=>PLEASE FORWARD TO FRIENDS, FAMILY AND LOVED ONES <=
Hi,
How are you doing?
Hey, I have to go super quick today because
I have a bunch of things to do.
BUT, I wanted to continue my info on
doctors and bipolar medications.
Oh by the way, I have a really, really
cool new thing that coming out on the
importance of medications for bipolar
disorder. It’s going to be a f.ree
video.
I will keep you posted.
I also have 8 more podcasts that will
be uploaded today or tomorrow.
Okay, today’s topic is how to turn
a great doctor into a really bad doctor
fast.
How does this happen?
Actually take a guess? How do you think
this is possible? Guess then scroll down…
NO CHEATING!!!!! GUESS THAN SCROLL
KEEP GOING? Didn’t know this was so much work
did you?
So what did you come up with?
Okay, here’s how it happens AND it happens
ALL THE TIME.
Let’s talk about how it’s done point by point.
1. The patient is really slick and works
and beats the system. Some people with
bipolar disorder are so smart that they
actually know how the system works and
even though they are not stable they know
what to say to doctors to get them ultimately
less treatment.
What do I mean by less treatment? Well if a
person is not stable let’s assume they
need a change of medications
NOTE-I am NOT a doctor, therapist, lawyer,
insurance agent, etc. I am not offering
medical or legal advice. NOTHING that
I say should be used to diagnose, treat
or prevent and disease, illness or disorder.
Okay the person with bipolar who knows
how to work the system even though he
or she could be suicidal or homicidal
knows how to answer questions and act
so that there is no let’s say increase
or change in medication.
Eventually this person will have some
kind of major episode and do something
really bad. The doctor will look like
he/she had no clue when they were
really manipulated.
2. The person with bipolar is NOT
honest with the doctor.
Let’s say Mary has bipolar and is
feeling really ill, depressed,
tired and has side effects from
her bipolar medications.
When the doctor asks:
“How’s it going?”
She says, “good.” She then never
says how she is really feeling. So
after the 15 to 20 minutes of the visit,
she escapes with no change in treatment.
Ultimately Mary could wind up killing
herself or getting into a super bipolar
episode.
Even a great doctor has no chance against
bipolar disorder if the patient is not
honest with them. SOME super doctors
can pick up on this but if they keep
asking you over and over and over again
about how you are feeling. And the person
with bipolar disorder says, “good, good,
good, good, and good” the doctor is
at a major disadvantage with how to
shape treatment.
3. The third way is that the person
who has bipolar disorder does NOT follow
his/her treatment plan. This is what happen
with my mom’s current good doctor twice.
Two times, my mom didn’t follow the plan.
She took her medication but many of her
other “bipolar success variables” in her
bipolar stability equation were way off.
As a result, she went from stable to
unstable in 7 days 2 years ago. Then
sometime last year she went into a mini
episode. BOTH times were because her
treatment plan was not followed. She did
take her medication but didn’t do the
other “stuff.”
As a result, we almost created what I called
a “Bipolar Doomsday Scenario.” Fortunately,
I stepped in and stopped it.
Anyway, at first I was all mad at my mom’s doctor
because I felt like she didn’t do something.
But then I did a PEA (post episode analysis),
and found out the real deal.
NOTE-Never accuse anyone of anything related
to bipolar disorder without a careful investigation
on your part. Wait for days to go by before
you reach a conclusion. I talk about how
my mom’s other doctor before the great doctor
was horrible. I did a two week investigation
and asked him a ton of questions to reach this
conclusion.
Those are the ways to turn a great doctor into
a bad one.
I know people on my list have HORROR stories
of what I just described.
WARNING
If you are starting to think the doctor should
work harder, etc to make sure this doesn’t happen,
it’s just not realistic.
A doctor can’t investigate every single person’s
situation. There is just not enough time.
It’s unrealistic. Lots of bipolar supporters want
the doctor to do all the work. It’s like the parents
of children with bipolar disorder that want me
to get in a plane, fly to their house, deliver
my courses/systems, read it to them, go to the school,
work with their kids, etc.
