I seem to have gotten much better with age. Good coping strategies. good support network, ds, meds etc

I went 25 years in a basic hypomanic episode. Happy Happy extra energy , did the work of 10 people , my employers loved me , Had a very successful career in the High Tech Industry

Took to my bed a couple of times a year, feeling "sick"...I never realized these were my depressive episodes.

Some personal issues and menopause , sent me into a psychotic episode, got a DX of BP I at early 50's.

I have been very difficult to manage medically .

But the last few years I've been sorta kinda stable , I have at last accepted my DX, am Med compliant, see my Pdoc regularly , and have been mostly episode free for a long time .


Having said all that, my Pdoc's opinion, is since I am a Mixed episode type BP...my old age could go either way.

His oldest BP I patient is in her late 80's ...his comments are, she does OK.

Coping skills, med compliance and keeping your Pdoc near , I think these things can help a lot.But not a guarantee old age is going to be easy sailing

My pdoc told me some women (don't know about men!) get worse, and some get much better. He said I am lucky, because I got better, esp. after menopause.

But he did confess he was very worried about me for a long time - thought I wasn't going to be on the "get better train!"

....Well, the thing which confounded ME about this REALLY long & radical last episode, IS that since Jan, I had already DOUBLED the amount of depakote I'd been taking, didn't miss so much as a single pill, and yet all hell broke loose for very little reason!
Meanwhile, there have been varying times in my diagnosed time that I took zilch - nada - 13 mths without, just over a couple of years ago.....and people were remarking that I'd never been so well in a long time! So there is a paradox there....why NOW, for LITTLE reason, reguar dr. visits, weekly therapy, not one missed dose...what more could you do?
I think that Arfie has it right on, with that idea that IF you have ONE really long and severe psychotic episode in your life; and if maybe you are going around without treatment for it for a while (because you don't know what's wrong with you), then it is set in motion with that kindling business that it'll happen again, and intensify on occasions each time.
I am now taking an even HIGHER dosage of depakote, the highest that I CAN be given. Plus my doc said he wouldn't be wild about reverting back to a lower dose from here on, as the trend is that (he thinks!) it'll provoke another severe episode if he does that. And further compounding what may have been the start of it, is that I can no longer take anti-psychotics, due to pre-diabetes, outrageous cholesterol, and gall-stones. Since I stopped that stuff, the cholesterol dropped down radically. But I am not prepared to acquire diabetes....nor does my doc think it's a good idea either.
So what're ya gonna do....I'd prefer to be ALIVE and a bit mad now and again, instead of sane and six foot under lol!