Bipolar support thread

skipsmum

Starnight, my youngest has aspergers, my oldest has autism. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions/want to chat.
Skipsmum

dane-katie

Backk from hospital, meds been increased to 300mg she said she will increase to 400mg when i next see her then up to 500 then 600mg, and if this doesnt help with the hallucinations then she will change my meds. I hope not they have been great for my moods aside from the odd day where i have been up and down all day otherwise i feel good

Hope everyone else is doing ok today.

BombayMix

Hello, I just found this thread and feel the need to off load! I've been diagnosed bipolar for about 5 years now, I'm on sertraline and quetiapine, been pretty much stumbling along for a while. The past two weeks or so, everything has gone weird, I'm seeing things, hearing odd things. I keep wakening up in a panic through the night, thinking I'm suffocating, it's horrible and very scary, I am terrified to go back to sleep afterwards. I think it's worse when you feel you can't talk to people. I'm seeing my psychiatrist tomorrow, which I'm not looking forward to. I might be imagining it, but it seems like his attitude is 'I've given you medications, so now everything is alright.' And sometimes it is, but a lot of the time it isn't. He just doesn't seem to take it seriously. I'm just lucky that my latest appointment (every six months) coincided with me feeling so out of control, otherwise I'd have no one to turn to. Sorry. I'm rambling. I think the lack of sleep is really getting to me.

skipsmum

Hi BombayMix, welcome to the thread.
(although now I feel like ive hijacked it, welcoming people to somebody elses thread. Um. )

savagej

BombayMix wrote: »

Hello, I just found this thread and feel the need to off load! I've been diagnosed bipolar for about 5 years now, I'm on sertraline and quetiapine, been pretty much stumbling along for a while. The past two weeks or so, everything has gone weird, I'm seeing things, hearing odd things. I keep wakening up in a panic through the night, thinking I'm suffocating, it's horrible and very scary, I am terrified to go back to sleep afterwards. I think it's worse when you feel you can't talk to people. I'm seeing my psychiatrist tomorrow, which I'm not looking forward to. I might be imagining it, but it seems like his attitude is 'I've given you medications, so now everything is alright.' And sometimes it is, but a lot of the time it isn't. He just doesn't seem to take it seriously. I'm just lucky that my latest appointment (every six months) coincided with me feeling so out of control, otherwise I'd have no one to turn to. Sorry. I'm rambling. I think the lack of sleep is really getting to me.

I get exactly the same feeling from NHS Psychiatry especially when it comes to the side effects or after 6 to 8 months when my anti-depressants / anti-manic stop working and I need a new one. I am constantly fatigued, put on a ton of weight and have some other ones wink wink, and when I ask about it I feel they are thinking "we got rid of the depression, you are no longer thinking of killing yourself, what more do you want?". As they take no notice. I was once told afterward when I was quizzed about being depressed "you got all of the questions right". I almost exploded, what did they think I was making up the thoughs of jumping in the river.

I once wrote them a letter after seeing an Orthopaedic surgeon and I left that appointment wondering if I had wandered into a BUPA hospital and did not realised. The guy I saw was so nice, did not think it was abnormal to know how the body works (in my experience Psychiatrists dont like it when you know diagnostic criteria or more about the drugs they prescribe than they do, which is not that difficult from my experiences), and even offered to copy me in to letters. It then occured to me my only previous experience of the NHS was with my GP and Psychiatry. I could write a list as long as your arm of all sort of stupid and insentive things Psychiatrist and Psychiatric Nurses have said to me over the years.

I also understand your point about needing to see them when unwell, if I am okay on the appointment day it seems like they think that is going to continue and not realise you could wake up tomorrow and be "in hell". My bi-polar cycles approximately 3 weekly (a friend counted it) I too have hallucination during the night and it terrifies me, I understand exactly how you feel. I have tried to get help between appointment only for them to tell me to have another diazepam and calm down or go to A&E, which seems like a ridiculous way of accessing a Psychiatrist.

Edit: I get envious when I read on the net about how people are treated in the USA, they do seem to go to the other end of the spectrum and chuck drugs at people but I would rather have mine changed when needed than have to wait months, only to see another different SHO who is simply not interested.

savagej

I think I was ranting this morning, this illness affects me in all sorts of ways. Doing things you later regret big time is a major one.

Zoelikesjam

I desperatly need to go see my gp but i really dont want to. My new gp is HORRIBLE. We've just moved into a new area, new dr's etc. I've been to see him and he is an @rse. I've still not had a referal through for my new CPN or pysch. I'm on a real bp low atm and i've no crisis team number or contacts whatso ever. i honestly dont know what to do. To be honest i dont think i'll get through till monday, and even if i do i dont really want to go see him(even if i can get an appointment which is unlikely) Does anyone know of any other ways i can get some help over the weekend?

septemberblues

Hiya, sorry to hijack your thread, I am on quetiapine & amitriptyline, and in the evenings when I take the quetiapine I get a blocked up nose and have to sleep sitting up, which is not comfy! Does anyone else have that problem? Or is it my bedroom, I have vacuumed and damp dusted but still have the problem. And yes, weight gain has been a problem for me, after I have taken my meds in the evening I get a huge appetite surge and want to eat anything I can get my hands on :eek:, I'm now at my heaviest for years

savagej

The weight issue is a side effect of both amitriptyline and quetiapine but the blocked nose is just the quetiapine. If it helps and you are not on it already they have brought out a new formulation called Seroquel either XL or XR that you only have to take once a day. Aparrently it helps with alot of the side effects.

lipsthefish

zoelikesjam wrote: »

I desperatly need to go see my gp but i really dont want to. My new gp is HORRIBLE. We've just moved into a new area, new dr's etc. I've been to see him and he is an @rse. I've still not had a referal through for my new CPN or pysch. I'm on a real bp low atm and i've no crisis team number or contacts whatso ever. i honestly dont know what to do. To be honest i dont think i'll get through till monday, and even if i do i dont really want to go see him(even if i can get an appointment which is unlikely) Does anyone know of any other ways i can get some help over the weekend?

Please go to your local A&E or walk in clinic, don't try to hang on until Monday if you are feeling so bad