Posted by mellow on May 3, 2011, at 15:45:43
In reply to Is this a bipolar myth or not?, posted by sk85 on May 3, 2011, at 15:14:19
Your situation and symptoms would probably get different opinions from different doctors. It is certainly normal for AD's to trigger manic episodes. Some believe this means there is underlying manic depressive illness. It certainly indicates that AD's aren't safe to use in your case. Therefore operating from a bipolar diagnosis may be more efficient when trying to get your med mix right because you could look to the mood stabilizers rather than AD'S.
While the traditional mood stabilizer of choice is lithium my doctor has the theory that people who favor depression do better on anti convulsant mood stabilizers such as lamictal, tegretol, tompirmate, trileptal,etc.
I wouldn't worry so much about the diagnosis as much as having a doctor you are comfortable with. If you answer the doc's questions honestly and let him/her use their knowledge from working with thousands of patients you might find the perfect mix. Although you may have a crummy doctor and end up just getting really doped up. That happened to me at first and luckily I found a better doc.
I was diagnosed in 2006 and I had a episode this February where I finally decided maybe there was something behind the whole bipolar thing and I finally surrendered to the meds. It's taken this long to actually get a good mix going, because I never fully bought into the treatment. Don't let hang ups about "being bipolar" keep you from the life you deserve. You are more than a diagnosis scribbled on a chart in a filing cabinet. If you don't like your doc get a new one and comply with the treatments they prescribe regardless if they tell you that you are bipolar are not.
That's the best advice I can give as someone who has been fighting this thing for almost 5 years diagnosed and my whole life before that. Best of luck.
mellow
Bipolar II
Lamictal 150, Topamax 50, Risperdal 2, Cal/Mag, D3 1000, Fish Oil 2400, High Potency Multi"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
poster:mellow
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URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110502/msgs/984455.html