I was diagnosed with bipolar two years ago and haven't seen a doctor since. My symptoms are worsening. I am hesitant to take medicines and see a new doctor. What can you advise me to do?
First, take a deep breath. You are not alone in your diagnosis or your anxiety regarding seeing a physician.My wife has Bipolar II among other mental and general health diagnoses. She is taking lithium for her Bipolar disorder, without it her moods are out of control. Her symptoms worsened over time prior being medicated, eventually requiring two nights in a psychiatric unit (voluntary).The lithium (and the other medications she takes daily) is not without its side effects, particularly weight gain, and requires occasional blood tests. But her life has improved significantly once her psychiatrist found the right dosage for her.As for me, I have general anxiety disorder, depression, and undiagnosed but textbook PTSD stemming from childhood sexual abuse. I have made progress but to this day become very anxious having anyone that I do not fully trust touch me or put me in vulnerable positions. I bet you can guess where both problems manifest themselves the most!I was a Paramedic for around a decade and have many physician friends. I have no fear of doctors but avoided seeing one for years because of the before mentioned anxiety. I finally pushed myself to see one, with my wife by my side, and was placed on an antidepressant.It was a life changing moment and I wish that I had done it years before, there is no telling where my life could be now if I had. I experienced my share of side effects (mostly sleep and sexual) but my psychiatrist found the sweet spot on the dose and I am doing great now.I still experience anxiety and depression from time to time, my wife still experiences the occasional mood swings. But it's like the volume has been turned all the way down, the symptoms are there but easy to overcome and with a short duration.Try to make an appointment and stick with it. The hardest part is making the call (I had my wife do it for me) and the wait.Doctors and nurses want nothing more than to help you, when I came in they were extremely understanding and patient with me. They can do the necessary blood work (unfortunately, that's a guaranteed part of the visit) and get you started on some medication. Ultimately, you will need to be under the care of a psychiatrist.Please feel free to message me. Good luck, you got this!
Should I tell my therapist I haven't been taking my meds?
I have recently been diagnosed with Bipolar and stop taking my Abilify for it. I don't think I have Bipolar because I never had a manic episode. I know in bipolar it can be hypo-mania and less aggressive but I still don't see any of the symptoms. I stopped taking my medication for about 2 weeks and don't feel any different. I just feel guilty lying to my family and therapist and I worry that if I tell my therapist she would like to check me into a hospital to get back on them or make me give them blood test to make sure I stay on them. Or even refuse to see me if I stop taking them.
As a parent how can I understand my bipolar teen better and help her to navigate through the difficulties?
If your daughter has classic bipolar, with long manias and long depressions spaced with normal periods, your main job is to help her find the most effective medications with the fewest side effects, and make sure she takes them reliably.If your daughter has non-classic bipolar, with flip-on-a-dime mood changes, anger, rapid cycling, mixed states and is often depressed and manic in the same short period, she may have a bipolar reaction to trauma, and needs to see an expert trauma counselor. Trauma doesn’t just include single bad events like near fatal events, it includes neglect, abuse, divorce, bullying, household instability, familial mental illness, urban violence and more. She still needs her mood stabilizing medicine, but may not respond well to it, and is at risk of being over-medicated and zombified. Beware the Big Four side effects: being stupid/zombified, oversleep, weight gain and passivity. Any of these are grounds for a change in medication. Psychotherapy is essential. It will be difficult to behave in ways that aren’t triggering to her, but don’t let her run your life.Classic bipolar is a relatively rare illness. There is no way rates of diagnosed bipolar disorder could have skyrocketed in a few generations. Misdiagnosis is common, and medical providers who are competent to recognize and treat trauma are rare.A lot of people heavily invested in the cottage “bipolar industry” will argue bitterly that medication is the only solution. The problem is, if you buy into that notion, your daughter is in for a very difficult life.
Do you have to see a therapist regularly for bipolar disorder if you receive SSDI?