What’s the way around this?
If you have bipolar disorder, don’t do the
things that I just listed.
If you are a bipolar supporter you need to communicate
EXACTLY what’s really going on to the doctor, especially
if you are supporting someone who is really manipulative
and lying.
In my courses/systems below:
SUPPORTING AN ADULT WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
http://www.bipolarsupporter.com/report11
SUPPORTING A CHILD/TEEN WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
http://www.bipolarparenting.com
HAVE BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
http://www.survivebipolar.net
I talk about how to do this from a to z. I tell
you want to do. I have exact plans. And, don’t feel
that you are blocked by privacy laws. I have to
be honest with you, it’s a breeze to get past those.
I have some many strategies to counter when
you get hit with the, “the doctor won’t talk
to you.”
It’s kind of like a game for me. It’s David Oliver
versus bipolar disorder to help his mom. I am 100%
confident that I will win. I imagine a thing that
I am dealing with that is trying to beat me.
When I was making my courses/systems, I would think
of what it would do to counter what I would do.
Then I would have a counter to it’s counter. And then
I would think of it’s counter to my counter and I would
have a counter to it’s counter of my counter.
Plus, I never give up. Then I now have one last secret
weapon. I have a bunch of people who have bipolar
disorder that work for me that truly geniuses.
If I am starting to lose in a situation against bipolar
disorder, I talk to 2 to 4 people with bipolar that
give me a strategy to win.
Then I pass all this stuff to you in courses/books/guides/
systems, etc.
Hey, I have to run. Catch you tomorrow.
Your Friend,
Dave
P.S. Want your own copy of these daily bipolar
emails sent to you for F.ree? If so, visit:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/register3
P.P.S. Don’t forget to take a look through the
different programs I’ve put together… each one is designed
to help you with a different area of bipolar disorder whether
you have it or you are supporting someone with it.
You can see them all and get the details by visiting:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/catalog.asp
P.P.P.S. Check out my F.ree blog with copies of emails
that I have sent in the past and lots of great
information for you:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/supporterblog/
P.P.P.P.S Check out my F.ree podcast. Hear me give
mini seminars designed to teach you information
you can’t learn anywhere else.
http://bipolarcentral.libsyn.com
Yes you are right
When doc’s don’t talk you feel like the treatment is too you not with you.
the untrust will last a lifetime.
adds more anger to things like anorexia and thyroid problems and most of all asperger’s (a pinch of everything)etc.
They just make it harder
Ohh so true. My husband can be a great at manipulating Drs. He knows the system because he has worked in the mental health field for years. He has since learned that being bipolar and manipulating hid great Dr produces chaos. He has a great Dr. that see through if he tries to pull a fast one and with me taking a more active role in his therapy with his dr. we are now on the right track.
Do not do this do your Doctor, I am coming to learn this stuff, as I am going into the Dr next week, WITH MY HUSBAND, they are both going to hear things they did not know before. My doc will hear of my financial mess, thank goodness the financial mess is repairible. My husband will hear about my urge to hurt myself, and my plan that did not work. That was from an episode of depression I had recently. I have turned over all of the credit cards, checkbooks, debit cards to my husband, I have access to one with a minimal balance on it now. I will tell you it was rather ugly when my husband uncovered all of my bad mistakes financially, not sure if mistake is the correct word. I really did not know how bad it was truly until I he showed me all of my late payments. I thought it was one or two, it was more than that. As for the urge to hurt myself, any physical pain would be better that the mental pain I was going through. My doc is one of the best, but I have not been honest about the financial problems I have been creating. I have sort of alluded to it in my last couple of visits. It is sort of scary for me to attend this next appointment. I will have to have waivers signed so my husband can talk to my doctor also. Thanks for all of your help.
A
Dave,
The doctor series is pretty good! I have already been through my fair share of pdocs and know what to look for in a good one. I’m glad to see you directing people to what they should have in a good pdoc.
