Posted by med_empowered on October 27, 2005, at 15:07:52
In reply to Re: just for the record... what would my diagnosis be?, posted by Phillipa on October 24, 2005, at 21:09:11
I've had my share of diagnoses, and we share a lot of problems. Bipolar II, Bipolar NOS, Schizophrenia (that was bad shrink, lol), "agitated" depression, etc. etc. I think the best one I ever got was "mood disorder NOS (not otherwise specificied)"--in other words, something's wrong, but there isn't yet a term for it. My guess would be you should probably avoid or minimize antidepressants, and focus in on the racing thoughts and anxiety...sounds kind of hypomanic, mixed-episode-ish to me, but at a sub-clinical level. You might benefit from LOW level mood-stabilizer medication (I'd go for trileptal, keppra, lamictal--avoid the hardcore stuff that requires blood work). A benzo would probably be a GOOD idea, at least on an as-needed basis; sleep medication (again, as-needed) would probably also be a good idea. Since you dont do crazy stuff--like get married or have sex with strangers--because of your problems, its not really necessary to do any hardcore medicating..the important thing would probably be to just help you calm down racing thoughts and anxiety a bit, so you can work through them (ideally, the medication would be minimal, but you could do a lot of talk therapy or something like that). We have kind of similar symptoms (except my depressoin and mixed episodes are more severe; I've had some psychosis with those), so here's my advide: keep your meds at a minimum, and be picky about what you take. So..with mood-stabilizers, try to avoid stuff that needs blood work (these are also the meds that tend to cause weight gain, hair loss, etc). Try to avoid antipsychotics. If you opt for a benzo, try to take it as-needed, rather than on a continual basis; withdrawal is a pain. Avoid antidepressants. Avoid hardcore stimulants. Try to make sure your sleep schedule is good, and look into meditation and similar stuff. Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:571455
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051024/msgs/572435.html