Posted by Phaedrus on October 23, 2005, at 1:13:51
In reply to Re: cyclothymia support, posted by SLS on October 23, 2005, at 0:36:08
Scott and Meg you two are quick,
Meg, cyclothymia is easiest to describe as lower level bipolar. I experience periods of hypomania in which I can study long periods retaining info pretty easily. I keep my apartment up much better and can lift and exercise for a few hours. Most aparently is how my emotions react to social interaction. I feel at ease, like the other person is actually enjoying my company. If I get rejected by a girl, I can get over it pretty quick. I'll also experience racing thoughts, and have to switch study modes to writing things down rather than just going over them. This forces me to slow down and stay on topic. The depressive phase for me is the opposite. I second guess every social interaction thinking it just isn't going well, and the other person is barely tolerating me. Rejection stays on my mind for much longer. Anxiety is fairly constant. I can't concentrate or retain anything, and I can go through the motions of working out but just can't lift as much, and I have less fun doing it. On the plus sometimes lifting or yoga pulls me out of the spiral as I call it.Scott, I already went over hypomania symptoms. My problems began with a major long lasting depression following the breakup of me and my first girlfriend, the death of my grandma and uncle from lymphoma and the suicide of a cousin. The hypomania set in after I stabilized on lexapro for a bit. Before that I tried paxil, celexa and wellbutrin, which may have worked better if I was more compliant at the time. I currently am on 20mg lexapro and I can't remember the last time I missed it. It modulates the mood a bit, but the main reason I like it is it lessens the anxiety tremendously. The cycling got much worse when I started school and I upped from 10 to 20, which helped. Previously 10 was sufficient. Currently I'm considering trying wellbutrin with it again. Thanks for responding so quickly. I'll look into those sites.
-Ben.
poster:Phaedrus
thread:570745
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051017/msgs/570786.html