u/hauntedlittleaf

Sorry if this breaks any rules. I'm new to this sub.

24f i have bp 2. I have recently started lamotrigine, and I'm about to go up to 100mg.

I am struggling with an episode. Symptoms come in waves. It's been weeks, and It started before I took the medication.

I have called 111 and my duty team, they have given me coping advice such as watching netflix and plunging my face into cold water. I have said I have hit a wall with coping mechanisms, and it's not enough, and I have been left to deal with this until the medication works.

How long does lamotrigine take to have an effect. What would actually help with the gap in treatment?

Nothing is enough to help. I am agitated, my impulse breaks are more loose, I'm sad and struggling with work, and it's coming in waves. Reaching out is making me more miserable.

Any advice on the medication and on what to do in the meantime? Or just any advice at all.

I feel stuck in a fluctuating episode that has been dragging on for weeks. I'm on medication but still early in the titration phase, so it's not doing anything.

I've called 111, and they told me to watch netflix and sent an email to my cmht for them to pick up on monday. Today, the duty team called and said they could try to bump me up the care coodinator waiting list and gave me some coping strategies such as plunging my face into cold water.

I've hit a wall with coping strategies. I have left feeling worse after the duty team call.

How to get through that gap where you're symptomatic and have to wait for the medication to work. I am struggling, no si thoughts, although I have relapsed with sh, which is why i think they are suggesting coping strategies. I don't honestly know what will help, and I don't really want to just suffer through it until the medication works.

Called 111 today. What a waste of time that was. They just told me to watch Netflix, help with the cooking and take a cold shower. I wouldn't be calling if I hadn't tried those things first, they don't even scratch the surface in helping.

I'm so miserable, I keep having doom spirals about everything. I am fed up and feel like I'm over work, i need a new job. I also don't want to talk to my friends or meet up. I feel trapped and like i need an overhaul of my life, and nothing is fixing this feeling soon enough. Every strategy just falls short and doesn't help, and I'm just stuck waiting for the medication to work, which will be weeks. I feel sad, irritable, fed up, and like I need to fix everything, and i don't think anything can help this feeling.

I am really dissatisfied by life right now, my job, my friends, everything. I feel trapped, and I have this sense of urgency that I need to do something, find a new job, pull away from friends, and not contact them.

I have tried small adjustments to make it more bearable, but nothing is making this feeling go away. And I know it's just a symptom and state dependent, but it doesn't make it any less real and urgent to me.

Any tips on how to deal with this, i feel so stuck.

I'm stuck in this episode, a mixed feature one. It's not improving or getting worse, just fluctuating but not leaving a bad to less bad range. my functioning, mood, and sleep is fluctuating. it's been over two weeks and idk what to do, ive not called my cmht, I don't want to be told to monitor it and I don't want any escalation, but idk what to do because ive only just started a mood stabiliser and it takes weeks to work. I've tried everything, but it's just oscillating and I feel stuck.

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any help or advice would be much appreciated

So I'm experiencing some symptoms, it's not easing, still moderate in intensity. My question is, when you are under CMHT, do you tell them about 'wobbles' and potential early signs? if so, when do you contact then, do you tell them when its imparing functioning or worsening, or tell them before it gets to that point? I wouldn't be wasting their time, would I?

I've just been told that the wait for a key worker is a few weeks to 6 months, which sucks cause I need the extra support now.

I also naturally assumed i was no longer under CMHT, considering they had not contacted me in months, and that i was under outpatient psychiatry. However, I found out today I am under them?!

Anyone who has struggled with the process of treatment?

it's been so exhausting. I started seeking help last year, and I am still in the active treatment phase. We've tried different medications, multiple assessments, and different diagnoses revised and given. We have reached a solid working diagnosis at least, but at this point, my energy and capacity are in the gutter. Everything is making me sad and miserable, and im feeling very negative.

I told my psychiatrists this, and he brought forward the plan to introduce a different medication instead of waiting and observing, even this I was unsure of. i didn't know what to say other than I guess I'll go for it.

My care is fragmented across services, and It feels like the emotional side is being dropped. How do you push through and not let the exhaustion and negativity take over? How do you get the support for this, and what support did you get?

I don't know what else to title this. A while back, I had an assessment. The psychiatrist had talked about the possibility of bipolar disorder and had, during that assessment, started a plan to ween me off my ssri and meet back in 6 weeks.

I understand the plan is for me not to be on a medication that destabilises me whilst also seeing what my baseline is like. My worry is that my symptoms are episodic. What if nothing happens during that time when we meet back up? do they extend the observation period. Do they just start the new medication anyway? What are they trying to see from my baseline when my symptoms are episodic? surely two weeks off an ssri is not lomg enough to tell.

The uncertainty is eating me up, and unfortunately, weening off the meds has made me overthink more than usual. Any advice on the process and what they are looking for would help so much.