As far as lying to the doc when you have one that wants to push more pills everytime you say there is a symptom or side effect… you lie to keep them from adding more drugs to your daily regimine.
Having a good doc means having one that will rule out everything else before adding another medication! When you can TRUST a doctor then you stop lying! As this is the only reason I have ever lied to one.
😎
You think you had it bad…While she was incarcerated in hospital my wife’s doctor tried to take over our finances (as ‘receiver’) when the doctor had no power or reason to do so. All because my wife was persuaded (by a male member of staff who had sexually assaulted and seduced her) to say that she was going to divorce me. At the time she didn’t know what she was saying or doing – so this goes to show that doctors shouldn’t take what patients say at face value.
I go to the doctor with my 20 year old with bipolar. The doctor can read her pretty well. It took me a long time to get the doctor to realize she was seeing bipolar and not “just” obsessive/compulsive disorder or “just” depression because she can hide her symptoms from most all people. Most would look at her and never suspect she has any of these problems. She would go in to the doctor and she’d ask her how she’s doing and her answer is 99% of the time, “pretty well”. She looks at me and can tell from my face that I don’t agree. Then my daughter will start honestly bringing up things that prove my point. The doctor sees the signs now without me having to tell on her. In fact, my daughter will turn to see what I’m doing when the doctor asks. It’s expected, but it’s why she wants me to go in. She used to leave and say the doctor doesn’t know how bad she feels, but it was because she didn’t tell her!
I think it is great that you are trying to help.. it must be difficult at times for families and supporters of people with this illness.. I just think that a lot of people dont realize that we are people with an illness and eventually we are going to just be people.. we are going to want to feel like we own our own lives and feeling that way will bring upon us making our own choices and that they may not make sense and usually are off the charts in what most people would do but life is too short to live it the way others think you should just cuz you have an illness that you didn’t ask for.. and sometimes we are just having a bad day.. people tend to forget the fact that we can have them too without it being anything more than that.. honestly.. not everyone of us want to be drugged so that life is easier for other people.. sit and drool on yourself sometime while everyone says how great you are doing and tell me that you would want to live like that.. a greater number of people that are not easy to control live like that daily cuz it is easier for others… like i said sometimes we just want to own our own lives and live a little.. anyway thanks for trying to educate cuz most still think mental illness means retarded..
Sorry if I’m in the wrong section. I am bipolar, not supporting someone else with it.
Thanks so much for the email about doctors. I realised I do all 3 of those things you shouldn’t do, and then beat myself up because I’m not feeling any better!
My other problem with my absolutely lovely doctor, is that he is SO sweet I hate to disappoint him. I want to be able to say that everything is good whenever I see him, and I know sometimes he’s changed his mind about increasing my medication because I’ve put on such a believable performance. Things will have to change in future, and I must be more honest.
