:cool: i've been feeling pretty good for the past couple of weeks. a bit more energized, motivated to get things done, happier, felt better then i have in a long time. i don't feel that i am hypomanic although i don't know if i would know it or not. i have been more active( so much so that my body has been acking because i'm not used to it ) ,doing more house work then usual, yard work, playing with the grandkids, and going through stuff to prepare for a yard sale. the thing is i am not sleeping more then 6 hrs a night which is a bit strange for me, i am spending more then i should and also binge eating again. i'm driving my husband crazy by talking all the time. ( i believe that this is nothing new, but he says that i'm talking more than usual). does this sound like i'm hypomanic to anyone. i hope not because i had been feeling better until just tonight.

:confused: out of the blue i started to feel a bit depressed for no reason. i'm feeling lonely even though my husband is in bed just in the other room. i feel lost, like crying, afraid of the future and what's going to happen to me, won't i ever feel better? all my life i didn't care about my health until now. i know that my health is going down hill unless i lose weight and even knowing this i can't seem to get things under control. this is very depressing for me. there is nothing a pdoc can do to make you feel better except give you more meds. what good is that? knowing what bipolar is and what to expect doesn't always help when you are feeling blue.


harmony :dizzy:

Sure sounds like how I get when I'm hypomanic. I get so much accomplished, sleep less, and I do beleive I may even binge eat, too. I do hope you start to feel better now and it's not the start of a depression, although it sounds that way. Fortunately for me, my depressed period lasts for just a few days and usually aren't so bad.
Hope you feel better soon.

It amazes me that as long as this illness and I have been enemies sharing a common body that I don't always recognize the stages exactly. I know or read the primer but apparently missed a few key words. The jist being to be depressed or manic (including hypomanic) you don't have all the symptoms. So that changed things when I understood what I read instead of just reading it. Yeap I have to agree with what it sounds like....so take care of you and I hope if you arrive at the door of depression it doesn't last too long or get too bad. You know the drill with talking to pdocs and so forth so I won't reinerate that one. lol If this had sound I could record once and hit play. lol So take care of you!

Eme

thanks alot for responding to my post emeraldeyes114 and always smiling. i'm not really sure that i liked your responses because i kind of liked the way that i've been feeling. i have a pdoc appointment on the 12th so i guess i'll mention it to him then. i wish that there was a way that we could just stay hypomanic without getting any worse,it would be really great.
as for the depression, that is usually my biggest problem. although i have to say this last one was only for that evening, thank god, i felt better in the morning and not depressed since.

thanks for the input

harmony

i know what you mean the hypomania for the most part is just a natural feel good moment but for me the fall or worse yet a manic episode just becomes the killjoy. I though can't sleep if I am hypomanic and i go full blown that is even worse.

Sorry that it was sort of kill joy really. It wasn't meant that way just an observation for both of us. I recently didn't recognize exactly what it meant to be depressed and so didn't know that often I have been so just didn't have all the usual stuff to go with it. It sort didn't make me very cheerful either.

Taking time to ask is meaningful and educational as well for more then just you. I mean there are newbies (i still am one on a lot of areas that deal with Bipolar myself so don't mean anyone in particular) who have similar things they wonder might be afraid to ask. ;) So it is good that you did because you got a better perhaps idea of something and hopefully somebody else might have too.

Ok sorry this is getting to be jabby sort of night for me. Yeap another hypo in the works. Bummer need to go to bed early too! So take care of you and do the best you can.

Eme

PS-the smiles are free of charge and i like handing those out when I can lol

Harmony06, what you described is exactly how I feel. I dealt with depression for years and am finally off all SSRI's and only take Lamictal. However, I've only been on lamictal for about 3-4 months and have consistenly had to increase the dosage. I'm on 300mg now and have a feeling when I go back to my pdoc in about 3 weeks, she'll bump me to 400mg.

Does anyone take more than 400mg? If not, that's when I worry that she'll start the cocktail of meds and that scares me a little.

I did get up and exercise this morning and I think it may be a good way to get myselft moving. The problem I face is that I seem to crash sometimes at night and feel sorry for myself. That's when I wish I could go running ;) or get on my "gazelle" machine that usually just sits there....but then I'll wake up the family - AND, I guess I realize that exercise at night is not really normal! And here's the funny thing - I hate exercise - have never done it regularly and yet there's a pull. I often think it's similar to my son who has ADHD, he knows he has to burn off energy and gets outside and rollerblades, etc. Maybe I should get a pair and follow him around??!!:dizzy:

:) hi all, i've just spoken to my pdoc today and he said that it's very typical for me to feel the way that i have been, due to the fact that he had increased my wellbutrin to 200mg per day. so now he has decreased it back to 150mg per day, and increased my depakote to 1250mg and i still take my 100mg of lamictal. he told me that this will help me sleep better and help to calm me down a little. also the past few days i had been feeling very depressed again so i was able to speak to him about that also. i think that he said the next time i go in he may try bringing up my lamictal doses. he just didn't want to do too much at once.

