I already have it 8 years and im not sure.. I thought I can control it now but in recent mixed episode i am not sure if such feeling was right.
I am not taking meds.
Is your bipolar getting better or worse over the years?
BP1. Due to issues with my kidneys/liver I can not take lithium or depakote, so I’m currently on 300 mg of seroquel, and it has completely sucked the life out of me. I’m aware advice here doesn’t substitute for psychiatric consultation, but I’m curious to hear about the lived experience of people who’ve switched from seroquel and found an effective med for mania. I’ve been on it almost a year and it has been a giant fog affecting my daily functioning.
Hi guys
everytime i start to have some symptoms or an episode i start to feel energy in my arms and especially my throat like i needs to scream/yell or pant, or just MOVE. it’s very electric and intense feeling, but it’s not anxiety at all it’s just pure energy. i get a little shaky too. just wondering if any of you experience that too. maybe it’s a mania thing maybe it’s unrelated.
thx
I cut out caffeine bc it was making me nervous on my new meds. I’m thinking about cutting out nicotine as well.
Do you consume either of these things on antipsychotics? How much and on what meds?
I feel so much better since cutting caffeine and I’m thinking if I cut nicotine I’ll be golden. I currently am on 6mg zyns, almost a can a day.
Any thoughts/ opinions welcomed.
Ever since I’ve gone no contact with my ex I’ve been in a constant depressive episode(it’s been a month) I’ve been recently diagnosed with bipolar 2 and some of my depressive episodes are massive and I feel alone in this.
Just anyone else have the hoarse voice and dry throat before and during their mania? And then when the hoarseness goes away you know the mania is gone?
I ended up in hospital, back in May 2023, because of a suicide attempt. I had attempted suicide because of severe paranoia and the fact that I heard a demon’s voice telling me, “I’m going to kill people and make it look like you did it.”
I wasn’t sleeping, and I think that was a major contributor, but my mood was high at the time. I was sure to tell them I felt like my emotional state was high, which they noted in my records.
However, as I continued reading, they had written, “Not showing signs of psychosis.”
How the hell do you end up with a patient hearing voices, acting on it so that people don’t die, then say the person isn’t showing signs of psychosis?
Oof that hurt my feelings. It’s as if they didn’t listen to me at all.
I stopped reading my notes after that. I only read them because I had to get them for disability allowances. I shouldn’t have read them at all. So much more bs they’ve listed like “normal affect” when I was CRYING. SMH 🤦🏻♀️
Bipolar I autistic is what the mental hospital/my doctors say I am, feels more like bipolar and ctpsd (I don't know). I found out I'm bipolar after a severe cannabis-induced/effexor withdrawal lead me into the mental hospital. (June 9th of this year to June 21st I was in the mentally hospital)
Psychosis is scary guys, I don't like it. During my psychosis, I broke stuff, accused people of following me (paranoia), walked for miles while people looked for me, moved all my husband stuff out and left in the hallway of our apartment building and changed the locks for NO reason. He's a sweet man, don't know why he forgave me still.
I was still a bit paranoid coming out of the hospital. This is the first time I ever had a manic episode, and for the longest I didn't believe I'm bipolar because I feel like I don't fit in that bubble.
I work a full time job and have been in the same job for 4 years. I'm married, pay bills on time, have friends and interests, extremely frugal, even though I make a lot of money at my job and don't really have hallucinations or any "highs" just a whole lot of lows.
I think I learned to mask my bipolar at some point in my life because I am a completely different person when I clock into work and I can go from crying on the phone with my husband to talking to my coworkers with a smile in just a millisecond (and hoping they just didn't see me ball literal f\*cking tears), my husband said that I was masking, but what am I masking??? Sounds like bipolar now that I am typing this out.
I got a diagnosis from the mental hospital June 21st, a couple of weeks after my psychotic episode and I've been brushing it off as a misdiagnosis because if I'm bipolar then I'm super aware of what makes me bipolar and when I'm acting bipolar which makes everything so difficult.
