Posted by PoohBear on March 29, 2004, at 11:34:15
In reply to Re: bipolar questions from francesco » francesco, posted by Pandabear on March 28, 2004, at 19:29:44
Panda and Francesco:
I can answer regarding the racing thoughts as it's something I've had most of my adult life.
It takes *more* than racing thoughts to make one bipolar; there are a number of other issues, mainly having to do with manic/depressive cycling.
Effexor XR was what stopped the racing thoughts for me. You've all probably seen this, but here is the poem I wrote regarding this:
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/write/20040102/msgs/306852.html
I also have ADHD and am now taking Adderall XR for that. I take Seroquel at night to help me sleep and for mood stabilization.
My pDoc is treating me as if I were atypical bipolar. I don't really fit in either category of BPI or II, and I definitely don't have med induced mania, so I'm not a BPIII. I have bipolar disease in my mother's side of my family history.
Tony
> Ok, Francesco, I can try and answer the racing thoughts...For me, when I have them, it is like I am thinking out loud and I can see and hear everything inside of my head that I am thinking at that time. At one point, my thoughts were flying through my head so fast, and everything was so loud that I had to lay down and try and sleep and even still, I couldnt sleep because my mind would not shut off. Another way to look at it is...When you lay down to sleep at night, normally your mind is to shut down so that you can fall asleep. When your mind is racing, it is impossible to go to sleep and you lay there wide eyed and unable to go to sleep due to the fact that your thoughts are going 90 miles a minute..and you are thinking about more than one thing.. For me it was like being very excited about something and thinking about everything ..yet I wasnt excited about anything...I just couldnt stop my thoughts and I got to the point where I was so worked up and frustrated that I ended up being given something to help me sleep. There is medicine that can stop your mind from racing...and it does work. I cannot say though that your racing thoughts makes you bipolar though...maybe someone else can answer that...I hope that this made sense..it is hard to describe..but it is extremely frustrating and I found that with my family members..they didnt understand...heck, I didnt even understand racing thoughts until i experienced it and it is very frustrating for me. I hope I helped some...if not..im sorry... Take Care and I hope you are able to find the answers you are looking for!
> PandaBear
poster:PoohBear
thread:326548
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040329/msgs/329836.html