eyikoluvsandy asked:


1) I have no insurance, so how can I seek treatment for my Bipolar Disorder? Without having to claim bankruptcy, I mean? Either from $300.00 prescriptions or weekly blood tests?

2) On a more personal note, I have a sort of “impending sense of doom” thing going on. I always think death is waiting for me around the next corner. Death is always on my mind, to the point where I don’t even like to go out. I’m convinced that if I step too far out of my box, I’ll be killed by some unseen force. Not a moment passes when I’m not worried about a stray bullet or a random kidnapping. Is that more so the paranoia from being Bipolar or the additional OCD? And what can I do about it?

Rachel

jane d asked:


I’m diagnosed w/ a ton of things, the main being bipolar II (also borderline personality, apeothetic narcolepsy, anxiety disorder, and am under testing for possible epilepsy). Lately, I’ve noticed my sleeping is erratic…I’ll go and go, but not feel tired, until I finally just drop. Then, I sleep for at least 12 hours. I’ve having weeks at a time where I only sleep every 2 days. I’ve been manic, but I’ve never done anything like this. However, I’m not more energetic that usual…in fact, I spend most of my time watching movies or on the computer, for hours on end. I have to force myself to take showers, brush my teeth, etc. Occasionally, I am able to do one item of housecleaning around my home. Right now, I am unemployed due to these problems, and having trouble getting into a therapist. I don’t really know what’s going on, it’s like being extremely depressed and yet highly manic at the same time. I’m unmedicated and have not been able to afford treatment for some time (although this recently changed). I guess my question is, what is going on?

PS I’m not having all or even most of the symptoms I have with either phase, just some symptoms of both. I’ve also been rather apathetic and somewhat hostile, and uninvolved with those around me.
diagnosed as bipolar 7 years ago. borderline shortly thereafter (less than a year). narcolepsy was about 3 years ago, epilepsy is suspected since jan.
And I wouldn’t describe myself as ‘a mess.’ In fact, I’ve never heard someone with any knowledge in the psychiatry field use such a term.

Barry

SMWC asked:


I have a marriage based green card. The ‘permanent’ card is due to arrive in about three months time. In 2007 I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and subsequently (and long story short( sadly lost my job, my marriage, my home etc and wracked up massive credit cad debt during ‘bipolar’ spending sprees. I am currently out of the United States and have been for 2.5 months while getting much needed treatment for my Bipolar (as I couldn’t afford healthcare in the US). When I was still in the States after I had lost my job, I did get some job opportunities but had to turn them down as my illness was getting worse. I still have a legal green card (with the year’s extension paperwork while waiting for the permanent card to be processed) and could return to the US legally, but no job to go to, no real money (perhaps $5,000.00 at the very most), huge debt, no car or driving license (I never got round to getting one) and nowhere to live. My question to all of you is what would you do in my position? Would you return to the USA on your green card? If so, how would you make things work considering my circumstances?

Clinton

WhiteSuga asked:


In psychology, we are doing an essay on any mental illness.
I have chosen to do Bipolar Disorder (with a focus on type 2)

Now my questions…
What is the biggest difference in the symptoms of Hypomania and Mania?

As Hypomania does not impair neuro-functioning, could it be seen as beneficial?

How effective is psychotherapy alone in the treatment of Bipolar Disorder?
24 seconds ago - 3 days left to answer.

Obviously, Mania is more serious, but how so, are the symptoms just more “aggressive” ?

Debbie

Indigo asked:


(Current Situation) I am jobless, and without transport. Basically leeching off a good friend (Chris) i’ve known 6 years. I’m struggling with bipolar disorder/meds and am 2,000+ Miles from any family or other friends.
(Sept 2006) Moved to my friend’s, things were fine.
(Oct) Became severely depressed due to a combination of bipolar, no job/money, Chris needs help with Rent, Chris doesn’t listen when I try to explain what is going on with my head. I left the house some night then to end things. Ended up with police in hospital.
(Nov) Seeing a therapist. Things with Chris ok.
(Dec) **** therapist, and Chris is going downhill, seeing more faults, and dark sides to Chris.
(Jan 07) Meds seem to be working. I am aware suddenly that Chris has problems I can’t deal with. His poor treatment of the cat here, he never cleans up after himself, very selfish, more aggressive, wont listen, wont communicate.

