.

 

[Pothedd]

i can go days without sleeping, but that's because lying there depression gets me, so i'd rather stay up and smoke weed.
or take diphenhydramine (or seroquel when i get more) so i fall asleep within seconds. but i'm not manic. everyone agrees that i'm never manic. ever.
i'm planning on getting some prozac here soon (been unmedicated for months now, just weed, dxm, and diphenhydramine to keep me sane) i'm fairly certain that it'll fix me so i can be a productive member of society.
and yea, i know, suicide's not the way. i just wish it was. it'd be so much easier. but i think of my little brother and it breaks my heart to imagine leaving him alone, same way his dad did.
i just smoke weed, it shuts my brain off so it doesn't keep telling me to kill myself over and over again.
can't keep smoking weed nonstop forever though, i gotta get some medication. for one thing i'm poor and need a job to afford my drug habits, but can't get a job because depression keeps me not wanting to do anything at all...

 

[clamjuice]

Diagnosed with General Anxiety disorder and ADD. I was on medication for years, 150mg zoloft at one point, And need to have benzos lying around in case of panic attacks.

I managed to get off my meds and have been doing pretty well for about 8 months id say. Idonno today feels horrible, what the fuck am i doing with my life. I really feel like i need to just get up and catch a plane to somewhere far far away. Maybe that would inspire me...

 

[narutokun]

Thats bipolar disorder. If you had major depression you would only get depression thats it. I have bipolar and before i got on the right mood stabilizer i had bouts of really severe major depression, mixed states and hypomania.

The major depression part tended to last longer then anything else and i often stayed in bed for a week or longer not even eating. Mixed states generally would not last longer then a day but where more horrible then anything else. These where the times i came very close to killing myself. Id also have hypomania that would last a week or so and i once stayed awake for 4 days in a row. I finally crashed after taking a few extra clonazapam. It was not uncommon for me to stay awake days at a time.

If you do have bipolar and by the sounds of it you might get treated for it. It's a serious illness so you shouldnt just try and self medicate with it.

I've tried with many mood stabilizers none ever really worked =/

 

[SilverFeniks]

i was depressed/suicidal when i was 13, got put on worthless meds, sent to court, almost comitted, etc. ... years later i've just been fucked up from years of drug abuse, still too afraid of doctors to give them another serious shot.

i'm not manic, or ad/hd. i can't relate to what a lot of people say about panic attacks [only had about a week or two of each, luckily not regular for me], though i often feel very uncomfortable and completely out of place / out of touch with the world around me.

but instead i just have moods that shift daily from happiness to misery, day in day out .. and i always feel so scattered, confused, always at a loss to communicate the disorienting and worthless thoughts that endlessly run through my head for years ..

i'm probably just good olde-fashioned 'crazy.' we're all surprised i've made it this far.

 

[SteeleyJ]

Panic Disorder and social anxiety disorder are the ones that get to me most. An offshoot of the two main ones depression comes. Opiates and benzos are my drugs of choice.

 

[Psychlone Jack]

Diagnosed ADD ninety-seven-percentile, major depressive disorder, mild psychosis w/ auditory hallucinations, and insomnia.

I take zero (prescribed) meds.

DOC's: opiates, alcohol, weed

 

[strigoi]

ADD, anxiety, depression. Prescribed Lexapro, adderall and ativan. Seems these just take enough edge off for me to function in public, most of the time any way. Only recreational drugs I use are opiates and benzos. Weed makes me panic and paranoid.

 

[TSM]

MDD, Anxiety (mostly social), Bi-polar, ADD, PTSD, and Suicidal Ideations.

All diagnosed by 3 independent psychiatrists

Lexapro, Seroquel, Valium, Xanax, Ritalin and Ambien, all prescribed

 

[guineaPig]

havent even read this thread. too much booze in me. i'm bipolar, and i understand it...i just cant get a med that will even me out right.
my paranoia adds to/creates anxiety. its stupid. the only things that even me out are alcohol and benzos...and no doc will give me benzos when they hear that i drink...but the stupid thing is, i wouldnt drink if i had benzos. they relax me and make the anxiety and paranoia go away.
half the time, i just need a drink in my hand in case any of the bad things i envision happen to me happen, i can drink and forget about it.

its a fucked up cycle.

 

[ink907]

I think my drug use exacerbated my mental "problems" but also disguised them as "side effects". But now I've quit almost everything, I've been able to identify my issues and I've started to work on them.
I've found when I use my progress decreases noticeably...

 

[Ximot]

kind of all of them. but i think most of us suffer from them to a degree. Along a continuum between 0% and 100% I would say I am not at 0% with any of them constantly, and so technically I "suffer" from them all. But I totally don't like textbook diagnoses, they're just labels.

