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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by cpallen79 on July 31, 2004, at 21:43:26
Hi All,
I've been lookingup info on Bipolar disorder... Though my PDOC didn't think I had it... I'm starting to wonder. If anything I fit into a II category or somewhere along the spectrum... Here's why...
Ever since I was a small child I have suffered from night terrors... where I would wake up disoriented and overstimulated. I remember these clearly. I would cry and be in an absolute panic for nearly a half an hour. I was scared of everything and felt overstimualted by everything from nopsies to objects (wierd I know)
at about the age of 9 or so I experienced that feeling for about a week. I was overstimulated, unhappy, and felt like could crawl out of my skin. Eventually that went away. Also as a child, I was incredibly moody (and remain so to this day- I overreact and and am crushed over jsut abotu anything) Ok, back to the anxiety/agitation, these agitated episodes have increased in intensity and length as I've gotten older. For example, when I was about 17, I went into an agitated depression and felt that same horrid feeling... overstimulated, hyperaroused, and frightened... noise bothered me... EVERYTHING bothered me. They tried to put me on Prozac and I absolutely flipped out and became panic stricken. They tried Paxil.... same thing. It took me months to get over that and I was very very depressed before coming out of it. I took xanax but it didn't help a whole lot, calmed me a wee bit. Needless to say things calmed down eventually, and 2 years later I tried Paxil again for OCD and this time I was ok.... went off that and developed the depression where you just want to sleep all day, feel down. Went on Wellbutrin, stayed on it for 4 months... it worked well but sometimes gave me anxiety attacks. Wierd thing I noticed about Wellbutrin is that it tended to make me hypomanic... wcwn on just 100 to 150 mgs a day I was constantly driven, was constantly hypersexual, and needed only a few hours of sleep at times. Same type of depression returned after I went off it (lethargy, sleeping all the time, a bit of anxiety)... went back on it for about a year before switching to Effexor for OCD. Went off Effexor and went into a terrible agitated depression, this was the worst so far, and even though it's been 7 months and I'm medicated with an SSRI, I still feel the effects of it (over excited, over stimulated,agitated, anxiety). Mornings were always so bad, so intense that I thought I was going to crawl right out of my skin with agitation and panic. I would walk around the block for hours on end and absolutely could not relax. Thank god for SSRIS have helped eliminate some of that in this period.
Now I know none of us are docs on here, but I really think that I have a mild form of BP II and was wondering if any of you have any insight to offer. I think I have experienced mixed states during these periods of agitated depression, so to speak. My PDOC suggested Lamictal last session and I told her I'd think about it, though I'm nto too crazy aboutLamictal and would prefer something else. What are your thoughts on this? Any insight?
Posted by HappyGirl on August 1, 2004, at 0:48:42
In reply to bipolar II suspicions- please help?, posted by cpallen79 on July 31, 2004, at 21:43:26
Hi:
First, your pdoc. suggested 'Lamical,' ... in my guess, because it has both 'depression' and 'mood-stabilizer' property. In my knowledge, 'agitated depression' means 'stress' brings up 'depressive' episodes. However, it sounds like more than 'agitated depression,' as saying that Wellbutrin made you 'hypomanic,' such as hypersexual and a lot of 'driven' feelings without enough sleep.
To answer to your another question, ... as to Bp II, ... surprisingly, Mood-stabilizer such as Depakote and Lithium helps your pdoc. and you to find out whether you really have one. Because, as you quote, ... sometime, it's some confusion between depression and Bp II, because both have primarily 'depressive episode.' However, on Bp II, there are 'two' phrases, one for depression and another for manic/hypomanic(milder form of manic). Actually, most of Bp II loves 'hypomanic,' because your productivity actually increased while on depressive episodes, you don't feel like to bother even simplest tasks. Then, you need to look at whether you have those 'two' charactaristics. Also, if you certainly feel you have Bp II, then you need to talk to your pdoc. truthfully. If there is no good answer/med. for your current condition, you may need to switch more Bp related pdoc., because some of pdocs. are NOT competent enough to diagnose and prescribe meds. for Bper's.
H.G.
Posted by cpallen79 on August 1, 2004, at 2:59:48
In reply to bipolar II suspicions- please help?, posted by cpallen79 on July 31, 2004, at 21:43:26
Hey B-cat, we've talked abotut his before, what do you think?
> Hi All,
> I've been lookingup info on Bipolar disorder... Though my PDOC didn't think I had it... I'm starting to wonder. If anything I fit into a II category or somewhere along the spectrum... Here's why...
