Does any one have Bipolar Disorder?

Question:

or do you know anyone who does? When were you diagnosed and what did they treat you with? Any info would be very helpful.

Answers:
I have it and was diagnosed at age 26. I got depressed and the bottom dropped out fro under me at 18 and I went for years being only diagnosed with depression. I never attempted suicide but contemplated it for about 6 years every single day. There were, however, manic days, where by all appearances I seemed happy to others. I was ecstatically happy to the point that people had to make me calm down. But when alone, the depression would immediately return with a vengeance when considered relative to the manic highs. At one point, prior to my diagnosis, I became so consumed with my own political / religious philosophy that I went for several months in a highly delusional state until the point of psychotic hallucinations after several sleepless nights. I was hospitalized for the first time after that and they still didn't diagnose it. Of course I was scared and didn't tell them about the hallucinations, because I feared they'd think I was crazy. They instead treated me for alcoholism - I didn't even drink. Finally, a couple of years after I got married, I became fascinated with a political idea that I had and began to put it to paper. After weeks of writing incessantly and causing domestic disturbances, I went to the doctor with my notebook with me and told him that I could not stop writing - I couldn't relax and give it arrest. At that point he diagnosed me as bipolar and I have been taking lithium and effexor every since, with limited levels of success from time to time. There are still those moments when I'm capable of making an *** of myself with wild ideas and my enthusiasm for them. I do not take anti-psychotic medications though as they seem to "labotomize" me and stop my thinking process cold. I can't deal with that. I am still highly intensive when it comes to religious or political debate. Those are my two primary areas of obsessive compulsive thought. I simply am not able to not think of these things when I "relax". I can however control the pace with sedatives. A regular sleeping schedule also helps.
When I am at my lowest low, sometimes I consider electroconvulsive therapy, but have not yet done it. It is a bit frightening.
Good luck, I do hope you find yourself not to have it. But if so, there are ways to cope and control it to some degree, but I don't believe it can be totally controlled.

Other Answers:
i'm not sure a bipolar would be able to classify themselves as one.. or would they? I really dont know

I am bipolar. I am not being treated because I dont have insurance. effexor/zyprexa/risperdol/asce. and one more i cant remember, turned out it was the home enviorment mixed with drugs and puberty(was 15 at the time) got re-diagnosed at 22 with a clean bill of health.
Also therapy/anger management

not me. they often use lithium. My father is bipolar and my cousin is. They were diagnosed with it years ago. At first he was treated with lithium and something else I dont know what the mood stabilizer was at the time. I dont live with either of them so I dont know what they are taking now. There are many different antipsychotic medications and mood stabilizers that help with bipolar it just depends on the individual because some will have certain side effects that will not be good for the person which might be maybe because they are drinking and one cant mix alcohol and those medications or they will have a stroke, go do a search on bipolar and you will tons of information about it that is what I did when I did my research paper on it and got an A, good luck

I am a survivor of PTSD and Bipolar disorder. I was also recently diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. I have been through many meds and med changes. Finding the right med for you can be a crap shoot. You have to pay attention to what the side effects are and how you actually feel from the meds. Most meds take time, a few weeks even, to take full effect. I am on Paxil and Trileptal and have had pretty good luck on those. I personally think the Trileptal helps me more than the Paxil does. I also go to Neurofeedback therapy and I believe that this may well have saved my life. I am calmer and easier to live with now than I have ever been before. If you can, look into it, most insurance and medicaid pay for it. It is also important that you get a therapist and dr that listen to you without hearing 3 words, prescribing something and shoving you out the door. I hope this is helpful to you somehow. If I can help you further, see my 360 or contact me! Hang in there.

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Does any one have Bipolar Disorder?

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