I dont know what to do and I really don’t want to lose him as a friend.
A little more info:
He has a habit of getting upset and then leaving the room, going into his and locking the door. If he comes out, he doesn’t make eye contact and wont speak to anyone.

He can’t budget and spends money on a lot of needless things for himself, and then complains he has no money to spend on himself. This is of course blamed on me for not having a job or paying rent. I will admit I havn’t been on top of the job search, and I cant blame depression for not having a job, but it hasn’t helped. That, and I don’t have a lot of job experience.

He has an attitude of ‘this is the way i’ve always done it so nothing will change that, or i’ve heard otherwise and thus you must be wrong’. This applies to his abuse of the cat, how mental illness affects me and how I act sometimes, various methods for daily things people do, and many other things.

I know i’m not the only one who feels this way about how he is acting, his brother lives here too, and feels the same.

Help?

Bradley

Starspecks asked:


I know im going to get a lot of “Get back on your medication its dangerous not to be on it” or “Bipolars tend to stop taking there medication when they feel better its pretty typical” “You could kill yourself get back on your meds” BUT that is NOT the answers im looking for. Im looking for compassion and understanding from other people in the same situation. I can’t afford the medication or treatment so I use a program where I live called the Henderson Clinic. They let me see a psychiatrsit once a month who gives me free samples of invega 9mg and scripts for trazadone 100mg( to take as needed for sleep) Klonopin 1/2 mg twice daily (but i take 1 mg as needed) and we just started an experimental thing of taking 20mg of paxil and slowly increasing to help get me off the klonopin for my panic disorder (i slip in and out of agoraphobia a lot) but since it is an SSRI and EVER SSRI I have ever taken has put me into a manic episode it’s not something we were sure would even work. I pay 3$ for the appt, I get free samples of the invega, and trazadone and paxil(generic) are on the 4$ walmart drug list, only expensive thing is the klonopin for 12$. The whole problem started when I was originally on Abilify and Klonopin only. I WAS DOING GREAT! But unfortunetly, the company that provided them free samples of abilify stopped. And since I can’t afford to fill a script, she switched me to Invega (she says its like inderol) but it turns me into a ZOMBIE, I have no life to me, I have no *** drive, I sleep 16-18 hours and STILL feel sleepy! But since im suffering from psychosis she had to up me to 9mg and cant lower the dose otherwise it gets worse. So…. One day… I said ***** IT and stopped taking everything but the klonopin (as needed). My doctor still thinks im taking the meds but ive been off for about 1 1/2 months now. The mania is starting… I see it happening, at any time im about to go into a full blow manic episode. Im starting to mess up things at work. My fiance is having to deal with calming me down. The psychosis is at its worst ever. I sleep 3 hours. BUT I FEEL ALIVE! I have sex, I enjoy things! Should I tell my doctor I stopped taking the medication and see if she can help me do the whole PPRX thing for abilify? Im scared to. Im debating getting hospitalized again because I don’t know what I might do. Please help and please don’t be mean. By the way the Henderson Clinic is the only organization state funded to help mental health disorders and in my state i do NOT qualify for medicaid. I was diagnosed with panic disorder and aggoraphobia when i was 11 years old and Bipolar at 18ish when I tried to stab my boyfriend during a manic episode and was hospitalized and then Overdosed trying to commit ******* and was baker-acted. If you could also suggest some medications to treat the mania and depression that wont have such bad side effects like sleepiness, weight gain, etc

Marian

liyah’s mommy asked:


The mother is stable and has been for 2 years, she is in school and working hard. She has always taken care of the children full time and only experienced extreme depression 2 years ago which required hospitalization to regulate meds. The father comes and goes, has a long history of domestic violence, ADHD, personality disorders and substance abuse but is holding a job now and has a college degree, although no formal treatment for substance abuse. He has a long crimial history and spent time in jail. whos fit?