> Ever since I was a small child I have suffered from night terrors... where I would wake up disoriented and overstimulated. I remember these clearly. I would cry and be in an absolute panic for nearly a half an hour. I was scared of everything and felt overstimualted by everything from nopsies to objects (wierd I know)
> at about the age of 9 or so I experienced that feeling for about a week. I was overstimulated, unhappy, and felt like could crawl out of my skin. Eventually that went away. Also as a child, I was incredibly moody (and remain so to this day- I overreact and and am crushed over jsut abotu anything) Ok, back to the anxiety/agitation, these agitated episodes have increased in intensity and length as I've gotten older. For example, when I was about 17, I went into an agitated depression and felt that same horrid feeling... overstimulated, hyperaroused, and frightened... noise bothered me... EVERYTHING bothered me. They tried to put me on Prozac and I absolutely flipped out and became panic stricken. They tried Paxil.... same thing. It took me months to get over that and I was very very depressed before coming out of it. I took xanax but it didn't help a whole lot, calmed me a wee bit. Needless to say things calmed down eventually, and 2 years later I tried Paxil again for OCD and this time I was ok.... went off that and developed the depression where you just want to sleep all day, feel down. Went on Wellbutrin, stayed on it for 4 months... it worked well but sometimes gave me anxiety attacks. Wierd thing I noticed about Wellbutrin is that it tended to make me hypomanic... wcwn on just 100 to 150 mgs a day I was constantly driven, was constantly hypersexual, and needed only a few hours of sleep at times. Same type of depression returned after I went off it (lethargy, sleeping all the time, a bit of anxiety)... went back on it for about a year before switching to Effexor for OCD. Went off Effexor and went into a terrible agitated depression, this was the worst so far, and even though it's been 7 months and I'm medicated with an SSRI, I still feel the effects of it (over excited, over stimulated,agitated, anxiety). Mornings were always so bad, so intense that I thought I was going to crawl right out of my skin with agitation and panic. I would walk around the block for hours on end and absolutely could not relax. Thank god for SSRIS have helped eliminate some of that in this period.
> Now I know none of us are docs on here, but I really think that I have a mild form of BP II and was wondering if any of you have any insight to offer. I think I have experienced mixed states during these periods of agitated depression, so to speak. My PDOC suggested Lamictal last session and I told her I'd think about it, though I'm nto too crazy aboutLamictal and would prefer something else. What are your thoughts on this? Any insight?
Posted by cpallen79 on August 1, 2004, at 3:03:49
In reply to Re: bipolar II suspicions- please help?, posted by HappyGirl on August 1, 2004, at 0:48:42
Hey there HP,
Thanks for the insight. As far as hypomanic goes, I'm not sure... If I've had hypomanic moments, they've been mild. There's so much along the BP spectrum that I'm not sure, but something isn't right. I'm thinking a Mood stabilzer would help. I also have had nasty chronic headaches my whole life (usually 1-3 doozies a week) so at any rate, a mood stabilizer would help those out. I'll probably try one like trileptal or Topamax first, then maybe Lamictal.
Posted by HappyGirl on August 1, 2004, at 9:34:51
In reply to Re: bipolar II suspicions- please help? » HappyGirl, posted by cpallen79 on August 1, 2004, at 3:03:49
Hi:
As for 'Hypomanic' goes, .... it's quite tricky,... at least at the beginning of Bp dxed. In my case, I did NOT have any of 'Hypomanic' symptoms, just 'depressive' feelings I suffered plentifully. However, my depression did NOT go away even anti-dep. therapy. Then, my former pdoc. put me on Depakote which alleviated my depression tremendously. After about one and a half years later, my 'hypomanic' started to surface so distincly that I could feel my 'hyper' feelings, such as 'giggling' for nothing and 'kicking around' the house, and other 'non-threating-hyper' activities.However, in reading/hearing, those 'hypomanic' episodes have various form of 'hyper' episodes. Only the pdoc. is able to dx., due to 'personal' experience along with his/her background to look at. Some has 'hyper-talker,' 'hyper-sexuality,' 'over-productivity' with little sleep and much more to look at. Also, sometime those 'hyper' are mixed with 'rage' ... so to speak 'dysphoric manic.' However, I did NOT have 'dysphoric manic' until two-three after dxed with Bp II. For this, Zyprexa made 'miracle' on this part of 'manic' episode.
In my case, the only way I found having Bp II was after Depakote therapy. However, the Depakote alone was not able to handle all of my Bp symptoms. Afterwards, I needed to switch a more experienced and competent pdoc., the current one who was capable to 'pin-point' my Bp so well that he rxed more potent med., such as 'Zyprexa' along with other meds. Currently, my mix is 4 different meds. to get by without any noticeable episodes.