Thanks again,
Deborah
Very true.. My husband manipulates his dr many times. when we go into his office my husband will say that everything is going okay, which in turn it is not. Lately things have been very tense with us, My husband is going through an episode and he becomes hateful and very angry about things that neither of us have any control over. I won’t go into details but when he has an episode I feel so alone and helpless. He is going through this spell now that the meds are not helping him and refuses to take them which makes things worse. Thank you for giving me the insight on how to cope with bipolar behavoirs.. Kathy
My husband has Bipolar and is a Crack/Cocaine addict, he told me one day when he returned home after being away the whole weekend and using that when he comes down off the drugs he uses heroin to calm him down. Like clock work he has been using every three motnhs and I have tried to get him the best of medical care, but when he starts feeling better he stops taking his Depakote and anxiety medication and is one of the individuals who manipulates & fools his doctor. I have tried to get him to change doctors as I have call his doctor but he does not return my calls. My husband finally decided to go into a 12 step program, it was at this 12 step program he met a recovering alcoholic/former prostitute and decided to take up with her. I did not know this till a month into the affair when he informed me that he loved her and had moved in with her. The whole time he had me believing he was in a half way house recovering but never was. Before meeting up with this woman in October 2007, he informed me that he had slept with a woman he had picked up while we were vacationing in Los Cabos, Mexico in September 2007. The whole time we were there he drank when either I stayed in the room to take a nap or was in the shower. He now tells me that he never loved me and the whole 7 and half years of being married and together he had faked his feelings. At one time I was hospitalized and my husband stayed day & nite in the hospital room with me. He said when I was in recovery while holding my hand he felt helpless because he did not know if I was going to pull through and cried. He used to say “I love you everyday to me and call me at work and would always end his calls this way. He is now asking for a divorce so he can be with the other woman. I’ve tried telling him that it is the drugs that has alter his depth of perception along with his BiPolar but he insist that is not it. He has been very vicious with his words and manners toward me. I called a hotline who specializes in helping people with my husband’s problems (BipOlar & drug addiction) and they said that perhaps for my safety and peace of mind I should just cut him loose, that it is up to him that it is the drugs and his BiPolar that indeed alter his thinking. He is not the same man I married and has change very much, he is able to function and work, he is an independent contractor, so he is able to get around not working 1-2 days when he uses and not have to worry about losing his job. He mother also recently told me that at one time (before me) they had put him in a facilty for treatment but he walked out of it. His parents have just about given up on him and I’ve tried talking to the woman he took up with but she laughes & swears at me. My husband also blames his anger on me. I no longer have any answers on what to do. I do know he is now actively seeking a divorce from me and I still love him very much because I know it is Bipolar and his addiction that is doing this as well as the woman.
My husband has Bipolar and is a Crack/Cocaine addict, he told me one day when he returned home after being away the whole weekend and using that when he comes down off the drugs he uses heroin to calm him down. Like clock work he has been using every three motnhs and I have tried to get him the best of medical care, but when he starts feeling better he stops taking his Depakote and anxiety medication and is one of the individuals who manipulates & fools his doctor. I have tried to get him to change doctors as I have call his doctor but he does not return my calls. My husband finally decided to go into a 12 step program, it was at this 12 step program he met a recovering alcoholic/former prostitute and started an affair with her. I did not know this till a month into the affair when he informed me that he loved her and had moved in with her. The whole time he had me believing he was in a half way house recovering but never was. Before meeting up with this woman in October 2007, he informed me that he had slept with a woman he had picked up while we were vacationing in Los Cabos, Mexico in September 2007. The whole time we were there he drank when either I stayed in the room to take a nap or was in the shower and denied it to my face even though he displayed being drunk. He now tells me that he never loved me and the whole 7 and half years of being married and together he had faked his feelings. At one time I was hospitalized and my husband stayed day & nite in the hospital room with me. He said when I was in recovery while holding my hand he felt helpless because he did not know if I was going to pull through and cried. He used to say “I love you everyday to me and call me at work and would always end his calls this way. He is now asking for a divorce so he can be with the other woman. I’ve tried telling him that it is the drugs that has alter his depth of perception along with his BiPolar but he insist that is not it. He has been very vicious with his words and manners toward me. I called a hotline who specializes in helping people with my husband’s problems (BipOlar & drug addiction) and they said that perhaps for my safety and peace of mind I should just cut him loose, that it is up to him & it is the drugs and his BiPolar that indeed alter his thinking. He is not the same man I married and has change very much, he is able to function and work, he is an independent contractor, so he is able to get around not working 1-2 days when he uses and not have to worry about losing his job. He mother also recently told me that at one time (before me) they had put him in a facilty for treatment but he walked out of it. His parents have just about given up on him and I’ve tried talking to the woman he took up with but she laughes & swears at me. My husband also blames his anger on me. I no longer have any answers on what to do. I do know he is now actively seeking a divorce from me and I still love him very much because I know it is Bipolar and his addiction that is doing this & the woman does not help. My husband is 41 years of age.
