I'd be dead without meds? So the shrinking, if that is real - is better than not living another 50 years : )

Some meds are meant to slow the roll - others to increase it. I am fortunate, unlike most, I have few if any side effects...

Good topic : )

My brain began to work much better after a couple years on meds.

I've always thought clearer on meds than off. I don't know about brain shrinkage. Could you post a link to an article? I would like to know more about it. I have heard that people with mental illnesses are expected to have a 25year less life span than the average American. That was published not too long ago, but I can't remember where. AMA maybe? I'll go looking for the link.

I wish I could say the same.. I want to go back to school but I am not able to retain information and process it like I used to..

LOL, I tried to go back to school = I remembered why I didn't like it - in high school... I'm not much for sitting still that long, and hate dead lines on projects...

For me, its not meds or bipolar - some people excel in school or class - I have never been one of them... at first I was upset, then I realized its just not for ME...

I always loved school. I had a syllabus and knew exactly what was expected of me and when. It was great for structure. I found the link about life span and mental illness. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-05-03-mental-illness_N.htm I always wondered if it was the illness or the meds that would get us in the end.

This is your brain on bipolar...

That Link Cammie put up, is alarming

Newer meds causing more health problems ? !

But , like Gina said, with meds I am stable .

And, I have read that bipolar can shrink the Gray Matter of your brain..sorry I do not have a link to put up.
Check the Mayo Clinic site on BP, there might be something written in there

Why didn't they have suicide on that list?
That's one of the big reasons that make our life expectancy shorter.

I need to see a dentist. I'm way overdue for a visit and my dental hygiene since developing Bipolar Disorder has gone WAY downhill.
Now I have problems that need to be seen to.

I let it go to hell even KNOWING that they have now linked dental problems to heart disease.

My diet is much worse than it used to be. Because I don't care enough to prepare meals. Doing so seems like a Herculean task.

But as to the shrinking Bipolar brain -- I have yet to read that.
What I HAVE started seeing repeatedly over the last year or so is that the brains of schizophrenics shrink and that it's directly related to how much anti-psychotic meds they are given over a long period of time.

I see no reason why we'd be any more resistant to that effect.

Not so sure how I feel about this.

Easy to say that I'm glad for the meds now as they help me to live a better life.
But just wait down the road, when the effects of my 'shrunken head' start to kick in!!!!
Maybe I'll regret having taken them!!!!

I think certain meds like lithium are supposed to increase the number of brain cells.

I've been thinking a lot about medications lately. I take medications so that I can be myself rather than not taking medications and being dead. Better living through chemistry as a friend of mine used to say. But I get nervous. Medications allow me to be myself, help me think clearer, reason well, function well, in short, be stable. But there are no long term studies on what some of these medications will do to the human body. And that frightens me. Which one is going to give me diabetes? Which one is going to cause tumors? I already know which one is going to lower my sodium to dangerous levels. I don't take that one anymore. So, there is a huge tug of war inside of me right now. The meds and a stable life vs no meds or fewer meds and a life of instability and better health. I'm not sure I can make that choice myself.

Brain shrinkage, that's a new 1 on me but interesting. I know that brain can have white/gray mass - cover that will adventurally cover most of brain.

I have a bad case of CRS ( can'd remember sh_t ) LOL

My pdoc says that with each uncontrolled episode that it causes brain damage, then again my pdoc might be crazy himself.

I just Googled

Bipolar and brain shrinkage

There are several articles and research papers , showing manic episodes can cause brain shrinkage.

I guess it's a choice of staying on meds and being stable or losing gray matter ?

Just pack yr skull with bacon.


Besides....I think we're 20% or so more likely to kill ourselves anyway.
Oh Joy Of Joys.

Get a harmonica