Raymond

Canchito asked:


I read in a book (called ADHD A handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment, 2nd Addition by R. Barkley) that the followings distinctions should be noted:

*the age of onset of ADHD is typically earlier than in BP & that it is quite rare for a child to be diagnosed with BP, which has a typical onset in late teens early adulthood. The onset of my problems was first 8 (when I heard voices although this could have been due to trauma of repeated surgery), then 13 (when I was coincidentally run over by a car and broke my leg). At 13 my behaviour became totally erratic and I lost the ability to focus at school, all my reports from high school say I have great potential if only I would concentrate.

* ADHD has a chronic and pervasive pattern of impairment over time and accross situations. BP tends to be cyclical and episodic with wide mood swings and grandiosity. I have never had grandiosity except for a slight obsession with creating a reformed religion with influences from Quakerism, Alevism, Islam and Zoroastrianism. But I have never seen myself in a grandiose manner. I also do not have mood swings, I have a chronic and persistent inability to focus on tasks even the simplest of tasks I find difficult, and I have chronic and consistent mild Depression with one major episode of Depression. I would say I am Dysthymic rather than full blown Depressed. The book also says that a person with BP is clearly not their normal self when in an episode and exhibits uncharacteristic symptoms, such as engaging in reckless activities, dangerous driving, spending sprees etc… This does not describe my symtoms at all, although I do have an almost omnipresent need to spend money.

* The person with BP has bursts of productivity and accomplishes a great deal in a short amount of time with little sleep. Again, I do not exhibit such symptoms, and am quite unable, infact, to be productive at all.

* The person with BP also has periods of believing they have special powers and exhibits great energy. I do not have such episodes. I actually have very little energy because I am on 1000mg Depakote and 2mg Risperidone (an anti-psychotic, even though I do not have psychotic features!). Prior to medication I was almost consitently hyperactive and would be wide awake every day until day light, then would crash with fatigue and wake up early afternoon. This made me virtually unable to hold a job down and I infact once had 23 days off sick due to fatigue in the space of a 300 day working year. I still experience days like that, though this is normally following a particularly stimulating evening doing something exciting (being excited is something I rarely experience since being on mood stabilisers and anti-psychotics).

* There is an absence of psychotic features and abnormally expansive or elevated mood in ADHD, whereas those features are evident in BP. I did experience hearing voices and once hallucinated around the age of 8, but my psychologist has suggested that this was due to trauma as I had several general anaesthetics and hospitalisations due to Hypospadias, a physical disorder. Apart from that I have never had anything close to psyhosis. Certainly nothing that medical professionals have observed.

* BP I requires meeting criteria for both a major depressive and a manic episode, which is not the case for ADHD. I have had one major depressive episode which lasted for 2 months, this year, despite being on full dose of Effexor (Venlafaxine). During this time I had persistent suidicide ideation although I never attempted it. I have never had a manic episode and my psychiatrist and psychologist have never reported seeing me elated or hypomanic. I am always subjectively euthymic or in low mood and drowsy.

* Family history of ADHD or BP. My father had similar symptoms to me, but he was never treated in his lifetime for any mental illness. He was once sent home from University due to being inappropriately “high”. He did however have grandiosity and believed that himself and I were chosen by God to do his work, and that we were prophets. This was encouraged by the members of his evangelical/pentecostal church. My father was a musical elder at this church.

