Anyone here take meds for bipolar disorder?

[MetalMat]

I was thinking of going to a doctor about this. I am not sure if its normal or not, but my mood swings drastically, even multiple times throughout the day. Right now I am really mad/depressed cause I am tired of my job, but it might so happen 4 hours from now I might be in the best mood in the world......

 

[ni4ni]

I would definately go visit a doctor. It may not be anything at all but then again, don't take chances.

 

[Zanix]

manic depressive disorder doesn't usually have swings that quickly. IIRC it's usually a couple days each way.

I think depacote and an antidepressant are what doctors would give ya.


Edit: and depacote has addictive qualities, I mean, if you go off it, you'll have to take 2x to get back to where it was effective the first time. I guess that really isn't addictive. eh.


Edit2: How much sugar do you have in your diet? How much alcohol do you drink on average?

 

[MetalMat]

Originally posted by: Zanix
manic depressive disorder doesn't usually have swings that quickly. IIRC it's usually a couple days each way.

I think depacote and an antidepressant are what doctors would give ya.

Many times I find having a few beers and some wine at night will put me in a decent mood. I usually dont have much liquor in my apartment though so I can keep that to a minimum.

Also, I find that when I get a full nights sleep I am in a better mood. Last night a got a half-assed 5 hours of sleep which is certainly not helping out today.

 

[43st]

Eat well and remove stress from your life. Anti-depressants aren't the answer. I lost five years to the constant medicating. I'm fine now if I manage my stress.

 

[MetalMat]

Originally posted by: Thera
Eat well and remove stress from your life. Anti-depressants aren't the answer. I lost five years to the constant medicating. I'm fine now if I manage my stress.

I do eat right and excersise.

 

[Zanix]

Originally posted by: Thera
Eat well and remove stress from your life. Anti-depressants aren't the answer. I lost five years to the constant medicating. I'm fine now if I manage my stress.

Excellent advice. I started thinking I had the manic depressive and did some research.


Much better off drinking in moderation, eating less refined sugar (and maybe caffein), and dealing with stress.

 

[Spikesoldier]

taht one grasshopper guy was bipolar

 

[43st]

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: Thera
Eat well and remove stress from your life. Anti-depressants aren't the answer. I lost five years to the constant medicating. I'm fine now if I manage my stress.

I do eat right and excersise.

But what about stress? Exercise is important to a point but it won't remove stress altogether. Also adjust your diet. Eat larger portions of fresh vegetables, reduce refined sugars, and reduce dairy and meat. Totally eliminate fast food if you can. A diet change will require at least 6 weeks to come into full effect.

I went through a rather rough period right after college. I was working 60-80 hour weeks, which I didn't really mind, but I was a crew manager which was tough. Every problem that occurred I dealt with personally and that was unsustainable. I went to a doctor and they put me on Prozac right away. It was a huge mistake. I felt great but I would developing bad shaking if I didn't get my medication on time. It also required several years to ween myself slowly off the medications.

Things slowly started turning around when I got a dog (about 1 year after starting the anti-depressants). It forced me to come home at least twice a day to spend time with her. That simple act removed so much stress from my life. I no longer needed to sleep on the break room couch or be there for every small problem. After that realization was when everything started to get better. My only problem at that point was breaking my physical dependence on the medication.

I'm just trying to suggest an alternative that may actually solve your problem rather that a drug that simply masks it. The decision to go on the meds is the easy one, a doctor will actually make it for you, the decision to stop is the hard part.

 

[MetalMat]

Originally posted by: Thera

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: Thera
Eat well and remove stress from your life. Anti-depressants aren't the answer. I lost five years to the constant medicating. I'm fine now if I manage my stress.

I do eat right and excersise.

But what about stress? Exercise is important to a point but it won't remove stress altogether. Also adjust your diet. Eat larger portions of fresh vegetables, reduce refined sugars, and reduce dairy and meat. Totally eliminate fast food if you can. A diet change will require at least 6 weeks to come into full effect.

I went through a rather rough period right after college. I was working 60-80 hour weeks, which I didn't really mind, but I was a crew manager which was tough. Every problem that occurred I dealt with personally and that was unsustainable. I went to a doctor and they put me on Prozac right away. It was a huge mistake. I felt great but I would developing bad shaking if I didn't get my medication on time. It also required several years to ween myself slowly off the medications.

Things slowly started turning around when I got a dog (about 1 year after starting the anti-depressants). It forced me to come home at least twice a day to spend time with her. That simple act removed so much stress from my life. I no longer needed to sleep on the break room couch or be there for every small problem. After that realization was when everything started to get better. My only problem at that point was breaking my physical dependence on the medication.