Yes, Dave, I agree that SOME people with bipolar disorder CAN/DO manipulate their psychiatrists/therapists as well as their supporters, precisely because they are in a major episode and either don’t want to get rid of the hypomania by reducing/stopping their meds, or they are hopelessly lost in their depression and think they are beyond hope.
I don’t know whether this manipulation is a symptom of the bipolar, or just a coping mechanism to have things THEIR way.
I hid my marijuana smoking (with narcotic painkillers) because I thought I was ABOVE the law and it wasn’t hurting me or anyone else. I quickly came to the conclusion that, even though it was “fun” to do in company, it was a real PAIN to do alone. Getting off the weed wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. However, I DO think that some of my anxiety would “go away” if I smoked again. I put up a “smoke screen” around my using to my GP, as well as my shrink AND my therapist.
However, I don’t think I fooled my therapist all that much. As I said, she’s been around me for 37 years; she knows the “good” me from the “bad” me, and I’m sure she at least suspected something.
If I feel I am REALLY in trouble, though, I’m brutally honest with my doctor to try to get me back on track. It is no FUN to be in an episode, something, God willing, you will never have to experience in yourself. I know you have lived with your Mom with bipolar, and you’ve done your research and investigation into the disorder, but unless you walk a mile in the moccasins, you will NEVER feel manic or clinically depressed. It can be a lose-lose situation, unless the bipolar survivor is entirely HONEST with their support units, and that includes their mental health practitioners.
This blog is the very first, and only, place I have admitted my “smoking.” I ask everyone to respect my privacy on this issue. If anyone I know should happen to read this (in VA), the “jig” is up. Thank God I wised up, and am now following a healthy treatment plan.
BIG HUGS to all bipolar surivors and those who love them. God bless you real good.
In the beguining , when we were thinking that my daughter has only hiperativity , she started a treatment with antidepressors .Slowly she started to behave agressively and stay awake for days , and talk , talk talk without never stops .She was getting worse and worse , but the doc just increase the same med dose .
He only knew what was really happening , when i started to go to the appointments with her , and tell my side of each story.
Until now , i continue to go to each appointment , and sometimes i go alone , and give him my report about my daughter health.(coz sometimes she don’t want to go)
thank you Dave for all your e mails and your work .
Wow! I guess I am one who has done this in the past when I felt unsure and really desperate to end things that were too overwhelming, but I have who I think is the best doctor in the whole world, even my kids see him b/c they are multiple diagnoses. I trust my Doctor with my life and he and my therapist saved me earlier this year when I went into a serious episode when for several weeks I just could not eat anything and all I did was puke. My therapist actually called my husband at work and told him to get the kids and meet me at the ER. Another Family therapist we had working with us had taken me to my appt. and then drove me to the hospital when I was on the floor in such despair. I was blessed with a wonderful Dr. there who had me out just in time for Easter and I was home with my kids and Welbutrin which has really helped. I always trust me doc first and formost since I have just in the past week become a single parent and I need to stay stable and healthy more now than ever. I can’t imagine taking advantage of your dr. that way.
So true Dave! Well said. My husband is a MASTER manipulator! It seems like one of the symptoms of bipolar is exactly this: Manipulating people(including the doctor) and lying to get your way. We have a lot of work to do!