H.G.
Posted by cpallen79 on August 1, 2004, at 12:21:50
In reply to Re: bipolar II suspicions- please help?//Hypomanic, posted by HappyGirl on August 1, 2004, at 9:34:51
Hi HP,
this all definetely makes sense. SSRIs help me but they've been more effective when I've taken them for my OCD and wasn't severely depressed (except Wellbutrin). Though still effective for some of my issues with anxiety/depression, they're not as effective and I definetely think there's more going on. It's super hard to explain how I feel. I can't really describe it as a panic attack (I had those earlier, and know how those feel).... Just a strange uncomfortable feeling of over stimulation, chemical excitement and hyperarousal whcih causes anxiety. It's wierd. I tried seroquel and it freaked me out ironically (I'm also A.D.D and combined with Adderall I was taking at the time, it caused akathisia- which was absolutely horrid). I think adding something in that's a mood stabilizer would be good. The only thing is that some of them tend to make you dumber than a box of rocks, and for a person with A.D.D., that can be rough.
> Hi:
> As for 'Hypomanic' goes, .... it's quite tricky,... at least at the beginning of Bp dxed. In my case, I did NOT have any of 'Hypomanic' symptoms, just 'depressive' feelings I suffered plentifully. However, my depression did NOT go away even anti-dep. therapy. Then, my former pdoc. put me on Depakote which alleviated my depression tremendously. After about one and a half years later, my 'hypomanic' started to surface so distincly that I could feel my 'hyper' feelings, such as 'giggling' for nothing and 'kicking around' the house, and other 'non-threating-hyper' activities.
>
> However, in reading/hearing, those 'hypomanic' episodes have various form of 'hyper' episodes. Only the pdoc. is able to dx., due to 'personal' experience along with his/her background to look at. Some has 'hyper-talker,' 'hyper-sexuality,' 'over-productivity' with little sleep and much more to look at. Also, sometime those 'hyper' are mixed with 'rage' ... so to speak 'dysphoric manic.' However, I did NOT have 'dysphoric manic' until two-three after dxed with Bp II. For this, Zyprexa made 'miracle' on this part of 'manic' episode.
>
> In my case, the only way I found having Bp II was after Depakote therapy. However, the Depakote alone was not able to handle all of my Bp symptoms. Afterwards, I needed to switch a more experienced and competent pdoc., the current one who was capable to 'pin-point' my Bp so well that he rxed more potent med., such as 'Zyprexa' along with other meds. Currently, my mix is 4 different meds. to get by without any noticeable episodes.
> H.G.
Posted by HappyGirl on August 1, 2004, at 14:19:50
In reply to Re: bipolar II suspicions- please help?//Hypomanic, posted by cpallen79 on August 1, 2004, at 12:21:50
Hi:
You MAY have 'dual' or even 'triple' different problems, ... because normally SSRI alone does NOT help Bp. Rather, it aggrevates Bp, ... so to speak, 'hypomanic' symptoms get worse.
Due to my own personal journey on this illness, Bp II, I have accumulated a farily good knowledge regarding Bp illness, however I am unfamiliar with other problems about which you're describing. Somewhere here, on the Internet, there is other 'good' M.I. support for a person with dual psycho. problems. If you're lucky enough to bump into a knowledgeable people in that respect, you could get more appropriate responses on your problem.
This is just my personal suggestion.
H.G.
Posted by cpallen79 on August 1, 2004, at 14:25:03
In reply to Re: bipolar II suspicions- please help?//Hypomanic, posted by HappyGirl on August 1, 2004, at 14:19:50
Hi HP, you're definetely right on that. I have OCD, ADD, etc... hence we've been trying to figure out the right cocktail. Right now I'm doing ok, but i can defientely be better, so we'll just have to play by ear. thanks for all your help!
> Hi:
> You MAY have 'dual' or even 'triple' different problems, ... because normally SSRI alone does NOT help Bp. Rather, it aggrevates Bp, ... so to speak, 'hypomanic' symptoms get worse.
> Due to my own personal journey on this illness, Bp II, I have accumulated a farily good knowledge regarding Bp illness, however I am unfamiliar with other problems about which you're describing. Somewhere here, on the Internet, there is other 'good' M.I. support for a person with dual psycho. problems. If you're lucky enough to bump into a knowledgeable people in that respect, you could get more appropriate responses on your problem.
> This is just my personal suggestion.
> H.G.
This is the end of the thread.
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