When I came home June 21st, I was on Depakote from the hospital which zombified me and put me in a state of confusion and distress all the time and eventually doctors took me off of the medicine. They also gave me the invega sustenna shot in the mental hospital which is causing me more distress, I regret even agreeing to atp.
I'm ready to accept my bipolar diagnosis, but I keep telling myself and my doctors I was okay just taking effexor...but I don't want to be crazy. I don't want people to be like "you're bipolar? Yikes". People are not seeing my differently and I hate it.
has your appetite changed since starting meds, or is it pretty much the same as it was before? Im also curious to hear if your cravings, meal patterns, or relationship with food have changed at all.
I struggle with an eating disorder, bulimia, and it got worse after I got medicated with aripiprazole, prozac and lamictal. Don’t know why.
I’m currently on olanzapine and I am switching to abilify my doctor said i will loose the weight I put on does anyone know if this is true or not
Hi, of course someone with bipolar disorder can become a doctor—I already know that. What I’m actually wondering about is how productivity and performance are affected.
My brother was diagnosed with Bipolar I Disorder two months ago, right around the time he graduated from medical school. I’m also a medical student. Throughout this process, I’ve helped him a lot and became almost obsessed with researching his illness so that I could help him manage it in the best possible way.
In the country we live in, after graduating from medical school, doctors take a specialty exam and then start their residency in the field they choose. Before his diagnosis, my brother always wanted to specialize in dermatology because it’s considered a relatively comfortable specialty. However, the score required for dermatology is quite high, and because he has been going through such a difficult period, he wasn’t able to study enough to get the score he needed.
So now he has decided to become a family physician instead. Family physicians here generally work regular daytime hours, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., which seems like a very good fit for managing his illness. However, the first three years of residency involve hospital rotations, and unfortunately, there are night shifts.
Because of this, we got a medical report from his psychiatrist stating that, due to his illness, he cannot work night shifts. I really hope the hospital where he will work takes this into consideration, because this is genuinely very important. As far as I understand, avoiding night shifts completely is crucial for him.
And by the way, I’ll be choosing my specialty in two years. Guess what it’s going to be? :) Psychiatry.
I’ve been on lamictal for BP2 for months. Got up to 150mg for 6wks and my depression became much worse. Had the worst depressive episode I’ve had in years and since have just felt completely flat. Nothing is enjoyable at all. Told my dr and she prescribed vraylar. I’d love to hear experiences with vraylar. My biggest concerns are weight gain and insomnia. I am 10m PP and still trying to get rid of the remaining 10-15lbs of baby weight and already struggle with insomnia and am on lunesta. I plan to take the vraylar in the morning. Also nervous about it causing intense anxiety as that is already something I struggle with as well. Help lol
My doc asked me yesterday how they could reach me next time I’m manic to make me understand I need to take my meds, go to the hospital, reduce sensory input and so on. I honestly didn’t know how to answer bc when I’m in deep mania there is little an outsider could say to make me wanting to end the mania. So I asked myself: How can I reach myself or what could others ask/tell me when I’m acute manic (especially w paranoia) to take steps to end the mania?
What are your experiences with this? What helped you before?
(Disclaimer: I’m not in mania right now and have been stable for some time.)
Hi all,
So my therapist is super thoughtful. I have bipolar II and ADHD among other things. She said she was thinking about me and my often but not always I lack impulse control. She said she came across some evidenced based research that GLP-1 can help with impulse control. Because it blocks food noise it can also block other impulses.
Obviously she is not a doctor and we left it there. I meet with my new psychiatrist early September. My last one was amazing for seven years and in the last few years she turned into a robot and wasn’t listening to me anymore. Sad because she was the one who diagnosed me with BDII.
Anyway. I gained 60lbs on latuda. Devastating honestly. I’m healthy and workout. But I can’t get the weight off. I quit drinking because I was being unreasonable. I lost some weight there but nothing significant.
