It is hard, but worth it.

I am learning, i am usually a blunt and straight to the point person but find myself tippytoeing around her sometimes.


As yet i am not sure if this is to make her life easier or mine.:shrug:

feel for you, mate, the same here; tried quotiapine and mirtazepine, both give you voracious appetite and I could sleep 20h a day, couldn't cope with all that
they give it for depression now too, that's why I tried them, what about you?

yeah depression and anxiety, kept trying meds for a week or two and then stopping bc of side effects but didn't have much choice in the matter when they stuck me in hospital lmao :worry: don't like how hungry and fat it made me (still excessively hungry 10 months after stopping, seems to have induced some kind of food addiction in me?? idk, but the weight doesn't pile on super easily anymore so there's that) but it does help ur mental health

yeah, it does sort your mood out
important thing is you're not suicidal anymore
once you feel better you'll have more will to lose the pounds and before you notice you'll be back to your trim self

I had an ex almost the same, I was with him pre diagnosis a year after we split he came back to explain...and apologise.

I was relieved, I knew then he was ill and not just evil :/

It all started when they gave it that soft name bipolar. You wouldn’t get people who are a bit moody saying they have manic-depressive insanity.

It’s all rooted in misconstrued public perceptions of bipolar.

I don't think so,i used to be a nanny in NY to a little girl who grew up with bi polar,she was the lovliest little girl,I found out many years later ,she commited suicide at only 20 years old,she seemed to have everything ,lovely family,lovely home I don't think she ever used hers to be cruel ,it can be a terrible illness.

No, but I do think a lot of cruel people BLAME it on mental illnesses. I mean, near every murder claims mental illness in court don't they..

I don't know what people think bipolar is, but it is not insanity. Stephen Fry is bipolar, for example.
Afaik, it is depression interspersed with periods of mania, i.e hyperactivity, grand plans etc. (like a opposite of depression),so mood swings both ways.
Of course, bipolar people can suffer from other, co-morbid mental conditions which may or may not include psychosis which is what we commonly think of as insanity, i.e. lack of touch with reality (delusions, voices etc), for example schizophrenia etc
But just bipolar doesn't make you cruel or crazy. Unbalanced - yes: sometimes depressed, sometimes over the top.
Plus bipolar comes in two types, 1 and 2, mild and severe.

I thought biploar was basically severe depression. My GP thought I had it at one stage. I am sure it was bipolar he said..

it's depression with periods of being kind of, too well, if that makes sense.

Stacey on ee is bipolar.

Ah so depression with random times of pretty much euphoria? That sounds like me actually. There does not seem to be any inbetween either.

Currently on duloxetine. Was on mirtazapine but it like totally knocked me out. Been on amitryptaline and notryptaline too, and citalopram. And various other ADs in the past. None seem to make a difference though.

you nailed it, Vicky. Depression and euphoria, in cycles.
when you diagnose depression it is always worth checking how patient feels in between depressive episodes, because it can be bipolar even if it is mild form.
Medications are similar, except for bipolar there's also lithium.
Basically it is about stabilising the mood and reducing suffering.
I have depression officially, although experience mild euphoria sometimes and it makes me wonder. Ha quotiapine, mirtazepine (hated them, like you, made me a zombie) plus citalopram and I'm not great on it.
Ketamine is the next new thing. You can either score it from a dealer or go to NHS Oxford, they do a programme, 135 pound per pop. You need a referral from you gp of course. I think the course is 3 pops (as infusions) plus you can ask for some extra if still not quite there.

You should enter the national 2sug..

Do you 2 manage to remember when and what to take?

you don't take it all at the same time; they try you on one or two and if it doesn't work, switch to something else

Depression and mania. Mania’s a nice word for insanity but that’s at the extreme end. There’s more emphasis on hypomania (the euphoria you’re talking about) these days but in its hard form it’s all the way up there with schizophrenia.

Acute mania’s a bit more than feeling too well.

A psychosis is just a mental illness in the strict sense of the word. I know the DSM likes to limit it more and more to hallucinations and delusions these days (which are even common in bipolar) but it’s been recognised as a type of insanity for centuries. It’s just that medication’s tampered the natural course of bipolar and there’s more emphasis on mild bipolar these days.

The lucid intervals have always been recognised. I don’t think anyone sees it as a chronic form of insanity but acute mania’s used as the stereotype of a mad person. That’s what bipolar’s like in its severe form.

And it should be said that having schizophrenia and bipolar at the same time is close to impssobile. The psychiatrists who love that hybrid schizoaffective label are usually the ones who are only familiar with the watered down version of bipolar and not manic depression in its serious form.

I still think this thread is confused. People talk about bipolar but it sounds like borderline personality disorder or schizophrenia.

That’s because it’s on such a broad spectrum. It just pisses me off the way certain people emphasise the mild end of the bipolar spectrum without being aware of the full range. Like I said the older names hint at the real nature of bipolar much better. And it should also be said that there’s other forms of bipolar psychosis that aren’t manic-depressive but that’s not something people who just memorise the DSM and A-Level psychology books know about.

My ex was bi polar and was on anti psychotic meds.

https://archive.org/details/manicdepressivei00kraeuoftM

I’m leaving this out here for people who really want to know what classic ‘bipolar’ looks like. The new name doesn’t half trivialise the illness.

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https://archive.org/details/manicdepressivei00krae

It’s a long read but worth it if you want to know the full range of unmedicated manic depression.