Bipolar Disorder Support Group
Bipolar disorder is not just a single disorder, but a category of mood disorders marked by periods of abnormally high energy and euphoria, often accompanied by bouts of clinical depression. This is the place to talk about your experience with bipolar disorder, learn from others' experiences, and find support.
I wasn't sure how to list this topic so I just decided to do it in a general way.
Since I learned that I will need to be put on some sort of BP (mood stablizer) medication in order to continue treatment for a medical condition I have (Hep C), I have been doing alot of thinking, reminiscing and talking (with Tats) about my history with Psych meds, psychiatrist and with the mental health community in general.
What I have come up with is that I believe alot of my basis against both medication and the mental health community has come from the fact that each and every time I have had involvement with the mental health community (including Psychiatrist), have been marred by my ending up over medicated.
This I do not hold the mental health community fully to blame on, my psych history goes back a long way to a fairly young age and my first hospitalization was at the age of 19 during a severe mixed-episode in which I made a suicide attempt that by all accounts should have taken my life( and it wasn't my first attempt). I believe since then because of that incident and ones that would come later, that Psychiatrist have always thought better safe than not and started me on high does of medication, which have always left me feeling like the walking dead or had other side effects that I was not willing to accept, so I never stayed on the meds.
This time (with Tats help), by talking and working with the Dr's, I am hopping to find medications that I can use at their lowest effective doses, so that this can be a positive and therapeutic experience for me.
I wonder how many others have had experiences similar to mine? or have stopped taking a med or quit taking meds altogether because they have felt they were over-medicated or couldn't handle the side affects?
WW
Since I learned that I will need to be put on some sort of BP (mood stablizer) medication in order to continue treatment for a medical condition I have (Hep C), I have been doing alot of thinking, reminiscing and talking (with Tats) about my history with Psych meds, psychiatrist and with the mental health community in general.
What I have come up with is that I believe alot of my basis against both medication and the mental health community has come from the fact that each and every time I have had involvement with the mental health community (including Psychiatrist), have been marred by my ending up over medicated.
This I do not hold the mental health community fully to blame on, my psych history goes back a long way to a fairly young age and my first hospitalization was at the age of 19 during a severe mixed-episode in which I made a suicide attempt that by all accounts should have taken my life( and it wasn't my first attempt). I believe since then because of that incident and ones that would come later, that Psychiatrist have always thought better safe than not and started me on high does of medication, which have always left me feeling like the walking dead or had other side effects that I was not willing to accept, so I never stayed on the meds.
This time (with Tats help), by talking and working with the Dr's, I am hopping to find medications that I can use at their lowest effective doses, so that this can be a positive and therapeutic experience for me.
I wonder how many others have had experiences similar to mine? or have stopped taking a med or quit taking meds altogether because they have felt they were over-medicated or couldn't handle the side affects?
WW
Do I feel like I am on too many meds? Sure who wouldn't when you take ten a day just to stay sane and for other health reasons.
Would I ever stop taking them again because I feel I take too many? Hell no! I like the feeling of being stabilized when I am stabilized (right now I am just coming down from a manic episode brought on by a bunch of stress in my life.) So I will hopefully get stabilized again as soon as the meds get straightened out..the guinea pig stage sucks!
So no I will never quit taking all my meds because of how many I take or the fact that I hate taking so many, it keeps me level when I am level, and to me that is the best feeling in the world.
Thank you!!!
Hoping you can get this rolling, I hate the worry, and hurry and wait - rather keep things moving along, and behind you : )
I requested a couple of med-cuts myself and felt that I had to really concentrate to get my point across.I had to really think of what to say and how to say it till my head hurt.
I am talking about full-blown Manic Episodes and the depressions that exist at the lower extreme too.So, it does feel good in a way to know what that spectrum is composed of first-hand. That's something that rises to the surface after the rest of the flotsam subsides to some extent.
There's a mis-understanding that BP1s don't get the depressions so much. The depths are just as bad.But falling from the vapours above makes them shunt harder.
After I stopped, I realized the cognitive impairment and the over medicated. My pdoc even admitted he over medicated me. That being said, I think you should do what this doc wants to get your operation. If the meds are handled well, it could be a new beginning for you.