hi i'm new here i frequent the ed boards. I've have bulimia for a long time and trying to break the cycle and eat normally - which is difficult.
anyway, i've been diagnosed with Bipolar disorder since last december and i'm currently taking venaflaxine 112.5mg and seroquel 50mg...i know compared to many here my doses are low <i'm cool with that> today though has been a shocker. it feels like i don't belong in my own body. i am sooooo spaced out and trippy....my body feels weird. movements seem exgerated and slow i hate feeling this way. does anyone else feel the same, occasionally?? how do you cope when you feel this way???

i don't feel manic, but i don't feel depressed either...just very spaced out.

I get like that, but for a different reason. It's called depersonalization- yours is most likely attributed to the atypical anti-psychotics you're on, but mine is just a symptom of my severe anxiety disorders (OCD, GAD, and panic attacks). Like today for example, I had a few bouts of depersonalization where I'd be walking and I literally didn't know where I was. It's like "walking through a dream", and though I know it's me walking, I feel like I'm in someone else's body just making them go through the motions and walking in a place that just randomly seems unrecognizable...Is this how you feel? Good luck, God bless, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask! :angel:
-GatsbyLuvr1920-

:wave: hi gatsbyluvr, yes that is exactly how i felt. Depersonalization! man i have alot to learn {i'm wanting to complete my degree in psychology}. It is quiet scary feeling like that, you aren't in complete control and there is nothing you can do to stop it...horrible. I wasn't aware that the anti-psychotic's produced this type of feeling, is it a side-effect?? or is it more neurological??

thankyou for your help and advice i really appreciate it, I will be here a bit more to learn and self-help.
:angel: god bless you too :angel:

I'm not an expert on ALL of the side effects of atypical anti-psychotics, but unless you don't have any co-existing anxiety disorders, and if you're consistently taking your meds (severe anxiety can be a sign of a mixed episode), then that's what I bet it is. Yes, it is pretty strange...What do you want to do in psychology? I'm a college freshman and a neuroscience major, and I want to do neuropsychological research to cure all mental illness, or at least find better treatments! Write back soon! :angel:
-GatsbyLuvr1920-

you have got me thinking now about a mixed episode...i did have a look into depersonalization and deresonalization yes i could relate to the explanations. I started my degree 5 years ago, but after my first year my father died and it's taken this long to heal from that. Two years ago i had two major "break downs" and was in severe depression for 18mths...this has been the first year i am really well enough to get back into study i've missed it so much.

I can see myself helping other's that have gone through simular life experiances to me, thereby using my knowledge and life experiance to become a psychologist that really understands - because i've been there. I'd like to work with children and adolescants and their families.

Neurological psychology is an area that i love too ... it's a core component for forensic's my first love. It's easy to work through this degree in the way that it's a subject that i find so facinating that i'm just waiting to find out more. I also love research...seems we have a bit in common.
{i apologise if this post is a bit garbaled, i've taken my med's and feeling a little sleepy}

post again gatsbyluvr
xxx

Hey, shiningstar! Yes, it certainly does seem as though we have a lot in common: a love for physiological psychology, having to deal with mental illness while also dealing with college...Not really the best way to have a bond, but hey, it's something, right?! :D lol! A mixed episode, in case you didn't already know, is a combination of both manic and depressive symptoms. The classic case is a "tired but wired" feeling. I've had this before, and it could very well have been a mild mixed episode related to my possible cyclothymia...Anyway, it's as if you feel very revved up on the inside, usually irritable and anxious, but you physically can't move on the outside, and you just feel "down". I usually get this most often with my really bad panic attacks- I want to flee, but I'm frozen with fear. Also, some nights when I stay up all night (again, possible hypomania), it's like my body is tired, but my mind is still buzzing and very alert, and I know that I couldn't possibly fall asleep if I tried! That's EXACTLY how I feel, too! I want to use my knowledge and my personal tormenting experiences to help others so they won't have to suffer through the crap I've had to. Write back soon! :angel:
-GatsbyLuvr1920-

Gatsbyl,
Hi What meds do you take? How many days do your sleepless nights go for?
It sounds like I have been going through but everyone is telling me it is anxiety.
JB