* Responses to medication - Those with ADHD respond poorly to mood stabilisers and rather well to stimulants. Conversely, those with a mood disorder may have a history of positive responses to antidepressant medication or mood stabilisers and not respond well to a stimulant. I am on Venlafaxine, Depakote and Risperidone and I still consistently experience Dysthymia, lack of attention, poor concentration, agitated hyperactivity and rapid thoughts.

The book says that a thorough and careful assessment of the individual’s symtoms is imperative for correct diagnosis and treatment, I feel I need and deserve this, rather than being constantly checked for psychosis, mania or depression. My work history is consitently poor, I have an inability to focus on my work, and an inability to

Thomas

Mrs. Rhett Butler asked:


I’m going to enumerate the number of episodes i can remember:

1. We were playing a game of UNO cards and she didn’ want to take the cards and she started screming like a foot distance in my face. She would stop for a moment then start screaming again. Is it she hates losing or is she bipolar?

2. When her only freind talks to other people and they don’t pay attention to her she give her ONLY freind the silent treatment and then blame her friend that it was her fault, she souldn’t ignore her. In short words, get angry easily and can’t accept her own faults.

3. Continously ask “Im ugly right” so people can answer her with nice and polite question. Frankly I don’t give a damn and I told her “Yes, you are ugly”. I lost my patience I couldn’t help it.

She’s 14 years old, and im trying to figure out if she has this sickness it worries me.

Joe

Starspecks asked:


I know im going to get a lot of “Get back on your medication its dangerous not to be on it” or “Bipolars tend to stop taking there medication when they feel better its pretty typical” “You could kill yourself get back on your meds” BUT that is NOT the answers im looking for. Im looking for compassion and understanding from other people in the same situation. I can’t afford the medication or treatment so I use a program where I live called the Henderson Clinic. They let me see a psychiatrsit once a month who gives me free samples of invega 9mg and scripts for trazadone 100mg( to take as needed for sleep) Klonopin 1/2 mg twice daily (but i take 1 mg as needed) and we just started an experimental thing of taking 20mg of paxil and slowly increasing to help get me off the klonopin for my panic disorder (i slip in and out of agoraphobia a lot) but since it is an SSRI and EVER SSRI I have ever taken has put me into a manic episode it’s not something we were sure would even work. I pay 3$ for the appt, I get free samples of the invega, and trazadone and paxil(generic) are on the 4$ walmart drug list, only expensive thing is the klonopin for 12$. The whole problem started when I was originally on Abilify and Klonopin only. I WAS DOING GREAT! But unfortunetly, the company that provided them free samples of abilify stopped. And since I can’t afford to fill a script, she switched me to Invega (she says its like inderol) but it turns me into a ZOMBIE, I have no life to me, I have no *** drive, I sleep 16-18 hours and STILL feel sleepy! But since im suffering from psychosis she had to up me to 9mg and cant lower the dose otherwise it gets worse. So…. One day… I said ***** IT and stopped taking everything but the klonopin (as needed). My doctor still thinks im taking the meds but ive been off for about 1 1/2 months now. The mania is starting… I see it happening, at any time im about to go into a full blow manic episode. Im starting to mess up things at work. My fiance is having to deal with calming me down. The psychosis is at its worst ever. I sleep 3 hours. BUT I FEEL ALIVE! I have sex, I enjoy things! Should I tell my doctor I stopped taking the medication and see if she can help me do the whole PPRX thing for abilify? Im scared to. Im debating getting hospitalized again because I don’t know what I might do. Please help and please don’t be mean. By the way the Henderson Clinic is the only organization state funded to help mental health disorders and in my state i do NOT qualify for medicaid. I was diagnosed with panic disorder and aggoraphobia when i was 11 years old and Bipolar at 18ish when I tried to stab my boyfriend during a manic episode and was hospitalized and then Overdosed trying to commit ******* and was baker-acted. If you could also suggest some medications to treat the mania and depression that wont have such bad side effects like sleepiness, weight gain, etc

Cheryl