I am back....Strategies #2

I am back after a horrible spring and summer, the worst ever.   It really snuck up on me.  This is always a horrible time, as literature agrees for BPs, but I just broke down and did not even know it.  Finally in Oct when I would usually feel my fall time relief, I did not, so I took more drastic measures of adding meds.   I have long had a resistence or stigma about taking several drugs.  Pain made me do it.  If you ever read about Buddhism(I highly recommend reading about it:) you find most people start because of pain.  Though I digress...There are 3 strategies that I added to help me (see my journal entry STRATEGY #1), but this is about drugs: -Klonopin:  I added .5 twice daily and what a difference.  I did not want to get involved with the addiction issues but in giving in to 'moderate' use of Klonopin it has made my days so much better and my sleep more even.   -Symbyax:  I often spend time in manic dysphoria, manic but feeling like crap (not the euphoria that you can like about mania).  So this manci dyphoria is really hard, REALLY hard.  So I started taking Symbyax (6/25 - 6mg xyprexa / 25mg prozac).  It is like my emergency leveler.  It can dull you down and you will gain a little weight but for just 2-3 days it is ok.  It is a life saver for peaks or troughs.  It brings you back to center and lets you sleep (yeah!!).    -Lithium: Apparantly the 'gold standard' for BP treatment also include Lithium.  I don't like this becuase it requires blood tests, but ah well.  It is supposed to control the mania.  We will see as I just added this I read DS items but it was just to painful to comment.  I am feeling better and found some nice people and they invited me as friends overnight which made me feel connected.  thxnotfound404