I'm just trying to suggest an alternative that may actually solve your problem rather that a drug that simply masks it. The decision to go on the meds is the easy one, a doctor will actually make it for you, the decision to stop is the hard part.

I have been eating healthy for a long time actually, I very rarley eat fast food too (maybe once a month). I guess at this point in my life I just dont really have much to care about, the only thing would be the band I just joined, I dont have a GF or any pets either. Trust me when I say that I really don't want to go on meds, but I would like some sort of honest analysis.

 

[Zanix]

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: Thera

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: Thera
Eat well and remove stress from your life. Anti-depressants aren't the answer. I lost five years to the constant medicating. I'm fine now if I manage my stress.

I do eat right and excersise.

But what about stress? Exercise is important to a point but it won't remove stress altogether. Also adjust your diet. Eat larger portions of fresh vegetables, reduce refined sugars, and reduce dairy and meat. Totally eliminate fast food if you can. A diet change will require at least 6 weeks to come into full effect.

I went through a rather rough period right after college. I was working 60-80 hour weeks, which I didn't really mind, but I was a crew manager which was tough. Every problem that occurred I dealt with personally and that was unsustainable. I went to a doctor and they put me on Prozac right away. It was a huge mistake. I felt great but I would developing bad shaking if I didn't get my medication on time. It also required several years to ween myself slowly off the medications.

Things slowly started turning around when I got a dog (about 1 year after starting the anti-depressants). It forced me to come home at least twice a day to spend time with her. That simple act removed so much stress from my life. I no longer needed to sleep on the break room couch or be there for every small problem. After that realization was when everything started to get better. My only problem at that point was breaking my physical dependence on the medication.

I'm just trying to suggest an alternative that may actually solve your problem rather that a drug that simply masks it. The decision to go on the meds is the easy one, a doctor will actually make it for you, the decision to stop is the hard part.

I have been eating healthy for a long time actually, I very rarley eat fast food too (maybe once a month). I guess at this point in my life I just dont really have much to care about, the only thing would be the band I just joined, I dont have a GF or any pets either. Trust me when I say that I really don't want to go on meds, but I would like some sort of honest analysis.

I think doctors feel like if a patient comes to see them that the patient is looking for a pill. You don't ever hear about people going to the doctor and the doctor sending them home with a "you'll be alright" and a pat on the back.

I think if you do go see a doctor, expect them to suggest pills. Unless you goto a psychologist (the one that doesn't prescribe meds, I forget exacatly), you'll probably be looking at being misdiagnosed. IMHO.


How do you prepare your coffee? If you add sugar, try weening that out. Or try switching to cream. I used to put 2 spoonfulls of sugar in my coffee, now I like it much better with some cream sans the sugar. I don't get the rush and crash that I used to with the sugar too. The caffein does start to wear down ~2-3, fruit would be the best solution to that, but I usually eat something less healthy for the boost.

Also, I've personally found out that getting drunk on the weekends will bring my mood to the gutter for the first part of the next week. (though I was switching it up between 5 oclock and 30pks of highlife, YBMV) This made me think that I was having swings 3~4 days down, then back up, then get drunk, repete.

My advice is to avoid the pills as much as possible.

When I was going through all that, I also had alot on my mind. (ex girlfriend, school choices, etc...) All that added too the effect too I think.

 

[MetalMat]

Originally posted by: Zanix

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: Thera

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: Thera
Eat well and remove stress from your life. Anti-depressants aren't the answer. I lost five years to the constant medicating. I'm fine now if I manage my stress.

I do eat right and excersise.

But what about stress? Exercise is important to a point but it won't remove stress altogether. Also adjust your diet. Eat larger portions of fresh vegetables, reduce refined sugars, and reduce dairy and meat. Totally eliminate fast food if you can. A diet change will require at least 6 weeks to come into full effect.

I went through a rather rough period right after college. I was working 60-80 hour weeks, which I didn't really mind, but I was a crew manager which was tough. Every problem that occurred I dealt with personally and that was unsustainable. I went to a doctor and they put me on Prozac right away. It was a huge mistake. I felt great but I would developing bad shaking if I didn't get my medication on time. It also required several years to ween myself slowly off the medications.

Things slowly started turning around when I got a dog (about 1 year after starting the anti-depressants). It forced me to come home at least twice a day to spend time with her. That simple act removed so much stress from my life. I no longer needed to sleep on the break room couch or be there for every small problem. After that realization was when everything started to get better. My only problem at that point was breaking my physical dependence on the medication.