I have been doing research for about 2 years now on my “disorder”. The info. I’ve read has been so clinical which has made it harder for me to accept. “They” provided the information but no ideas or MOTIVATION on how to get started with receiving the help that I needed. Yours is the first and only site that has given me that HOPE. Your delivery of information, your insight and personal experiences reached out and grabbed me. You spoke to my wounded soul and made that hurdle to acceptance easier to jump. With this “disorder”, you can feel like such a “loser” and become so ashamed and feel so lost and belittled; but with your message, I know that it’s not my fault. The way I choose to cope with it is, but not the root of the problem. Thank You for being my inspiration – I look forward to the work ahead of me and the healthier life that I will have and share with my precious loved ones. I want to break the cycles of my past and I will. I want to demonstrate to my kids, especially if they too will be affected by this “disorder”, that it’s nothing but a thing! It’s not the end all be all, though at times it may seem that way. It’s going to take a little extra effort on our behalf, but life can be and is a beautiful thing; it’s not just something to drudge through and exist in or be among. The knowledge that is there for us to gain proves that there IS nothing “wrong” with us despite how society say’s and manipulates us to feel that we are “bad, broken or disturbed people.” It’s OK for that true inner-being inside of us to live! I see that part of me as merely a pristine piece of clay that was never been molded and shaped properly. As the years/decades went by I thought that it was a lost cause and that I was what I was. I saw it/me as a shameful lump of dried up defective mud that I needed to hide or cover. I no longer take ownership of that distorted perspective. That clay is waiting and is truely viable for me/us to rehydrated and make the most magnificant of sculptures. I’m not looking to be perfect, as we are all imperfect creatures and should never hold ourselves to such high standards. In life, “_ _it” is going happen, but it’s not all “_ _it” to me anymore; there is so much more than I ever realized! It’s not what others do or say about us, it’s HOW and WHAT we do with us that makes all the difference! Let’s start from the inside and work outward!
Thank You for touching the lives of so many. I know that it takes up a lot of your time and emotions, just know that your efforts and steadfast passion is a gift to us all, with and without the “disorder”!
That’s another thing, I hate saying “disorder”, it has such a negative connotation. We need to come up with another term that doesn’t “keep us down” if you know what I mean. Any suggestion anyone…? It’s all about the positive way of thinking about daily life and turning those seemingly simple struggles/challenges into invitations of beautiful transformation and awakening!
Keep the faith and keep on truckin’!
With peace and love,
Shannon
Suzanne,
It would be more shocking to know an adult who has never smoked weed especially a BiPolar.
But with smoking you have risks of developing other diseases such as cancer, stroke, and heart disease. I know that our meds have some pretty bad side effects as well so one can debate this over and over again!
I prefer the medications I am on now they make me feel not too manic and not too depressed. I found with the weed that it always brought me down from anxiety, but I would always think about how great it would be if I died and didn’t have to deal with the roller coaster at all.
TRUE no one will understand the severes unless they have been there. I tried to explain it to my sister in terms she could understand. I said, “Remember a time when something hurt you so badly that you wanted to die rather than live with the pain? Remember a time when something made you so angry you wanted to self implode? Imagine being like a yo-yo and going back and forth from anger to sadness every couple of hours each day, once a week, or once a month. The irrational is in those moments when you have no idea how to handle yourself any longer the self control is lost and you are in subconscious(AUTO PILOT)mode.”
A little bit of depression or a little bit of mania is good because I like to feel alive (to me this is STABLE). To have neither is to be numb and doctors call that Stable. I refuse to take meds to be numb. But I do take the ones that keep the mania and depression severity in check. 😎
bpserenity,
hey! I do not know if this the appropriate blog to ask you what type of meds you are taking? I am going to the Dr. next week regarding what meds to take. I have been on anti-dep. but have been med. free for almost 2 yrs. I wanted to get in touch with how I really was without the meds. I wanted to know what worked, what didn’t and what I needed. My journey has been up and down, but I now know that it’s not all in my head or situational. It is genetic as well as chemical imbalances. It feels so good to come to the place that I finally am. I too self-medicated with MaryJane and OTC sleeping pills. I was just trying to cope and using it to escape or not to deal with it. It was easier to be numb than to feel and hurt. I see now that when I was under the influence, yeah I had moments of elation, but it also kept me down. My feeling and thoughts/paranoias were intensified and I got to where I couldn’t tell my real feelings from my paranoid induced ones. Well, I now know that I had to feel and hurt to get where I am now. All people cope with and come to realizations in different ways. I’m not saying the way I choose was good by any means. What works for some may not work, or be dangerous for others. I’m awake now – I see things so differently. Right now I am at a good place and I want to get started before I slip again. Not intentionally, but you know, it just happens. I no longer want to be on that rollercoaster all alone not knowing how to unstrap that false security belt and get off that ride. I’m ready to reveal and be honest. My lack of honesty I thought wasn’t hurting anyone but me… huh, how wrong I was.
