Posted by Lucia Francisca on November 10, 2005, at 21:27:13
In reply to Can Someone Explain Soft Bipolar?, posted by Phillipa on November 10, 2005, at 21:07:17
Hi Phillipa. If you were diagnosed as bipolar II, I always understood Bipolar II, which is what I've been diagnosed with, as somewhat less severe than bipolar I, in that, instead of the "manias" of bipolar I, Bipolar II has hypomanias, which are less severe than the manic shopping sprees, gambling, or etc... Hypomania is more the rapid thoughts, irritability, pressured speech, just feeling elevated, etc. My many pdocs and therapists over the last 5 years have gone between a diagnosis of unipolar major depression for me and bipolar II. I was on an antidepressant for the last 5 years, celexa and then lexapro. it worked well for the depression but i still had a lot of irritable, insomniac periods. my pdoc currently just started me on seroquel about 2 weeks ago. i must say i feel really good. i'm sleeping a lot better. seroquel is an atypical antipsychotic they use for bipolar ii now. I guess it's what they call a mood stabilizer. but i think it's newer than the old mood stabilizers like lithium and depakote. it's not supposed to be as cumbersome to use, i.e. don't need to get blood tests. i hope it works ok for me in the long run. sorry if i haven't really answered your question. just thought i'd share my own experiences with this creature called bipolar ii.
poster:Lucia Francisca
thread:577594
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051106/msgs/577596.html