I'm just trying to suggest an alternative that may actually solve your problem rather that a drug that simply masks it. The decision to go on the meds is the easy one, a doctor will actually make it for you, the decision to stop is the hard part.

I have been eating healthy for a long time actually, I very rarley eat fast food too (maybe once a month). I guess at this point in my life I just dont really have much to care about, the only thing would be the band I just joined, I dont have a GF or any pets either. Trust me when I say that I really don't want to go on meds, but I would like some sort of honest analysis.

I think doctors feel like if a patient comes to see them that the patient is looking for a pill. You don't ever hear about people going to the doctor and the doctor sending them home with a "you'll be alright" and a pat on the back.

I think if you do go see a doctor, expect them to suggest pills. Unless you goto a psychologist (the one that doesn't prescribe meds, I forget exacatly), you'll probably be looking at being misdiagnosed. IMHO.


How do you prepare your coffee? If you add sugar, try weening that out. Or try switching to cream. I used to put 2 spoonfulls of sugar in my coffee, now I like it much better with some cream sans the sugar. I don't get the rush and crash that I used to with the sugar too. The caffein does start to wear down ~2-3, fruit would be the best solution to that, but I usually eat something less healthy for the boost.

Also, I've personally found out that getting drunk on the weekends will bring my mood to the gutter for the first part of the next week. (though I was switching it up between 5 oclock and 30pks of highlife, YBMV) This made me think that I was having swings 3~4 days down, then back up, then get drunk, repete.

My advice is to avoid the pills as much as possible.

When I was going through all that, I also had alot on my mind. (ex girlfriend, school choices, etc...) All that added too the effect too I think.

I dotn use sugar in my coffee, I use splenda.

 

[Zanix]

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: Zanix

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: Thera

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: Thera
Eat well and remove stress from your life. Anti-depressants aren't the answer. I lost five years to the constant medicating. I'm fine now if I manage my stress.

I do eat right and excersise.

But what about stress? Exercise is important to a point but it won't remove stress altogether. Also adjust your diet. Eat larger portions of fresh vegetables, reduce refined sugars, and reduce dairy and meat. Totally eliminate fast food if you can. A diet change will require at least 6 weeks to come into full effect.

I went through a rather rough period right after college. I was working 60-80 hour weeks, which I didn't really mind, but I was a crew manager which was tough. Every problem that occurred I dealt with personally and that was unsustainable. I went to a doctor and they put me on Prozac right away. It was a huge mistake. I felt great but I would developing bad shaking if I didn't get my medication on time. It also required several years to ween myself slowly off the medications.

Things slowly started turning around when I got a dog (about 1 year after starting the anti-depressants). It forced me to come home at least twice a day to spend time with her. That simple act removed so much stress from my life. I no longer needed to sleep on the break room couch or be there for every small problem. After that realization was when everything started to get better. My only problem at that point was breaking my physical dependence on the medication.

I'm just trying to suggest an alternative that may actually solve your problem rather that a drug that simply masks it. The decision to go on the meds is the easy one, a doctor will actually make it for you, the decision to stop is the hard part.

I have been eating healthy for a long time actually, I very rarley eat fast food too (maybe once a month). I guess at this point in my life I just dont really have much to care about, the only thing would be the band I just joined, I dont have a GF or any pets either. Trust me when I say that I really don't want to go on meds, but I would like some sort of honest analysis.

I think doctors feel like if a patient comes to see them that the patient is looking for a pill. You don't ever hear about people going to the doctor and the doctor sending them home with a "you'll be alright" and a pat on the back.

I think if you do go see a doctor, expect them to suggest pills. Unless you goto a psychologist (the one that doesn't prescribe meds, I forget exacatly), you'll probably be looking at being misdiagnosed. IMHO.


How do you prepare your coffee? If you add sugar, try weening that out. Or try switching to cream. I used to put 2 spoonfulls of sugar in my coffee, now I like it much better with some cream sans the sugar. I don't get the rush and crash that I used to with the sugar too. The caffein does start to wear down ~2-3, fruit would be the best solution to that, but I usually eat something less healthy for the boost.

Also, I've personally found out that getting drunk on the weekends will bring my mood to the gutter for the first part of the next week. (though I was switching it up between 5 oclock and 30pks of highlife, YBMV) This made me think that I was having swings 3~4 days down, then back up, then get drunk, repete.

My advice is to avoid the pills as much as possible.

When I was going through all that, I also had alot on my mind. (ex girlfriend, school choices, etc...) All that added too the effect too I think.

I dotn use sugar in my coffee, I use splenda.