See. I tried a type of GLP-1 about three years ago and it wasn’t working. I only gave it three months because my insurance wouldn’t cover it. I wasn’t seeing results and I didn’t have the money to keep trying. I chalked it up to I don’t over eat.
My question is: has anyone else experienced zero weight loss in the first 3 months of GLP-1? And has anyone heard of it helping with impulse control? Do people have experiences with GLP-1 being ok with bipolar disorder?
Thanks! Let me know if I need to clarify some things. I can be long winded.
My brother went into post-manic depression this week (he was diagnosed two months ago after his first manic psychotic episode), and his doctor has now started him on lamotrigine. He’s currently on day 2 and taking 25 mg. I know that’s a very low dose, but when should we expect the main effects to start kicking in? He’s really struggling and I’m very worried about him.
He’s also sleeping a lot, and his sleep schedule has become completely disrupted — he sleeps during the day. He’s currently taking lithium + 5 mg of Zyprexa as well.
I’m a 23 F with Bipolar Type One. I am not sure if this is related to my disorder but lately I have an obsession with finding out if my ex (we dated 6 years) cheated on me. We have been talking lately and trying to work through things. I can’t stop stalking and trying to dig for information and I have become extremely fixated on it and it’s causing me to be very paranoid and it’s getting so bad it’s affecting my work life because I literally can’t get off of my phone. Any advice or has anyone experienced this?
It’s gotten so bad that i have an undeniable belief that he cheated without any proof and I can’t sleep.
He streams video games and I watched every single one. HOURS. looking for clues. Went through all social medias. Dug through years of reddit posts. So much more.
I was looking through his twitter posts and I am convinced that he is putting up secret messages confessing. And I realize all this sounds insane but I really am finding meaning in things that I don’t think others would
Hi. Has anyone here been on 3 antipsychotics before? My current cocktail is 325mg lamictal, 7mg abilify, 3.75mg zyprexa (sleep), 1mg klonopin (sleep). My depression has been unrelenting for 8 months now and we've tried lots of different things that all failed. I can't take lithium, depakote, etc. My doctor is suggesting we try 1.5mg Vraylar nightly to see if it helps my depression. This would be a third antipsychotic in the mix. She doesn't want to take me off of Abilify yet because everytime we've tried I cliff dive into even deeper, more intense depression. Curious if anyone else is on 3 APs?
I’ve started Lithium about a month ago, initially at 600mg. I started getting brain zaps that I thought were from Trazedone, but since stopping Trazedone I’m still experiencing this. My psychiatrist increased to 900mg due to depression, but it’s now almost a constant static feeling in my brain that gets worse when I move. The dry mouth is also gross, I feel like I look like I’m on drugs because I’m licking my teeth so often.
So, should I wait it out? These side effects are making me more depressed and I can’t focus with these brain zaps. I don’t want to continue another month like this…I have a doctor appointment Friday to discuss this but I’m not sure if there are even any other effective medications comparable to lithium. If you’ve found any other good options lmk 🙂
Hi,
I wanna keep it as short as I can. I smoked a lot of weed and was super stressed that it led me into mania and psychosis and I’m still recovering from that cause it fried my brain and memory to the point I no longer remember anybody I interact with. My mood is now stable because I am forcing myself to take my meds in the morning so I don’t forget, but I’m having terrible mood swings all the time despite the stabilization. Issue is I’ve been off my stimulants, which help with my daily mood fluctuations, for months now. I occasionally take a stimulant from my friend which helps me so, so much with the emotional turmoil and I tell my psychiatrist that but she’s still worried because I keep getting moderately high and moderately low which makes stimulants risky and she asks me not to use them. I’m on two antipsychotics one for depression and one for mania and they don’t sedate me anymore even if I take them in the morning. I spoke to my friend about how the stimulant I took makes me manic when I’m stressed and smoke and she suggested another cause it helps with racing thoughts. Have any of you had similar experiences? I no longer even touch weed nor any drugs of any sort.