I'm on a depressive swing from hell

[TrogL]

*sigh* Yes, I'm bipolar but the swings didn't use to be this bad.

I'm on anti-depressants and no I'm not going to increase my levels because that's what I did last time and when I switched back to manic everything went coocoo for cocapuffs.

My son's been acting up for about three weeks and it's getting worse (there's two threads over in the parenting group).

I'm trying to get things done around the house (re-carpet back steps, paint porch, take down a tree, finish drywalling).

This morning I spent half-hour on the couch crying and was late for work.

I'm hoping I have a rehearsal tonight because I just can't cope with being home.

[yardwork]

1. You have the right instinct - get out of the house

Even if you don't have a rehearsal, make plans to get out and see some folks tonight. Call your friends.

If you still feel lousy tomorrow, please call your therapist. Sometimes just touching base helps a lot!

Hugs and hang in there!

[TrogL]

3. What therapist?

My last shrink was an idiot. He wouldn't discuss issues at all. He wouldn't treat my obsessive/compulsive stuff at all. As soon as he found out I wasn't schizophrenic, he lost interest in me.

[TrogL]

2. Ended up coming home

to open the garage door otherwise there was gonna be unholy hell from people who needed in. Where did all the keys go? I may have to buy a new lock for it because the current lock has some wierd master that I can't get blanks for.

My son's off riding his bike somewhere, my daughter's sulking about something or other and I still haven't figured out if I've got a rehearsal or not. It's been scheduled and cancelled half a dozen times and I can't remember where we left off.

[Droopy]

4. Lithium works very well for me

I haven't had any manic or severe depression episodes since I started taking it. If all else fails check into getting a mood stabilizer. Don't get too low, Trog.

[TrogL]

5. I tried lithium

It doesn't work well for rapid cyclers. I'm gearing up with epival.

[SpeedwayDemocrat]

10. Ask about Lamictal

Helped me on the mood swings when nothing else would. No side effects like Lithium. I'm a really rapid cycler, and didn't see results until I hit 200mg/day level.

[TrogL]

6. I'm down again

fourth day in a row. I can normally count for some sort of relief by day three.

Part of it's situational. My ex-wife and partner are having a spat. Nobody's listening to me. I can't write worth shit (code or text). I bought a new toy and it doesn't work right. Everybody's whining at me for money. My ear hurts (actually it's a sinus problem) and I have no idea when they're going to schedule the surgery to fix it. It's been raining every day for as long as I can remember. I've had a total of about three hours out in the sun. I just looked out the window and it's cloudy again.

[TrogL]

7. Nothing fscking works

• chainsaw
  
• weed trimmer (wife's not mine) but I thought I could fix it
  
• barbucue (it's brand new but something's wrong with the regulator)
  
• plans for food shopping (nobody would fscking leave me alone long enough)
  
• software at work (simply doesn't work, don't know why)
  cell phone (the plastic clips keep breaking on it and it fell into a bucket of used oil - surprisingly the phone appears to still work even if it is leaking a bit of oil)
  

[Blue_Roses]

8. I need YOUR help

I think this is what my husband has. Help me understand, 'cause I feel like I'm spiraling into a serious depression with the way he has been treating me and my kids. He's ADHD and I have a thread about this, but in the last week he's back to his old mood swings--bad mood swings. I am going to leave his ass if we can't get this straight. I need help desperately. Tell me what will help!!

[TrogL]

9. Here's how it works (at least for me)

Diagnosis - bipolar rapid cycling.

Basically my moods go up and down on a fairly fixed cycle irrespective of what's actually going on around me. My life is fairly stable. I've got the same bunch of people around me who (mostly) act pretty predictable. So any variation that I see in what's going on around me is ME, not them. My personal cycle is pretty much three days up, three days down. Any one of those days can be particularly bad, or a transition day. Generally the transitions happen overnight, but I can be on a particularly bad low and suddenly I feel "the magic" of a high coming on, or I can be having a perfectly good ordinary day and the wind gets blown out of my sails and I'm crying. Generally this happens on day three.

This week I went through a bad patch - a four-day-long low, but I got really really upset on the last day of it, so I suspect what was really happening was a three day biological low followed by a one-day situational low when I happened to be on a biological high at the same time, leading to panic attacks and tantrums.

People are used to my cycles. If I'm a little sluggish at work, my boss knows wait two days and I'm liable to pull an all-nighter to make up for it. The kids know exactly when to hit me up for money.

There are a variety of bipolars. Traditional bipolar is cycling over a long period of time, at least months. My partner has a bipolar type where he's all over the place on no particularly fixed schedule.

What will help is tracking the cycles to determine what type of bipolar, the serverity, then medication and counselling. In my case, a minor mood stabilizer like Epival helps. They tried me on lithium but that's more appropriate for people with longer and wider swings.

[SpeedwayDemocrat]

11. Many diagnosed with AD/HD are bipolar

Spent three years diagnosed with AD/HD, when it was actually bipolar. ADD drugs do nothing for the bipolar swings and the side effects suck. The symptoms are too similar for most family physicians to pick out the difference. Need a psychiatrist who sees you multiple times to really judge if that's what it is. Thank God I found some help, as I was depressed to the point of suicide, thinking I just couldn't get it together and "what's wrong with me?"
Please go for help, before his angry manic phase injures you or someone you love. They really need help!

[Maraya1969]

12. You didn't say you were on a mood stabilizer - a must for

bipolars who take antidepressants. In my opinion a must for anyone who is BP. Mood stabilizers do more than just stop mania, they stop the cycle that puts you into a bad depression.

I take Lamictal and it has worked great for me.