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.
Hi. As mentioned in the title, I've never done support groups. I don't know if I need to talk about a specific thing or just introduce myself and see where the conversation goes. But I realized this morning that I needed to change things up to get out of the rut I've found myself in. So here goes . . .
I was diagnoised with a rare neurological disorder called Apraxia of the Speech when I was 4 or 5 years old. From what I understand, there was a percentage to rank the severity of Apraxia at the time and I was listed as upper 90s. It was explained to me that the speech therapist told my mom that he had never seen results close to the same degree. So . . . joy.
I was in speech therapy until Middle School. I would probably needed it much longer had I anyone other than my mom in my corner. Every night I spent at least 30 minutes on tongue twisters and other verbal exercises. Then I would work on reading for another 30 minutes. Every day in school I spent 45 minutes in speech therapy and during the school breaks I would do that with mom. Mom and I would play scrabble with my sister every few nights. Obviously I was paired with her and she would help me form words. Second grade I finally read my first book all the way through. It was the Disney Beasty and the Beast book. My reading skills flushed under mom's care and I was reading 8th grade level in 4th grade.
Then Middle School . . . where I was diagnosed with Bipolar. I was luckily again as my mother had worked in a mental hospital before she married dad. She got me into see a doctor and regular therapy.
Over the years, I have had ups and downs in handling all that. Then, last year shortly before my 30th birthday, I finally spoke to my doctor about a concern mom and I both shared. If I had ADD. I took the test and I was then informed, yes. I do have that.
After all that, I think what really pushed me was a side effect I recently have dealt with. When I was a lower dosage of Adderall, I had done an intense amount of mental work on a project for a client. The next few days, I had trouble finnding the right words and finishinng sentenses. My doctor told me he's had similar reports from patients if they did something like an intense body building workout and that in order to avoid it, they had not taken adderall on the days they did the workout. So I do that any time I plan to do the same level of work as I did for that client. But about 4 days ago, I forgot and did so. However, this time I am on a slightly higher dosage and now have trouble speaking at all. Unable to finish sentense, unable to remember the right word to say, and now a stutter. It's gotten a lot better each day and if I close my eyes I only have to worry about rambling. But it was the reason I started looking over side effects for adderall with Apraxia and came across support groups.
. . . so 3 different things. ADD, Apraxia, and Bipolar. Medication and therapy help but I realized it might be good to also talk to people who has even one of these things.
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Hey All...I hope that you have a lovely, peaceful beginning of your weekI have a bunch of chores that need doing but may put them off til tomorrow and just hang out with my landlord/roomie todayWhat about you?...Anything special going on?Have a great day and take good care of you!!..Xo
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Once again I've had a fever today. I'm not going to the hospital because that's a huge waste of time but I did schedule a dr appointment for Wednesday afternoon.
We talk about health, symptoms, family, hopes and dreams and ups and downs. It’s nice to be in a group ragtag not just understands but is it has been going through the same as me.
I hope you’ll find support here
I have two older siblings and mom once made a comparison about our personalities. "If a plane was crashing, Jason would be one of the panicking passengers. Shannon would be organizing people to help everyone could survive the crash. (StoryLover) would say, 'Crash? Like hell. I'm going to fix this thing."
Apraxia isn't all that rare anymore and there are different types, depending on what type of lesion or damage has been suffered by the Frontal or Parietal Lobes of the Left side of the Brain. I'm curious if you've ever had imaging studies done by a Neurologist to see where your Apraxia of Speech stems from?
Being DX'd BiPolar in middle school is difficult, as the parts of the Brain responsible for the chemical imbalance that cause BiPolar Disorder aren't fully developed yet....generally a BiPolar Diagnosis can't be confirmed until a person reaches at least 18. Interestingly enough you were then Diagnosed with ADD at a later age, I'm not sure what "test" you took, as there isn't a Diagnostic Test to Diagnose ADD.
ADD/ADHD is diagnosed after a person has shown some or all of the symptoms on a regular basis for more than six months. In addition, symptoms must be present in more than one setting and have been present since the age of 12. The interesting part is in "Tweens and Young Teens" ADD/ADHD is often misdiagnosed as BiPolar.
Adderall can cause Slow Speech, Difficulty Speaking and Difficulty Swallowing, Inability to move the Facial Muscles, twitching, speech disorder (e.g., stuttering, excessive speech). All of which could effect your Apraxia of Speech symptoms.
It also has the following Psychiatric side effects, : Insomnia, nervousness,
agitation, anxiety, Psychotic episodes, irritability, euphoria, dysphoria, restlessness, depression, aggression, and anger. All of which could exacerbate BiPolar Disorder and/or ADD symptoms.
Adderall or any stimulant is not often prescribed for BiPolars for this reason.
So there's some information to think on. I'd make sure your Neurologist and Psychiatrist are on the same page in reference to your treatment, so you don't have conflicting treatments/medications/symptoms.
Take care,
Kat
As for bipolar, it was after I became suicidal that my mom took me in to see a doctor. I was pretty much text book. Between family history, clock work bouts on manic episodes that could be marked on a calendar they were so predictable, racing thoughts, feelings of being invincible . . . and the doctors I saw specialized with children so they knew what was because of my age and what wasn't.
I would have been worried about being diagnosed wrong if it wasn't for my mom. It wasn't until years later did mom tell me she knew when I was six. I was acting just like my aunt, who I had never really met and was bipolar, and would have episodes every 3 months for an entire month. But she didn't want to risk her over reacting so she just kept an eye on me. When she finally did take me in, she researched the doctors. The one I ended up for most of my childhood was one of the best I have ever been to, even as an adult I can see that. When I first came to him, the doctor before me had me on a large dose of antidepressants and he immediate set about getting me on a more appropriate dosage of medicine.
I know a lot of doctors just hand me the meds and only prescribe them. And I have had those kind of doctors in my adult life. He and my therapist were in the same office and had permission to speak to each other about me and they did compare notes. He was a big believe in taking the lowest dose I needed to avoid over medicating his patients. Honestly, I think one of the reasons I don't have to take handfuls of pills is because I of my psychiatrist growing up. He was also big on making sure I had all the information I needed and what to look out for. Seems weird over praising a doctor about that but a lot don't. And he made sure that I understood it all even though I was a kid.
But I am going to definitely look into the stuff about a Neurologist. Good news though! My speech problems are almost all gone.