[SafetyofRoutine]

It really depends on the severity, your symptoms and where you are in the illness.

Don't trust general doctors pertaining to your mental health. The psychiatrist prescribes you medication, that's it. He might be wrong, he might be right. Lithium is the most successful bipolar drug but psychs try to recommend you shit paid for by pharmaceutical companies. Trust how your feeling and take a journal to track how medications effect you and where it puts your mindset. Learn your cycles and your triggers. Have plans for when things go ape shit. If you start drugs and stop taking them w/o your doctor, you will go insane. I've taken about 10 different bipolar drugs and each one has different effects.

Obviously I'm bipolar and have had way more experience with everything associated with it than I'd like. I try not to tell people I don't need knowing, it's better that way but it sucks.

PM me if you want more opinions from me, always like to help people going through things that took me some years to grasp.

[SafetyofRoutine]

Yes, first move is see a doctor don't consult AP. But doctors are wrong sometimes too, so trust yourself and how your feeling. I say this because the first time I went to a doctor he laughed at me and said I was depressed and not bipolar. He put me on an antidepressant which sent me into the worst manic episode possible. So don't take any antidepressants off the bat or always take a doctors word as gospel.

[foreversleeper]

I was just diagnosed as bipolar on Friday. For five years they thought I was just depressed and had mood issues, but after I described the month I had of what my psychiatrist tells me is mania my doctor decided I was bipolar. His decision is also likely based on many issues in the past, not just the one month. He knows my father's history with bipolar disorder as well, as he was initially my father's psychiatrist so that also probably made him conclude that I was bipolar.

Right now I'm taking 20 mg of Prozac daily, and I just started an anti-psychotic called Saphris in hopes of controlling the mania. The Saphris is strange. It dissolves under your tongue and is supposed to taste like cherry. It just tastes terrible to me, but it also makes your tongue numb for a half hour. That's fun.

Always keep in mind that you might not find the right meds on the first shot. It might take several times, and some of them might be horrible experiences but it will be worth it in the end if it helps. Good luck.

[Litost]

Without the Manic highs, chances are they will tell you that you have Severe Depression, either way the first step is getting the depression under control. Find a Psychiatrist that fits you, and works with the ways you feel comfortable. It's a process, and once it gets under way don't stop taking your meds just because you feel better, or it will be right back. It's as much up to you as it is the meds to get better, you have to want to and the meds will help but breaking the mindset of sadness is hard and when you have a bad week or even a bad month it's hard to remember that sometimes that's life and not just depression

[therookielot]

Originally Posted by Br&New182

ap.net, I'm not going to run down everything that's happened in the past few years, but within a short while I'm going to to see a psychiatrist to conclude if I'm bi-polar/depressed/whatever else. I was wondering what they do, what happened to make you think you're bi-polar, what you do to handle it, etc. I just want to hear anything related to the matter, really

self-Knowledge and meditation > the pills the doctor prescribes. I'd rather feel "crazy" and know what's going on in my head be than doped up to deal with reality.

Mania/Bi-polar is a gift, it may not seem like it because it's shunned as a mental condition, but turn your thinking around. It is what you make of it.

Recommended reading:


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/068483183X/absolutepunk-20/



http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375503587/absolutepunk-20/

[Br&New182]

Originally Posted by therookielot

self-Knowledge and meditation > the pills the doctor prescribes. I'd rather feel "crazy" and know what's going on in my head be than doped up to deal with reality.

Mania/Bi-polar is a gift, it may not seem like it because it's shunned as a mental condition, but turn your thinking around. It is what you make of it.