:blob_fire kwj001, sounds like getting up and excercising might be a good idea. i really need to try that. if only i'd follow through with it. i'm deffinitly going to give it a try when my husband goes back to work next week. he's on vacation this week.

didn't mean to carry on forever

have a good one

harmony ;)

Hi Harmony,

I'm glad you talked to your pdoc and that s/he seems to be on top of things.It is hard to remember that it can take a long time to fine-tune your meds. It is common to get to a certain point where you're feeling a lot better and to assume that's as good as it's going to get...but you shouldn't settle until you feel like your old self (or better :D ). This can be achieved with a little tweaking. Give each med change a chance to work...but if you're not feeling well, keep talking to your pdoc.

How's your son doing? You haven't mentioned him in awhile. Did he ever find a pdoc??

Hang in there!
xxxtsohl :wave:

hi tshol

:yawn: my son is still on a waiting list for a pdoc. my pdoc is working on getting him in with one of his colleages. in the meantime my son is still taking 500mg depakote a day, he says that it seems to be helping somewhat for at work, but at home it isn't working at all. he has a very stressful homelife.

spoke to my pdoc about him while i was there and he double checked to make sure that the other pdoc still had him on his waiting list. he told me that they are trying to work him in and as soon as they have a spot he'll give my son an evaluation. i hoping that this won't take too long but knowing that it's in the works helps.

tshol, thanks for inquiring about my son. it meant alot to me that you remembered. :angel:

harmony :wave:

Hi Harmony,

I would keep bringing up your son with your pdoc. Some of these guys are really absent-minded when it comes to mundane things like appointments, etc.:D Hopefully your son will get an appointment soon. In the meantime, I hope depakote is working for him.

Have you tried taking any supplements in addition to your meds? Research is showing that Omega 3 supplements are helpful in some cases, but you'd want to check with your pdoc before starting it.

Regular exercise is also very helpful. Even walking a half hour each day is beneficial. Also remember to drink lots of water, especially as the weather gets warmer. I know you know all these little tips, but it doesn't hurt to be reminded!! I need to remind myself, too!

Hope you had a nice Father's Day!

Take care,
Tsohl :wave:

hey tshol, i have started taking fish oil which has omega 3 and omega 6 in it. although i didn't talk to my pdoc about it at all. is there any reason this may cause me any harm. i started taking it because of my bad memory, my brother takes it and swears by it. i only started it about a month ago and already see a slight improvement. should this be mentioned to my pdoc?

harmony :wave:

Hello Harmony,

Yes, you should mention it to your pdoc. Without going into a lot of details, it is my understanding that depending on what else you are taking, fish oil and omega 3 supplements can induce a manic episode. It is one of the main supplements that is used in an attempt to treat bipolar individuals who are not taking any neuropharmaceuticals. It affects the same part of the brain that is targeting by the meds used in treating BP, so in affect, you could be getting too much with the addition of fish oil. This would be comparable to taking too much of one of your meds. But this is just what I've read. It may not be correct information. Just to be safe, mention it to you pdoc before he starts readjusting all your other meds!!

Hi KWJ
I take 200 mg Lamictal- that's supposed to be "the therapeutic dose" but I've heard some people here do take more. It's a great med for me!
I also take Cymbalta and Zyprexa (the drug I love to hate...)
I'd follow Dr's orders and watch for the rash... and any other side-effects it may bring on. Hang in there!

hi all, this is just an update on how i'm doing since my increase on the depakote. i don't know if this is good or bad, but since the increase to 1250mg per day, i feel very mellow. is it suppose to effect you this way? i used to get right out of bed in the morning when i woke up but now i just lay there relaxing for another hour or two. when i'm up during the day i'm in no hurry to get things done. it will get done when i get to it, no big deal. i'm much more layed back and mellow, i just don't know if its gone overboard the other way now. why is it that nothing is ever clear cut?

the other thing is, and i started a new post with this, maybe i shouldn't have,but since my depakote has been increased i've had two nose bleeds. i don't know if this may be from the depakote or my high blood pressure, i'm just wondering if i should mention it to my doc and if so which one? having more then one doc is confusing because sometimes i don't know which one to speak to.

all right, i'm babbling now

harmony ;)