Bipolar support thread

Ralphy101

sarah*a wrote: »

Firstly - Hi and Hugs to you for going through all that without a diagnosis! I know how confusing it all is

Depakote - I loved it, sorted me out no end I was taken off it because my pdoc decided he didn't like it and put on the dreaded Seroqual :mad: You generally have to have fairly regular blood tests with it because - as skipsmum said - it can cause liver damage and there are other side effects too (hair loss is one I had).

I'd wait the four weeks and ask the pdoc (shrink) if it's a formal diagnosis and ask if he means bipolar - there are so many different variations of MH disorders and the difference between them can be practically invisible.

I have rapid cycling bi-polar and from the minute I started my meds I noticed a difference - my highs aren't so high anymore although I do still get 'too over-excited' and shopping brings out the worst in me My lows are less frequent but still crippling on occasion.

As for the financial help - I receive DLA but I have never been sectioned and have had only one super-high since I've been under formal care - however, as I said, I do get incredible lows and cannot take anti-d's to help as I react very badly to them.

It goes on individual cases so is worth applying once you have that formal diagnosis. We were advised to apply for Carers allowance for my OH when he was unemployed for a while but I was already getting IB/DLA then so not sure how it works if you are getting neither.

Definately go for the prepaid prescriptions if you are getting a few items a month as it's well worth the savings

Good luck :cool:

Many thanks for the advice guys, really apprieciate it.

Can I ask anyone - do they suffer from acute paranoia? As i said before - Ive had instances when drinking, where i feel people are talking about me.

Whats more worrying is every now and again, i get the overwhelming beleive - that my gf is cheating on me - I say believe - because at the time i really beleive it to be the case.... This generally happens when im high - not happy hight - irratible and agitated high. I am starting to worry it schizoaffective disorder due to these really bad paranoia fits.

de1amo

i suffered it in a mild form when i was first manic-when i first went into the system there was a query of schzafec but it was soon resolved as time passed- paranoia is one of those side affects of the layers--

sarah*a

Ralphy101 wrote: »

Can I ask anyone - do they suffer from acute paranoia? As i said before - Ive had instances when drinking, where i feel people are talking about me.

I get paranoid sometimes - I think people are laughing at me in the street, talking behind my back etc. I also have to be careful on forums because I can take comments extremely personally and often have to get OH to re-read something for me before I respond in case I've read it completely wrong (which I often have).

I sometimes have a hard time when DD has a bunch of friends over and I'm low - the noise they make gets to me so I go upstairs and then I get paranoid that all their giggling and shrieking is aimed at me Bless 'em - DD will now quite often come and tell me what they are laughing at as it stops me winding myself up as much.

I very very rarely drink now - I'll maybe get a bottle Baileys at xmas and a bottle of Ameretto for my birthday in the summer - but they last me. I don't drink in pubs/restaurants etc and will only drink in the 'safety' of my own home/families houses. That's helped a lot - not just with the paranoia but with a lot of other 'knock-on' effects from drinking.

:cool:

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Snap Sarah. I have times when I can't be around other humans because I either think they are talking about me, or I find them really irritating, to the point where I've actually told them

I also no longer drink. Alcohol does not agree with my moods at all. It sends me hyper whilst I'm drinking & I become public enemy number 1, next day and for about a week after, I am really really low, so much so that I have to see the GP for diazapam.

I can't understand how people self medicate with alcohol. It makes me 10 times worse, so I avoid it like the plague.

Ralphy101

Odd v.odd - as i experience the exact same things...

Its only that last year or so ive noticed what a horrible person i am when im drunk... its like it changes me into this paranoid ... verbally horrible person... then that week - i am so low - once after a sat night out , the monday i had a panic attack whilst driving on a motorway... its horrible....

I have vowed to cut the heavy drinking out now - and will only have a glass or two of wine on special occasions... taking meds as well i suppose i have to be careful !

Regarding paranioa - this always comes with a health anxiety ... worrying about my well being, and thinking im going to die. I am still learning to gauge my manias/ lows and try to put some identity to them ... for instance since ive gotton help and identified the problem ive associated my manias with this paranoid and anxious state... i currently had a bout of paranoia this morning, about the cheating thing, and been worrying about my health all day... It was only the other day i was happy and giggly...

its seems my manias go something like this

1) onset - More energy ( if i do something productive like clean the car its sends me into a happy frenzy!? strange.) 2) middle mania - energetic giggling at nothing, chatting rubbish 3) ending mania - paranoid idiot, anxiety flare ups....

I am waiting to see where i go from here! i have a mood app on my iphone that has basiclly helped me figure this out.

sarah*a

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

Snap Sarah. I have times when I can't be around other humans because I either think they are talking about me, or I find them really irritating, to the point where I've actually told them

The only people I really get like that now are family - and I still occasionally end up snapping 'will you please just shut the $%^/ up' just because the noise they are making is annoying.

Thankfully my OH has become good a recognising the signs and can say 'it's time we went home now'. Dogs are a great excuse for leaving somewhere early :rotfl:

Ralphy101 wrote: »

Odd v.odd - as i experience the exact same things...

...I have vowed to cut the heavy drinking out now - and will only have a glass or two of wine on special occasions... taking meds as well i suppose i have to be careful !

..... i have a mood app on my iphone that has basiclly helped me figure this out.

Isn't it amazing what modern technology can do - I did mine with a piece of graph paper :rotfl:

I know quite a few people now - through support groups (both 'real life' and virtual) - with bipolar and very few of us drink regularly anymore. I think you realise after a while that it causes more problems than it fixes and the aftermath isn't worth it

Alcohol can not only be a trigger but can create an atmosphere where the triggers are more likely to materialise.

:cool:

Ralphy101

It is pretty nifty! i can email it to myself in spreadsheet form, so i can print it off and take it to my pdoc... There is also a note section that sits with the rating so im adding to it like a diary.

Worth a note... I am wide awake and its way past my bedtime!

Also - regarding symptoms... anyone experience Deja Vu? Ive had it twice today - and its now worrying me ( here comes the anxiety) that it could be schizophrenia!

Skintgirlx

I was undiagnosed with Bi-Polar Type II for 17 years. Mainly I am depressive though, but have experienced hypomania a couple of times plus I get mixed states regularly which is horrible, but I used to think everyone was like that....

Well I want to answer re: self medication re: Alcohol, yes it does affect me negatively, but most of time, (unless I am raging) it mellows me out.. much quicker and more effective than pills... have been on them all, lamotrigine, depokate, quitiapine (but not Lithium) my Pdoc is holding out on that one :T coz its so toxic and he knows I have probs re: being compliant.

Just wanna say I have done the mad spending and have rubbish credit record to show for it _pale_.

Wish I had got proper treatment sooner, as I probably could have worked my life differently, but who knows? You get dealt the cards and play the game accordingly, (Yes I gamble too!!).

But going back to the folks who question drinking, for me if you have not had access to proper drugs, medical help, the drinking does sometimes calm you down, hence you return to it under moments of stress.
xx

Ralphy101

How is everyone ?

Fire_Fox

My current diagnoses are stress, insomnia, depression, SAD. I think I have cyclothymia and am referred for ... actually I don't know but I am referred.

Is it normal to have two cycles, one where I am depressed once or twice a year seasonally, and one where my moods change daily - randomly but also mediated by life events??

It's so hard to explain. The crazy thing is I am naturally a person, way more than average.