Posted by olysi79 on January 3, 2005, at 20:30:42
In reply to Re: Dysthymia versus Bipolar type 2 » olysi79, posted by barbaracat on January 3, 2005, at 20:18:04
Hi Barbaracat,
Good to hear back from ya! I took keep an arsenal of good old Benzos handy in case I plunge and am happy they are there if I need them. I find that an AP works for me if I take it as an emergency med. If I take it too long, I get yucky old akathisia. ick ick ick. I keep my SSRI dose low (thank good my PDOC actually recommends this rather than hiking my dose up to some hellish level).
As far as your question goes between the bipolar mixed states and agitated depressions, I believe they are one in the same, and for the DSM to even separate them as two separate diagnosis' is ridiculous. They are so awful and hideous. Anyone that has them needs to get on a mood stabilizer asap. It's good talking to you again!
Chris
> Nice to hear from ya, Chris! Been awhile! I remember we shared some enjoyable posts a while back. I'm not glad for you, but I'm glad that I'm not the only one with those hellacious things. Before I even remotely suspected I was bipolar, I called those things 'depressions', but I knew they weren't anything like depressions I'd heard of other people experiencing.
>
> I'm pretty convinced at this point that I'm BP-I and not II, mainly because of those godawful mixed states things. Also, I've had some classic wacko manias too, and the DSM says you only need one. But what's in a name? You could call it agitated depression as well. I never could figure out what the difference was.
>
> Glad that Zyprexa works for you. None of the APs did a thing for me and if anything made me feel more despairing. I always keep an arsenal of benzos around. Just knowing they're there... I can also snap myself out of a funky blue-type depression if I take an opiate - but it's just a temporary fix. I'm the lithium poster child at any rate. I'm so very grateful it works so well for me. I don't think I would be alive if it weren't for what I learned on this board and marching into my pdoc's office and saying 'I think I'm bipolar'. Duh. I'm so glad that I found the right brands of St. John's Wort to deal with the remaining depression. I'm glad fish oil is making a difference. These days I feel like I have so much to be grateful for.
>
> I totally agree with you about mood stabilizers and agitated depression. My heart goes out to the many of us getting treated for depression with SSRIs alone. They worked for me for a while but man oh man, when they started turning against me it was not a pretty sight. I think it's a travesty that I was seeing one pdoc or another for over 20 years and not one of them ever made this leap of intellect, ever asked the right questions. It's so clear to me now how bipolar I've been most of my life, but not one of them ever questioned the 'major depression' dx and kept substituting one SSRI with another. I know 'mixed states' is rather arcane, but I did have some royal Patty Duke type zingers too, but never made the connection.
>
> Chris, answer me this, can you make any distinction between 'agitated depression' as the subset of major depression it currently is defined as, and 'bipolar mixed states depressions'? And why do some bipolars never get these mixed states? Is it a separate category, a unique DSM they'll someday figure out? To me it seems more than just anxiety and depression, it's a personal little corner in Hell and the 'why' has never been adequately addressed by any of my many shrinks.
>
>
> > Hi barbaracat, it's chris (formerly cpallen79- new screenname now)
> >
> > I agree with your post. I have those awful agitated depressions with intense racing thoughts, paranoia, panic, and despair. I've had two over the past 9 years that were incredibly intense. I've also had couch potato sleep 15 hours a day type depressions too. Like you, I'll take those ANYDAY. Ask me 6 months ago if I thought I was bipolar and I woulda said nope, that is until I started to rapid cycle and alternated between hypomania and depression and anxiety. It was quite a discovery that still presents problems but I'm working through it and faithfully taking my meds, and goign about my business. I need to take an SSRI for my ocd and will not give it up, which may or may not exhasberate the problem. Mood stabilizers have helped, but it's all a balancing act. For me, a combo of mood stabilizers and antidepressants have helped and when things start to get out of control, I pop Zyprexa, extra trileptal, ativan, and some bendryl.
> > I think that those with agitated depressions need to really consider adding mood stabilizers or anti-psychotics into their cocktail.
> >
>
poster:olysi79
thread:435630
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050103/msgs/437373.html