I’m not alone, I’m not the only person in the world that has behaved in ways that are socially undesirable or hurtful. It feels good to admit it – lies are like cancer, they can damage or “kill” not only our lives, but the lives of those around us. Any info. you are willing to share, I would really appreciate.
From one to another,
Shannon
Or anyone else who has info., bring it on! Please…
Thanks and peace to all!
Yes my daughter has played this game many times and would continue to do so but she doesn’t have medical. When she turned 18 my opinion was no longer asked for because of the confidentiality law. So I made Katy say it was ok for me to sit in on her sessions. He has seen her five or six times without pay because she needed him and he is a good, very caring Psychiatrist. She went through about 6 years of therapy before she actually started to tell him the truth of her feelings. I would talk to him first and tell him what she had been like and then she would go in and paint a pretty picture of untruths for him so she ended up with the wrong meds for her or she would not take any meds. Whatever her mood told her to do, more or less. So yes I agree a great doctor can only treat a patient as well as the patient will let him.
Hi Shannon! Glad to meet you!
Honesty in our illness is very important to managing our symptoms.
I do not give out medical advice, but I will tell you what I personally do after saying this…. A real friend will never tell you what to take or not to take…only your psychiatrist is qualified to do that…your real friend will encourage you to talk with your doctor and take your meds as he or she prescribes!!
Look up on Dave’s site or in regular search engine medications for BiPolar and see what they tell you. Lamicatal, zyprexa, abilify, ect.. they all have a site with tons of info on what the medication is for and side effects.
ok personally…
I do not take an antidepressant I tried zoloft, effexor, prozac, paxil, seroquel, wellbutrin, and probably another one I can’t recall… and found that I had more roller coaster rides and more severe than before taking them. Of course, after figuring this out on my own, I read a couple of articles supporting that antidepressants don’t work in BPs.
I do know some people who swear by their antidepressants so it is a (HUGE DEBATE).
I take a stabilizer (Lamictal) daily 100mg, I am told that 200mg is max dose for BP it is also used for epilepsy so for them the dose can go up to 400mg maybe more I can’t remember for sure I know to much and can’t remember any of it when I need it…lol.
And I take an anti-anxiety for sleep at night. I don’t take the anti-anxiety (Vistaril) every night only when I am hypo and can’t sleep on my regular schedule. SLEEP IS ESSENTIAL TO CONTROLLING BP SYMPTOMS. So some weeks I take it every night and other weeks none at all. If I have a crisis and I get too anxious I take it to keep calm during the day as well. It has the same drowsy effects as benedryl and takes the anxiety muscle tension away.
My pdoc said I could take it up to three times a day for anxiety if needed.
That is what I do medication wise to keep me in line. What may work for you may be a whole lot different. Personally, I don’t want to take anything I don’t have to take.
Do you keep a mood chart? This really helps figure out what could be triggering your mania or depression. It is very helpful to track if a new med is working for you or against you. It should only take you 5 minutes or so to fill out the chart each night or morning. Take it with you to the doc appointment so they can measure you acurately as well.
A variety of therapies is very important! Pshychologist, spiritual, light, hynosis, exercise, proper diet, ect.. find what works for you and keep doing it regularly.
Keep posting and sharing!
BPs 😎
Hi David
Yes I agree with what u are saying? I believe I have experienced a little with what you are saying. How ever as a person who has bipolar disorder I think its not right to call people who make these mistake manipulators and liers. So when we think positive and were trying to say positive things and why is that a bad thing. Were their to get help yes but whats wrong with saying the good things. (I think I’m just taking this a little personal sorry)
Thanks again for your stories they really help me
michelle
continues
What im trying to say is people say we say negative things to much to tell me no matter what we do is never right. Im confused.
michelle