Mental Health Mania. Developed from drugs? Or I am beginning the path of mental illness?

[youknowwho222]

Without going to too much detail, I've been recently experiencing manic-like states. For about ten years I've been prescribed some form of amphetamines (adderall xr 30mg once daily for past two years) and I am persceibed 1 mg klonopin 2x a day for the last 6 months. My anxiety is not directly related to amphetamine use. I recreationally enjoy ketamine weekly, as its the only drug these days that goes well with me. Occasionally LSD and MDMA but infrequent and not as of late. Anyway, I find my adderall doesn't keep me focused much anymore and I have racing thoughts and become overly talkative and manic. This was always a minor trait of mine, but as of late I've seen it increase quite a bit. I lost my father two months ago and that has clearly made me depressed but I'm getting the vibe i could be bi-polor or something. Or, maybe it's the drugs idk. Looking for advice. I plan to get involved with CBT and I'm starting to think it's time to tell my psychiatrist about my ketamine use. Im just worry she'll take away my adderall and klonopin if she knows i abuse drugs. (i dont abuse my prescribed meds btw) Also I am not a fan of the idea of SSRIs and I've looked into getting sone tianeptine if anyone is familiar? Thanks.

 

[Chatative]

I'm sorry to hear you lost your father recently.

We cannot diagnose you & I don't think there would be any benefit to speculating in your case either. It is certainly the case that a loss can exacerbate an underlying condition though.

The only thing you can do is tell your psychiatrist about your mania & see what she says. It may well have some bearing in treating your depressive symptoms, so I don't think you can avoid the subject.

CBT certainly sounds like a great starting place though. I've not done CBT per se, but was given some worksheets covering some CBT concepts during talk therapy. It helped enormously for my anxiety alongside meds, which in my case was SSRIs.

As an aside, it could be an idea to take a wee break from your recreational drug use. Certainly it is the case that they can somewhat compound things regardless of how the depression started.

It seems to me you are pretty switched on & know what options are out there, so I'm sure you'll manage to find something that works for you if you open up to your psychiatrist.

 

[Ozle]

Could be the start of phet psychosis. Is there any way you could try reducing the dose by yourself, at least for the short-term? Especially since you say it's no longer working for you and only causing side effects.

Or possibly try mitigating your manic periods, when you're able to spot them, using Seroquel (at least in the evenings), if you're able to get hold of any. I've found it better than anything else I've taken at reversing the effects of stimulants and getting me out of some very unpleasant stim-induced states (then again, I know someone who actually finds it stimulating, so your milage may vary). I admit it's only a band-aid solution, but it might help you get by for the time until you're able to get a longer-term solution in place, such as tapering the stims.

 

[youknowwho222]

Thank you. I was in a borderline manic state when I wrote the post. It's true that no one on a forum could diagnose me. But I am aware of my options, I just have never felt this lost in my life. So I thought I would just simply seek some advise from the forums since there are many knowledgable folks on here. Taking a break from the recreational drugs is certainly a good idea. I will make an effort to do so.