Yes, keep in therapy. My son was diagnosed with early on set bipolar disorder. He was 4 years old when I noticed something was very wrong. But he wasn't diagnosed until 7 years old. His father and I were separated, by that time. His father I found out later had N PD. Also he was a psychopath. I now know what it was that I went through. It was a nightmare. And he would use several different women at a time. He would leave a lot of his flings with children. He thought that was funny. He knew what he was. He enjoyed it. He knew any child of his could be like him. So that was his parting gift to some knowing he would not be there and that there was a good chance the person would end up going through he'll with a child like that. He married me, I'm still not sure why. He said live, but what I lived through was anything but. So, I was relieved when I thought my son was just bipolar. That was bad enough. By 9 he was on SSI. They revised us constantly. I have gone through he'll getting him help everywhere we have been. They really drop the ball on mental health. I'm angry about that. When he turned 18, they did a review. I ended up fighting them until 2014 when they cut him off. Some Ass wipe therapist THEY sent him to said he was"cured". There is no cure. They were he'll bent on cutting him off. He has never been able to function normally in life, and I know he won't be able to. He was then in 2014 diagnosed with a serious mental illness. I saw him changing. From what I know it see med he also has schizoaffective disorder. He is delusional at times he completely changed. He became violent he tried to choke me. He had never been like that before. I could see in his eyes the difference. He is in another state now getting help, which his aunt pays for, because good help is expensive. But he never should have been cut off. There are so many frauds in this SSI and said it's ridiculous. I feel that there should be a different program for mental illness because SSI. Really isn't the right one that is for people who worked an paid in for retirement. It's going broke. I am worried I live on a small amount. The real problem is a corrupt government that steals from it. So that's why they will try there best to take it from you. My son would not Co operate with therapy either, and that's what they used as an excuse to take it. So keep with your therapist. 3 weeks will be fine as long as there is a consistent record of it. I hope this helps you
Denied Social Security for Bipolar Disorder.?
Get the book "Social Security Disability" from Nolo Press, at nolo.com, or see if you can get it at your library (maybe even through an interlibrary loan?) It will give you a lot of background on how to apply, what criteria are used, and how to fill out the forms. You have to be profoundly disabled to get disability, and if you are relatively young and educated, it will be harder. But if you really can't hold down a job, and you can document that, you should get it eventually. You will almost certainly be rejected the first time, and the process takes awhile, so somehow you have to manage your finances in the meantime. ****Keep in mind that once you go on disability, you will never get off of it, no one does. You will be in poverty the rest of your life unless you marry out of it or a miracle cures you. The ways the rules are make you dependent on the system, so keep that in mind when you are deciding if you want to do this. A lot of people have no choice, because they can't work at all, or they can't keep a job with insurance to get their pills. but it's still humiliating in America to have no job-people always ask when you are being introduced,"Oh hello, what do YOU do for a living?" which ends up being a very nosy question without meaning to. If you can get supportive help from social services (in my state, they will pay for support groups and a social worker to visit and help with paperwork) or tweak your meds some more, or from a local consumer group (google the words consumer, mental, and your state. Consumer=person getting mental health services) then maybe you won't have to go on disability. If you can possibly work well enough to keep yourself housed and fed, you should not go on disability. You should keep working on minimizing symptoms. You will not feel better unless you take mood stabilizers, I dunno why your doc didn't prescribe any for you. You can put yourself on the cancellation list at the psychiatrist's office, I suppose. I'm on SSA myself, and need the Medicare, so I'm not being judgmental, I just want you to know what you're getting into. For me, there was no other way. The meds just don't work very well for me. I know a lot of people in the same boat. But there are even more folks with bipolar who CAN hold down a job. Get the book I recommended, it will give you all the legal and inside information to see if you qualify. All the best to you! I hope you feel better soon!
I'm bipolar, my parents don't believe me. What do I do?
