Psycho-Babble Newbies Thread 740541

Shown: posts 1 to 2 of 2. This is the beginning of the thread.

 

Bi-polar and ADD, but doing ok :)

Posted by runamuck on March 12, 2007, at 21:29:44

Hi everyone!

I'm 28 and was diagnosed with Bi-polar disorder and ADD after and interesting turn of events. My gyno put me on Paxil, Zoloft, and Celexa for high blood pressure that she thought was due to anxiety. Each med met with the same disastrous results, 3 days of euphoria then I wanted to scream at everything and everyone, oh, and I wasn't sleeping at all. She wanted to keep trying other stuff, but I knew better and went straight to the psychiatrist. I've always had issues with depression and the agitation and lack of sleepiness I felt on the antidepressants was reminiscent of a few bad times in my life (coincided with freaking out during student teaching and when I got fired from my job, surprise, surprise) so the bi-polar was disappointing, but not a big surprise. I never thought I had ADD, I thought everyone just had motivational issues like me. I've always had fairly decent grades, but teachers kept saying I wasn't living up to my full potential. I really wish I would have been diagnosed earlier, but at least now I know.

I've been/am still on a lot of meds. If you are interested here's the list:
Have been on, but ended up switching off of: risperdal (didn't work as a mood stabilizer), concerta (ok, but not as good as Adderal), focalin (I felt drugged and tired), Provigil (didn't work - see below) and many antidepressants that made me hypo-manic (I apparently have bi-polar type II)

Now I'm on:

Adderall, 20 mg 2x daily (it wears off on me after 5 hours--but is otherwise all around awesome!)

Abilify-- this stuff has been EVIL! It made me so tired and fuzzy headed my Dr. prescribed Provigal (I didn't know the abilify was the issue), but even that didn't work. I decided to go off cold turkey since I was depressed and obviously wasn't having a manic issue. BIG MISTAKE! about a week later I had uncontrollable facial tics--I mean making wild faces and violently shaking my head to one side. Really scary. I called my Doc and he said to go back on the meds. I was on 15mg but now I'm down to 2. I'm less tired but I can't wait to be off of this drug! Hopefully since I'm weaning off slowly the tics won't come back--fingers crossed.

Lamictal - 150 mg - this seems to keep the mania under control but I'm still having depression issues :(

Cymbalta - the only antidepressant that worked for me while on the risperdal, but it's freaking expensive since it's off formulary. I've lowered my dose to 30mg and am hoping to go off of it soon.

Welbutrin - I took this while on the risperdal and went straight to hypo-mania. I'm trying it again and have been on it for a week--so far so good!

The high blood pressure turned out to be a real issue so I'm on meds for that and allergies.

I've been fired from two jobs (one of which I totally loved) because of my issues. I now have a stable job that pays less - it's totally boring and I keep looking for a new one without luck. But, I just got a part time job teaching making more $ and actually doing something I like so I'm pretty excited. I also have a great boyfriend, so all in all, things are going ok for me. I'm on here to hopefully get some advice during the bad times, and to be supportive of others as well. Thanks for reading!

 

hey, i'm bipolar and doing superfantastic too!

Posted by karen_kay on March 15, 2007, at 6:59:50

In reply to Bi-polar and ADD, but doing ok :), posted by runamuck on March 12, 2007, at 21:29:44

i'm 28 (or so i've been told. don't tell me you were born on july 2 too! that woulld jsut be too creepy for words) too. well, i think i am. i can't ever remember. i do know that i'm getting up there. but, i don't mind, as i'm married to practically a minor (seriously, when we first got married he was begging me to go buy him beer). he's now 22, so he can buy his own booze and mine as well (though with the meds, i don't guzzle gin and bourbon quite like i used to. it's coming up summer time though, so i'll have to be drinking some beer soon, can't miss out on that tradition, yard work, tanning, beer.).

yeah, i started teh whole med routine at about 19. ad (antidepressants, you'll learn the lingo quick around here, but i must warn you, there's a poster round here called all done. she's a horrible tramp, but i call her ad as well, not to be confused with paxil, zoloft, but she does make the body weak, jsut as they do. soemtimes she even gives me stomach cramps as they do :) actually i'm quite fond of her or i'd never say such things, but don't ever let on like i like her or i'll deny i even know you :)

but, i've found crack helps me cope the best :) just kidding of course. i'm on topamax and klonopin. the baby at the top of the page when you open up the screen is my duckie, isn't he the cutest duckie ever?

i jsut recently went through the strangest manic episode ever. anger, lots of anger towards mr kk (i'm married, i think this is our 2 year coming up april 1) everything's proper here, i am a lady. first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes kk with baby carriage. then came depression, then came mania, then came dr's with ideas for sania!

so, i'm getting back to normal, whatever that is....

about adderal: can i ahve some?

about abilify, lamictal and wellbutrin: keep theat horrid stuff away from me! that stuff made me freak out! now, some celexa gives me a creepy buzz, same with (oh now, what's it called....lexapro. makes me manic everytime. and, if you take enough paxil, yoru wallls will bend. some idiot told me that one time and i fell for it, twice! naive is my middle name. ok, kay is my middle name but naive should ahve been).

about losing jobs: that sucks. especially if you really liked them too. but, i tend to think of it this way. they weren't meant to be. right now is your chance to find what's right for you (med wise and otherwise). then, you'll be able to fidn what you're meant to do. worry about that after you get your meds starightened out and don't give yourself a hard time about the details in between. shoot, i wasted half my college life withdrawing. oh weelll, poop happens, right?

oh, i was on resperdal too, but it made me a zombie. i'm off it right now.

it's a tough prccess findign what works. and the side effects suck. but, it's worth it in the end. the topamax makes me dumber than a box of rocks (and trust me, smarts ain't my gift anyway :). makes me unable to eat. and my face just goes numb, like i've had a stroke or something, same with all my other body arts. and i confuse letters often (doesn't work well when i was taking german classes). but, i take the good with the bad, as it keeps me from going clear off the deep end and chewing off my feet or running through town naked with a sign saying 'please, someone call me big poppa'. that's what's important, as i wouldn't want to explain any of those things to my duckie when he gets older, you know?

i hope you enjoy babble. i swear, one person i say 'i've been here for months' another person i say 'i've been here for 5 years'. it's hard for me, as i have no concept of time. i'll look through and find precisely how long i have been here.

but, it's really been helpful to me. to know that people listen (or at least they pretend to :)
it's helpful to know that people care. it's helpful to know i'm not alone. and i'm not the only one who like to be called big poppa :)

take care and i usually post on social, so feel free to wonder around the boards and fidn the ones that suit you. if i see you on social i'll say hey and i talk to just about anyone (againa, like i said that all done character. don't tell her anything. she blabs too much. she can't keep a secret anyway.)

take care dear,
kk


This is the end of the thread.


Show another thread

URL of post in thread:


Psycho-Babble Newbies | Extras | FAQ


[dr. bob] Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD, bob@dr-bob.org

Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.