Recommended reading:


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/068483183X/absolutepunk-20/



http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375503587/absolutepunk-20/

Thank you. If my suspicions since 16 are accurate and I am bi-polar, it's not so much I'm looking to just be pilled up, and yes, there is absolutely some positivity that has come out of it, without trying to sound egotistical I'm 19 but if i didn't tell you you'd prob think I'm 22 if you meet me in person, and I am deffinantly more artistic and articulate than the average person because of it. I'm gettin tested because I've gone through things in the past few years that were pretty serious, and those are resolved, but I haven't felt quite "normal" or completely alright or the same as I did before 16/17 and this is probably the last remaining puzzle piece. It's more or less I fell my extreme and unjustified emotions are hindering me from enjoying college and eventually developing a career because it's crippling me at this point, if that makes sense. I don't drink because of fear I'll drink and too greatly amplify either mania or the rage/sadness and mess myself up...it's an awful feeling

[Br&New182]

Originally Posted by foreversleeper

I was just diagnosed as bipolar on Friday. For five years they thought I was just depressed and had mood issues, but after I described the month I had of what my psychiatrist tells me is mania my doctor decided I was bipolar. His decision is also likely based on many issues in the past, not just the one month. He knows my father's history with bipolar disorder as well, as he was initially my father's psychiatrist so that also probably made him conclude that I was bipolar.

Right now I'm taking 20 mg of Prozac daily, and I just started an anti-psychotic called Saphris in hopes of controlling the mania. The Saphris is strange. It dissolves under your tongue and is supposed to taste like cherry. It just tastes terrible to me, but it also makes your tongue numb for a half hour. That's fun.

Always keep in mind that you might not find the right meds on the first shot. It might take several times, and some of them might be horrible experiences but it will be worth it in the end if it helps. Good luck.

Originally Posted by SafetyofRoutine

It really depends on the severity, your symptoms and where you are in the illness.

Don't trust general doctors pertaining to your mental health. The psychiatrist prescribes you medication, that's it. He might be wrong, he might be right. Lithium is the most successful bipolar drug but psychs try to recommend you shit paid for by pharmaceutical companies. Trust how your feeling and take a journal to track how medications effect you and where it puts your mindset. Learn your cycles and your triggers. Have plans for when things go ape shit. If you start drugs and stop taking them w/o your doctor, you will go insane. I've taken about 10 different bipolar drugs and each one has different effects.

Obviously I'm bipolar and have had way more experience with everything associated with it than I'd like. I try not to tell people I don't need knowing, it's better that way but it sucks.

PM me if you want more opinions from me, always like to help people going through things that took me some years to grasp.

Originally Posted by Litost

Honestly, as a Psych major and I was diagnosed at 16, I don't tell anyone, there's still a ridiculous stigma against mental illnesses, and honestly the average person has no need to know. A few of my friends know, and that was after I had known them for awhile and they were surprised.

The process, usually starts with your general doctor, I talked to them and they referred me to a psychiatrist they knew and trusted. You go in and tell them what has been going on with you, they will ask you questions. There is a long mental health inventory test they will have you take, generally on a computer with statements, and on a scale of 1 to 9 I believe it will ask you how true this is about you.

There are different types of Manic Depression, past just type I and type II, difference in those is whether you are manic more often or if you lean more to the depressive side. There's also other mood disorders you could potentially have so they have to figure that out. They'll usually start you on a at least one medicine, have you come back in two weeks, you'll talk and they'll see how that helps and adjust or add more medicine as needed

thanks to all of you. it's prob still not easy to say it, even behind a username.

[Litost]

Originally Posted by therookielot

self-Knowledge and meditation > the pills the doctor prescribes. I'd rather feel "crazy" and know what's going on in my head be than doped up to deal with reality.

Mania/Bi-polar is a gift, it may not seem like it because it's shunned as a mental condition, but turn your thinking around. It is what you make of it.

Recommended reading:


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/068483183X/absolutepunk-20/



http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375503587/absolutepunk-20/

Seriously this, Touched by Fire is an AMAZING book and really helped put my issues in perspective, currently I'm not on medicine, but that's more to do with not having medical insurance. What i did last time I was on meds, because I have been very over medicated in the past was to tell the doctor that I would like to have a little more stability in my moods but that I would like to still be able to feel things, because just being numb and lethargic is way worse than my shift in moods these days. Knowledge of what you're going through, how to take care of yourself the best, and the signs to know when you may be transitioning into a manic or depressive phase does wonders, as does educated your immediate family, who in my experience are the only one's who truly NEED to know. When your immediate family understands and is as educated as you are it makes EVERYTHING much easier. I'd suggest reading anything by Kay Redfield Jamison, she's a leading researcher on mood disorders and her interest comes from being Manic-Depressive herself.