Posted by Mistermindmasta on December 9, 2006, at 16:42:50
In reply to Could I possibly be Bi-Polar?, posted by Tom Twilight on December 8, 2006, at 10:15:55
High to you!
Caffeine makes me bipolar-ish, and in fact so do most drugs, but when I'm not on any sort of legal or illegal drug, my moods are ok. I don't have much mental issues until I take some sort of mind altering substance into my body. Caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, adderall, etc all mess me up, but caffeine and alcohol mess me up more than anything - even more than adderall or stims. Weird huh? Some people have polymorphism in their adenosine receptors that make them react differently to caffeine. I believe I may be one of them cuz I always get high when I have caffeine - like, euphoric.
Interestingly, the only reason I got into this board (psycho-babble) is because caffeine and alchol mess me up bigtime. I never had any mood problems until I started abusing those substances, like every other 20-something year old. Unfortunately, I don't seem to react the same to them like all my buddies do. It sucks to have such bad depression and anxiety the day after drinking when my friends feel fine. I never know if they can tell that I'm feeling off. I feel bad, like I'm a bad friend, ya know?
Sometimes the benefits of caffeine are worth it though... I've gotten used to being semi-bi-polarish. During the day, I get stuff done... I'm quite motivated to get done what I need to... and at night I'm kinda depressed - it's kind of normal now. It's directly related to how much caffeine I use. I like to take guarana capsules, because then I can know how much caffeine I'm getting. I like to be aware of that kind of stuff.
If you have a lot of genuine issues in your life, substance use can make you feel one way one minute and another way the next minute. Like, you can be happy about something and then pissed off about it the next day. It's amazing how much we blame on drug use but it might actually just be that we have REAL F-ING PROBLEMS IN OUR LIVES THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO SOLVE!
Right now I'm going to school, working two jobs and have a girlfriend (my 3rd job{haha, jk}). It's tough.
But more about mind altering substances... I've noticed even SUPPLEMENTS can mess me up - in fact, L-tyrosine, after too much, just straight up makes me angry and pissed at everything. L-tyrosine! A SUPPLEMENT! Bottom line - be aware of what goes into your body and how it makes you feel, even if it seems like it should be benign. A lot of herbs and OTC supplements are stronger than the pharmaceutical industry likes to make them seem.
By the way, just cuz you never experienced full manic periods doesn't exclude bi-polar. People can, for example, feel fine and then at some later point in time be depressed, without having a manic period - yet it CAN still be bi-polar. Some people only get manic on antidepressants. For some people, their antidepressant "poops out" on them and they think it just stopped working when in reality they may need a mood stabilizer. Luckily, there are mood stabilizers that also help the depression of bi-polar so that's nice.
I wouldn't be surprised if I was mild bi-polar, too. Antidepressant substances seem to overly excite me or make me too aggressive and stimulants seem to make me kind of anxious too. I think I might be a mood stabilizer. I've only messed around with herbs at this point - my mental status isnt serious enough to see a psychiatrist, so I've limited my self medication to stuff that I can pick up at a health food store.
I've tried SJW, Valerian, L-tryp, 5-HTP... all have some nice benefits, but nothing does the trick and keeps me in the same state of mind all the time like I'd like to be. With SJW, I get manic-ish for the first week... expansive, overly talkative, and then it goes away and I just kind of feel tired after that first week. Kava actually is the one supplement that seems to stabilize me... and interestingly, I think one of it's properties is a sodium channel blocker or something which could be good for bi-polar ppl.
Sorry this post is kinda long and slightly disorganized... I took 30mg of adderall which makes me type too much and have no clue that I'm typing too much. Have a nice day.
- me -
> High all
>
> I've been posting a lot lately, appologies for clogging up the board!
>
> I'm just wondering if there could be any possibility I'm Bi-polar.
>
> My depression is cronic and unremitting for the most part.
> However I don't seem to experience Manic periods, my mood seems really unstable though.
> ADs don't make me manic either, just tired, even Parnate made me tired!
>
> One minuet I think & feel one thing, and the next its something different, I long for some consistancy!
>
> I experience a lot of Anxiety & I have terrible social anxiety, but stimulats don't make me more anxious, appart from Caffeine of course.
>
> Any ideas?
> Has anyone with Unipolar depression been helped with a mood stabalizer?
poster:Mistermindmasta
thread:711453
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061206/msgs/711956.html