I wrote alot, you could have atleast read the rest of it. 😛

 

[MetalMat]

Originally posted by: Zanix

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: Zanix

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: Thera

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: Thera
Eat well and remove stress from your life. Anti-depressants aren't the answer. I lost five years to the constant medicating. I'm fine now if I manage my stress.

I do eat right and excersise.

But what about stress? Exercise is important to a point but it won't remove stress altogether. Also adjust your diet. Eat larger portions of fresh vegetables, reduce refined sugars, and reduce dairy and meat. Totally eliminate fast food if you can. A diet change will require at least 6 weeks to come into full effect.

I went through a rather rough period right after college. I was working 60-80 hour weeks, which I didn't really mind, but I was a crew manager which was tough. Every problem that occurred I dealt with personally and that was unsustainable. I went to a doctor and they put me on Prozac right away. It was a huge mistake. I felt great but I would developing bad shaking if I didn't get my medication on time. It also required several years to ween myself slowly off the medications.

Things slowly started turning around when I got a dog (about 1 year after starting the anti-depressants). It forced me to come home at least twice a day to spend time with her. That simple act removed so much stress from my life. I no longer needed to sleep on the break room couch or be there for every small problem. After that realization was when everything started to get better. My only problem at that point was breaking my physical dependence on the medication.

I'm just trying to suggest an alternative that may actually solve your problem rather that a drug that simply masks it. The decision to go on the meds is the easy one, a doctor will actually make it for you, the decision to stop is the hard part.

I have been eating healthy for a long time actually, I very rarley eat fast food too (maybe once a month). I guess at this point in my life I just dont really have much to care about, the only thing would be the band I just joined, I dont have a GF or any pets either. Trust me when I say that I really don't want to go on meds, but I would like some sort of honest analysis.

I think doctors feel like if a patient comes to see them that the patient is looking for a pill. You don't ever hear about people going to the doctor and the doctor sending them home with a "you'll be alright" and a pat on the back.

I think if you do go see a doctor, expect them to suggest pills. Unless you goto a psychologist (the one that doesn't prescribe meds, I forget exacatly), you'll probably be looking at being misdiagnosed. IMHO.


How do you prepare your coffee? If you add sugar, try weening that out. Or try switching to cream. I used to put 2 spoonfulls of sugar in my coffee, now I like it much better with some cream sans the sugar. I don't get the rush and crash that I used to with the sugar too. The caffein does start to wear down ~2-3, fruit would be the best solution to that, but I usually eat something less healthy for the boost.

Also, I've personally found out that getting drunk on the weekends will bring my mood to the gutter for the first part of the next week. (though I was switching it up between 5 oclock and 30pks of highlife, YBMV) This made me think that I was having swings 3~4 days down, then back up, then get drunk, repete.

My advice is to avoid the pills as much as possible.

When I was going through all that, I also had alot on my mind. (ex girlfriend, school choices, etc...) All that added too the effect too I think.

I dotn use sugar in my coffee, I use splenda.

I wrote alot, you could have atleast read the rest of it. 😛

I did, and I tend to get drunk on the weekends too 😉

 

[SacrosanctFiend]

Talk to your internist to see if you need to be referred, don't listen to the advice of people here.

 

[acemcmac]

this thread has good advice. I need to concentrate more on my diet.....

 

[Zanix]

Originally posted by: SacrosanctFiend
Talk to your internist to see if you need to be referred, don't listen to the advice of people here.

Yeah, don't listen to this guy. 🙂

 

[thirtythree]

Criteria for Manic Episode
(cautionary statement)
A. A distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood, lasting at least 1 week (or any duration if hospitalization is necessary).

B. During the period of mood disturbance, three (or more) of the following symptoms have persisted (four if the mood is only irritable) and have been present to a significant degree:

(1) inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
(2) decreased need for sleep (e.g., feels rested after only 3 hours of sleep)
(3) more talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking
(4) flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing
(5) distractibility (i.e., attention too easily drawn to unimportant or irrelevant external stimuli)
(6) increase in goal-directed activity (either socially, at work or school, or sexually) or psychomotor agitation
(7) excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high potential for painful consequences (e.g., engaging in unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions, or foolish business investments)

C. The symptoms do not meet criteria for a Mixed Episode.

D. The mood disturbance is sufficiently severe to cause marked impairment in occupational functioning or in usual social activities or relationships with others, or to necessitate hospitalization to prevent harm to self or others, or there are psychotic features.

E. The symptoms are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication, or other treatment) or a general medical condition (e.g., hyperthyroidism).
Note: Manic-like episodes that are clearly caused by somatic antidepressant treatment (e.g., medication, electroconvulsive therapy, light therapy) should not count toward a diagnosis of Bipolar I Disorder.