Question About Bi-Polar Disorder

[gaktattack]

I had ptsd but only saw an internal medicine gp and he put me on lowest dose xanax and lexapro. Lexapro fucked my world up, serotonin syndrome style. Medical literature calls it serotonin syndrome, shrinks who do not believe medicine is ever the issue call it bipolar and SSRIs push you into mania. I spent 2 weeks hardly sleeping and tingling all over and just feeling fucking off. At follow up visit I told internal medicine doc, and he said it wasnt the lexapro and doubled my dose. Well as you can imagine that fucked me up even worse. After 6 weeks on lexapro and eating all my xanis like 120 of them to get high a couple of times I discontinued use AMA and had to go through withdrawals, which WHO says doctors are "Shockingly uninformed about SSRI withdrawal syndrome". I spent the next two and a half years dealing with my panic attacks which were always made worse by alcohol, yet I continued to drink. The only time i was cured was after doing a ball of coke, but the panic came back after a binge drunk about a month later. I quit drinking and the routine of holding a job has basically killed my panic attacks.

My advice for PTSD is get into a rigid routine, and just let time heal you.

As far as medicine goes, I knew an old lady who swallowed a fly applies. With my OD I had a massive seizure, for which I was put on keppra which has all sorts of dirty fucking side effects, they also fucked up and had me on twice the keppra I should have been on. A shrink saw me after my first mega dose of keppra and put me on Abilifuck.(Keppra is known to cause rage, anxiety, insomnia, mania, racing thoughts, and mood disorders). This regimend caused my panic attacks to come back, I told the shrink and told him that I couldnt handle SSRIs. He nodded and said "Lets try zoloft". What a fuckhead, I refused the zoloft the next day as it is an SSRI. He asked about why I refused it and I told him I hadnt had panic that day and I refuse to take SSRIs.

Yesterday I met with my GP who believes medicines are usually the problem and my scripts for zoloft, abilify, and keppra were withdrawn. I can now sleep more than 4 hours a night, am no longer raged, and anxiety is gone.

SSRIs have freaky withdrawals, Benzos are gabaergic like booze and cauze symptoms like DTs and cause seizures and rebound anxiety when not taken, it can also lead to death in status epilepticus. Drugs like abilify have their own issues, abilify causes abnormal liver enzyme tests which turns into massive weight gain and later diabetes. I am not a doctor, and many of these drugs are dangerous and hard to be weaned off of, however I do think it may be beneficial for most people to consult with an objective non pill-mill GP about issues similar to mine.

Good luck.

 

[skillz~4~thrillz]

while your input is always welcome,the topic is about bipolar disorder and advice about applying for disability and receiving assistance of any sort to keep an agonizing but manageable mental disorder(under the care of a Psychiatrist-both to prescribe the proper medication(s) and to receive the proper therapy necessary for the patient to cope and learn to live as full a life as possible)into a dangerous manifestation of symptoms that effect not only the patient but family,friends,co-workers,strangers ect....Bipolar disorder is often as individual as the patient...referred to as the Bipolar Spectrum.
Being unable to afford medication(s) and a Psychiatrist is a one way road to disaster,which is why researching ALL types of assistance available in the patient's location.
Staying on topic is important in a thread because your input and experiences you shared about PTSD would be much more helpful in a thread specific to PTSD. I know my post was long and mentioned my PTSD,the gist of my post was to address my own experience and the process of applying for disability and finding as many assistance programs,organizations and options available to an individual depending on location,severity of the disorder and other conditions that factor into what type of assistance the patient receives.

Also,in discussing any type of mental disorder,it is important to not even suggest seeking treatment from any medical professional except a PSYCHIATRIST. This is a serious and agonizing mental illness that requires proper diagnosis,medication(s) and therapy that can only be given by a Psychiatrist. General Practitioners should never be suggested to someone who has been properly diagnosed with any mental disorder.

Again your individual story and experiences are always welcome,but especially in this forum it is important to remember that the information you chose to include in a post can be helpful but also harmful. Especially when the topic is about any medical condition,medication and treatment.
This is so important across the board but especially in TDS.Not to dismiss other forums but this is The DARK Side...on the main forum page the description of TDS is "Support, links and general advice about psychological and emotional problems resulting from drug use/abuse, mental health, and other every day issues."

I hope my response to your post does not come across as negative or critical,that is never my intention. We have already established a great rapport in NMI ...just a couple of points since you are new to the site. Responding to a posts in a social or less specific thread is very different than a post in a specific topic thread.
Keep on posting and sharing so openly.

much peace and love............................skillz

 

[gaktattack]

It wasn't in regard to the topic, but to your post which included PTSD centrally in its foci.

On topic to the initial post:
Geodon was one of four drugs which Pfizer in 2009 pleaded guilty to misbranding "with the intent to defraud or mislead". Ziprasidone is known to cause activation into mania in some bipolar patients. It is not available as a generic and this may be a big part of your expense.

Wellbutrin may be contraindicated in bipolar as it is an SNRI. "There is considerable disagreement regarding whether it is useful to add an antidepressant, including bupropion, to a mood stabilizer in patients with bipolar depression." It also lowers seizure threshold.

None of the medications you listed are mood stabilizers. Traditionally lithium was used for this purpose. Lamictal (Lamotigrine) has significant mood stabilizing properties as well as a fairly safe track record when compared to its contemporaries, it does however require a low dose titration to avoid rash and Stevens Johnson syndrome. It is available as a generic. For a diagnosis of bipolar Im quite surprised you are not on a mood stabilizer.

I was diagnosed as bipolar by a shrink based upon adverse reactions to Keppra, which led to abilify + zoloft. As with any disorder legwork and research are beneficial.

Based on my research Ill be requesting prednisalone from my GP as it has the capability of reversing my hearing loss as it may have been due to the antibiotics administered.