Bipolar Survey : Mental Chaos or Problematic Side Effects

[blahblahblahman]

I love your videos please keep making them and updating us on your life! :D I wish I had a friend like you in real life, no one understands me.

[saltyeggs71]

I would take medication because I am bipolar 1 and that is worse than any side effects. I want to live. Great videos!

[PennyAnn25]

I am bipolar 1 as well. What I was on was taking care things for a long time until a different pdoc decided I didn't need the Seroquel anymore since I wasn't actively having psychotic symptoms. Got down to 150mg & started rapid cycling.

I have seen the dr since this vid & they increased my Seroquel. Things got bad enough that I had made the decision that side effects weren't worth it. I'll be making a follow up to this video.

[BrownCore]

I love the videos, by the way...keep em coming!

You are helping me to educate my peers.

[PennyAnn25]

That's great! I'm actually attaining one of my goals. :-)

[BrownCore]

Daily:

600 mg(!) Seroquel, bedtime

150 mg Lamictal (75 + 75)

20 mg Celexa (for now)

I've tolerated all of my medications very well for the most part.

At first on Lamictal, I would get blurred vision and chest pains. These disappeared eventually.

A 60 mg daily dose of Celexa began to cause ED, but it did have psychological benefits.

As far as your question is concerned, I would take more peace of mind and deal with the side effects.

Whatever keeps you alive, nahmean?

[PennyAnn25]

That's great! Recent developments have put me in the mind of agreeing to tolerating some side effects, but start at low dose. Had a mania spell & was unaware that it was occurring. I usually am aware. Came down & was surprised. Thought I'd been fine but had been erratic & making poor decisions. I have also cycled through sometimes in only a matter of 24 hrs. Don't like not being aware of a mood when it is happening cause I can't process rational thought to counter the irrational. Off to the dr!

[Luv4Learning]

and take that dosage. I don't want to see you become a vegetable, either :). I think that you have a lot to offer the world, and I hope that whatever you decide, you continue to make videos :).

~Colleen

[Luv4Learning]

I remember a pdoc once telling me that your experiences wear "grooves" in your brain which contribute to these conditions. That has stuck with me, and so I'm more of the mind that I can change my symptoms by changing my mind--incidentally, I also did CBT (helpful stuff :)). I can train my brain to find new pathways when confronted with problems, thereby alleviating my symptoms. I know that your's are far more serious, so the meds may be more necessary. I would find the lowest effective dose...

[PennyAnn25]

I have heard something like the groove thing too. That this happens & this is how you respond, and it gets to be like a broken record and you have to bust out of that and into a new response, which is hard because time has put the one in place so solidly. It is hard to break the thoughts & behaviors, especially regarding the social anxiety for me. I think the same things I thought when I was a very little girl.

[Luv4Learning]

That's a really tough question. My suggestion would be to find a balance between those two. I have seen people who take certain psych meds who just look zombified all the time--and they're really intelligent people who deserve to have a life; not that other people don't (okay I need to shut my OCD up now *LOL*)--and they want to find another way. Personally, I don't like all these labels, nor the meds (which I have had bad experiences with, too).

cont'd...

[cheebchick]

I am looking for a better doctor and one who actually listens. I know I do need meds, somewhat, and I also need a doc that will research and work with me. Thanks for your videos!

[PennyAnn25]

Your welcome!

[cheebchick]

First it was 20mg. Eventually it ALWAYS leads to 100mg or even more. That leads to TD for me and also some other side effects that are just as annoying and just as irreversible. I decided to go off Aug 08. I had been treated since 98.

3 months of "Okay, this sucks. I am ready to stop this now" and then onto 3 more months of " Who the hell am I and why can't I sleep?" then a period of intense lethargy and now...

I do seem to get all the "best" side effects.

[LeeAnne2001]

I think that sometimes you have to find a comfortable medium. I've been given labels. Bipolar II, then no, PTSd, then no, social phobia. The medications that I currently rely on are the occasional klonopin for anxiety. It's a happy medium I've found. Drugs seem often designed without the fact that patients get better on their own too.

Too many doctors rely on heavy medication for small symptoms in my experience.

[PennyAnn25]

I am glad you found a happy medium. I had one, for awhile anyway. I guess I am going to have to keep looking. Unfortunately, I get psychotic without my medication & have ended up with some life threatening delusions. I do what I can to stay on as little medication as possible without threatening my life & still be able to funciton. My symptoms are pretty clear, Bipolar I Disorder with psychotic features. I've never met anyone whose Bipolar I Disorder disappeared & was able to stop taking meds.

[LeeAnne2001]

hang in there ;-) the meds can help but the side effects are a bummer. I often think they don't design these drugs with petite women in mind.