Hey, JB! Actually, I'm not bipolar- it's just highly suspected by me and the doctors (by me for about three years) that I'm cyclothymic because I fit the description perfectly. I'm not one of those who believes she has every freakin' disorder she reads about, though! I've done extensive research on bipolar disorder because it interests me, so over the past three years, I just suspect it more and more... :rolleyes: Anyway, I'm weaning off Zoloft for my OCD and severe panic attacks and starting Prozac this Saturday. The psychiatrist here at my college is thinking about putting me on a VERY low dose of the mood stabilizer Lamictal, which I think is a good idea! ;) So, here's why, in general, I think I'm cyclothymic: I've always been very moody since age four, I can literally been irritable one minute and giddy the next, I get overexcited and effusive when talking about certain things, I can go a whole night without sleep and be fully functional the next day, I have never required sleep (I consistently get less than six hours every night)- five hours is the same as eight to me, and I have cyclical days where I'll be happy one minute, to the point of being fidgety, excited, talkative, louder, etc. to being depressed, irritable, and generally annoyed with people the next hour. Add this nonsense to my extreme anxiety and OCD, and you have an idea of how great dorm life is with all of these immature teens bawling over getting a "B"... :mad: Write back soon! :angel:
-GatsbyLuvr1920-

:wave: hi gastbyluvr
Can i give you a bit of advice., when your posting I feel you should state that you don't have Bipolar disorder, that your a psych student that is interested.
When you give - your opinions - some ppl might take them as gospel, and some may feel that what your saying is *right* and it might be, but without being registered you are basing your opinion on loose fact. There is no life experiance to draw from, just what other ppl with the disorder say, feel etc... your taking a huge risk with the mental wellbeing of other's that could be unstable or vulnerable.....just ACT with CAUTION. :angel:

xxx
Shining_Star

shiningstar- I totally agree with you, but, if you read my past posts, I never stated that I WAS bipolar. I always used the words "possible" and "suspicion" because I know that I haven't been officially diagnosed. However, I HAVE done a lot of research on it, and I can see the similarities. Again, I know I'm not bipolar, but cyclothymia is VERY mild, so of course I can't relate to those of you who are bipolar I and II. Still, whenever I suspect that I have a disorder and I do extensive research on it, I'm usually right. After all, that's how I discovered what OCD was in the first place, and after years of research to convince myself, I turned out to be right. Yes, I have symptoms of cyclothymia, but that doesn't mean that I'm 100% convinced that I have it- I still read information and compulsively read symptoms and stories online, and obviously, people who are bipolar II are in a much worse state than I am and I have no idea what they're going through, but my feelings were very similar to real-life descriptions of cyclothymics. I never would have even said that I was cyclothymic if I hadn't recently read a book about it, the real-life descriptions, and had a third psychiatrist tell me that it was possible. Over the years, I have tried and tried to figure out what was wrong with me- I don't believe that I have every single thing I read- but when I first began to suspect OCD, I continually read over symptoms and ironically doubted whether I had it at all by reading one description. I researched bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, Asperger's, panic disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and a myriad of other illnesses to try to see if one of them were responsible. I do have a lot of simlar characteristics of Asperger's, but I don't have the lack of social skills, the same way that I have a lot of characteristics of cyclothymia, maybe not enough to actually have the disorder, but definitely more than most of the population. I'm sorry if I offended you, but I honestly can't stand people who go on these boards and "claim" that they have bipolar disorder because they're "sad" or have OCD because they like things to be "orderly", so I would never try to be like that. I'm not simply a "psych student that's interested." It has gone far beyond that, believe me! lol! :D Even supposing I don't have cyclothymia, everything that I say regarding bipolar disorder, be it the classifications, the medications, the symptoms, the impact on families, etc., is all fact. I'm a walking dictionary on mental illness, and I have read all of this from either online sources or "The Bipolar Survival Guide." I only post on the mental illness boards because that's the only field that I KNOW what I'm talking about. I know I'm not a licensed psychiatrist or anything, but when it comes to abnormal psychology, I know my stuff- and I never learned ANY of it in a psych class, but on my own time. I even know more about some things than my physio psych professor! ;) (He didn't remember what the brand name of valproic acid was one day, so I politely told him, "Depakote or Depakene.") Even if I didn't have ANY mental illnesses, including OCD and panic attacks, I still would offer my help on these boards because I know that I know what I'm talking about- very few college freshman who are psych majors know that OCD is caused by a dysfunctional/overactive basal ganglia (specifically the caudate nucleus, as opposed to the putamen and globus pallidus), thalamus, and orbitofrontal cortex, or that lithium was discovered to be useful in bipolar disorder during testing of disolving uric acid in the salt, or that people who are "ultra-radian cyclers" change between mania and depression in a period of 24 hours...I'm not trying to be arrogant, but I just want to prove to you that I do know what I'm talking about; I apologize again, and hope that you understand what I meant. God bless and write back soon! :angel:
-GatsbyLuvr1920-