Ok, first off, I don't want any answers saying: "You're 13, there is no way you are bipolar, you are just a little kid, etc." I am 13, and I am certain I have bipolar. (Cyclothymia.) I haven't been diagnosed, considering my parents refuse to believe me, even though my mom has bipolar I. I am hypomanic almost all the time, and most of my friends usually have no idea what Im talking about I change subjects so quickly. It feels like every minute I have thousands of things rushing through my head, making it very difficult to concentrate. I am extremely outgoing and daring, and I always have tons of energy. I am also distracted very easily. (Sometimes I also have delusion/hallucinations) I also have mild depression sometimes. It takes me hours to fall asleep, and if I'm not woken up, I will sleep for a minimum 14 hours (low iron doesn't help much.) The longest I have ever slept is a full 24 hours... I simply can not focus in class. (Delusions/Hallucinations become harsh.) I feel hopeless, helpless, and that I am a all-around terrible person. I can't control my negative thoughts, no matter how hard I try. I don't each much. Sometimes I feel that life is just not worth living anymore. A good metaphor would be drowning. I truly think that bipolar is the best thing that ever happened to me. But Everyone else seems to have a problem with it. I fear I may not be able to get a good job when I am older. I currently have an F in algebra, and my mom has grounded me. I try my hardest to pay attention, but I just can't. I feel as if I lost control completely, and now my mom says that she doesn't want me tested because it will go on my permanent record. She says I will be judged forever (which I am not concerned about at all considering that I am judged now because of how I act). She also think that I don't even try or apply myself and I tell her that I do but she says that she doubts me. I have absolutely no idea what to do now, I have talked to my counselor as well, and she says she doesn't believe me either. Please help me. -Sarah
What are the signs of bi-polar disorder?
One of the meds you listed is for a thyroid problem. Thyroid problems can often mimic manic and depressive episodes. Get that level checked. The other 3 meds you listed are for depression. Talk therapy is the best way to go about solving your dilemma. I understand the "been there, done that and hated it" part. You haven't listed any panic episodes, insomnia, hyperactivity, or continuous sleeping in your question. What about your eating habits, sexual conduct, alcohol and drug use, and irrational thinking? Honestly, it sounds to me that your thyroid may be off and your symptoms of depression are feeling worse because of that, not bipolar. Talking this out is the best way for I am assume you really don't want or need to be any more medicated than what you are.
Can bipolar disorder drive someone to murder?
I am sure it can...I know when you are on the down swing it can lead you to suicide. I haven't attempted murder in the manic state or hypomanic state, I will admit, I have threatened, and I have most definitely thought about it. I am bi-polar with an extreme psychotic behaviors, and I have a severe problem with anger management which they haven't found a way to control yet, as classes and meds don't seem to work for me. I sometimes will strike out violently without thinking, but more often than not, I actually have to be provoked, it's just that when I am provoked, it doesn't have to be something big, it can just be that someone flipped me off. So, I'm sure that it can eventually lead someone to murder, but I am perfectly aware of right and wrong, so if one day in the future I actually were to hurt someone seriously (I won't actually ever commit murder) I wouuld stand up and take my consequences instead of blaming my disorder.
Bipolar disorder or demonic forces?
It may well be possible that there is NOT a difference. I have read much material that has come out in the last few years about "attached entities" - which is basically a more socially acceptable term for spirit possession. "Civilized" societies scoff at the idea, but it is BASIC to almost every culture where such ideas have not been conditioned out by "modern education". In recent years, hypnotherapists are often discovering that their patient's problems go away when they find and remove "attached entities" with what is now being called "SRT" or "Spirit Releasement Therapy". Imagining for a moment that this is a valid concept, then how hard is it to believe that what we routinely diagnose as "Bi-polar Disorder" actually IS the way in which a negative spiritual attachment manifests itself on the surface? I am not making a positive statement that this is true (even though I feel strongly that it IS), but simply providing it as 'food for thought'. If any of this touches an interested nerve, you can read more about "Attached Entities" and "Spirit Releasement Therapy" in the books I've listed as sources, below.