But I used to be diagnosed as depressed and anxious. Long time ago...

I have also experienced panic attacks, I occasionally display some OCD symptoms (don't we all have some unbeneficial patterns??), and at times I can't concentrate even if I try.

But I refuse to see myself as ill and I refuse to take medication for any of these things on a regular basis. Four years on SSRIs and/or Mirtazapine was more than enough, way back when.

hence I just voted "other" and nothing else. Even though I might as well have voted "Bipolar" cos I really am somewhat. But I manage to manage the condition without medication...

I think it's useful to think of these things not as absolutes (either you have OCD or you haven't) but as something one can experience to a degree... (to what extent does one have it?) etc. I don't think there are any absolutes in life. Absolutes are really mental constructs more than anything that really exists, imho.

Just like in the movies - the Good Guy and the Bad Guy... how realistic is that?

The happy guy and the sad guy, the bold guy and the anxious guy... etc. I don't want to buy that, and I believe that the only constant is change.

(edited for spelling)

 

[tathra]

you know, i bet a lot of people have been conditioned to have Learned Helplessness, which will NEVER be properly diagnosed by anyone except the individual and friends (except i bet a lot of people who have it dont have too many friends, which is why they've learned that they're helpless).

being upset because you know that your actions dont make a god damn difference is NOT depression.
if you dont know what learned helplessness is, look it up.

 

[coldkast]

I'm uncertain of what I'm currently diagnosed with, I don't think my psychiatrists even know anymore. But they do know I have had major depression and anxiety; particularly social.

But I can tell you I've been diagnosed with OCD in the past, but then I had a "suspected" psychosis and I've been seeing psychiatrists and a psychiatric nurse ever since and they've been asking questions relating to schizophrenia.

So I'm not sure if they've marked the past OCD diagosis as a misdiagnosis, and diagnosed me with schizophrenia or what.

I'm currently taking Resperidone (Anti-psychotic with sedating qualities), Seroquel (Anti-psychotic with strong sedating qualities) and diazepam when required.

My symptoms are (or were):
Major depression
Severe social anxiety
General anxiety
Panic attacks
Insomnia
Mild paranoia
Difficulty concentrating
Invasive thoughts

I've been hospitalised once for suicidal thoughts.

I take my medications every single day and I feel a lot better now, I can actually go to supermarkets and shops and I wake up feeling happy after so many cloudy days. My psychiatric nurse says they're considering discharging me because I've become too well. I ask "how long?" & they said "3 monthes."

I hope they do, because I'm telling ya, being in the severe psychiatric system isn't a cake-walk, and if you don't do what they say then: (A) You won't get better, and (B) They can do unpleasant things to you - like send you to hospital and forcibly give you painful (thick guage needles) injections with anti-psychotics.

 

[zhuk]

Well I was diagnosed borderline personality disorder more than 20 yrs ago...also have related anxiety/depression issues which go hand in hand really.

Since it is classified as a neurological dysfunction of the basic emotion-regulation area of the brain (NOT a mental illness btw) meds do fuck-all for the actual condition...I only take one of the older type anti-depressants (tolvon) which has a sedative effect to help me sleep, as I wouldn't get much without it. SSRIs simply zombiefied me & removed every human feeling I had...fuck that!


Do self-medicate with pot which takes all the BPD uncontrollable rages out of me lol....but if I can ever get into treatment i'll have to agree to give that up apparently as a condition of getting help.


Damn, lol 8)

 

[Boiling in Acid]

if i start to trip into myself with a negative attitude i will find all of them, maybe except panic attacs...

like one wise man said ''every drug addict (clean also) if he goes to a shrink he may insert him for an inpatient treatment or at least diagnose him with a bunch of bullshit... '' i agree with that.

today i'm clean & things get better & i believe it's all about your attitude. if you keep keeping in mind that you have social phobia, it will be 10x worse.

i'm diagnosed with social phobia, personality disorder, & ADD & i think i experienced any kinds of anxiety, depression, depersonalization, splitted personality, bipolar mood swings, & tons of bullshit but i relate it to all the lsd & drug's i overboarded used in the past side effects & call bullshit & things get just better, even though i have my moments sometimes...

i don't take medicines, just GABA supplement which i really think helps me.

 

[B9]

Undiagnosable strangeness isn't listed. I dunno like clearly I am not your usual type of citizen and allegedly can be "difficult" but as to diagnosis i dunno.

 

[Boiling in Acid]

^^he probably would diagnost you with some kind of personality disorder :/

 

[mukaki]

Schizotypal disorder with depression.