Diagnosed with bipolar??? - Bipolar Disorder Message Board

Paul387 · 09-26-2009, 07:37 PM

Hey all...my doctor thinks I have bipolar now...well maybe who knows really??? I had major depression in highschool and now I'm 21 and I feel like I've got so much energy that I can run five miles nonstop. I don't really feel a "switch" though that manic depressants have. It's mostly just an intense pressured headache that lasts forever... My dad was an alcoholic when he was my age, and I refuse to medicate myself with that.

I'm pretty manic at work too. I work in a fast food resturaunt and whenever I go to the back to do the dishes, I do them like a mad dog. Like sometimes I'll slam the dishes and stuff.

At first they misdiagnosed me with some anxiety disorder because I ran to the ER during the summer and had blood, urine, and stool tests done and even a CT scan and nothing showed up out of the ordinary. Blood pressure is normal, no weight gain, etc. I was on Paxil and Ativan at the same time and then recently my doctor told me to cut the Ativan and he switched me to zoloft. Well I did that and didn't sleep for 3 days. Now, I'm on Depakote ER, 1000 mg, which I don't really feel an effect from. Instead of 1 mg Ativans I was on, the doctor switched me to .5 mg xanax. It seems like the xanax is the only thing that makes me feel normal...

Am I shooting in the dark or is there anyone else out there suffering from this?

Arby428 · 09-26-2009, 10:01 PM

Do you have any lows as well as your highs?

Paul387 · 09-26-2009, 11:05 PM

uh not really lows as well as highs. but i have crazy pressure type headaches off and on throughout the day. The only thing that makes me feel somewhat normal is the downers like I said. I only had extreme lows and suicidal tendancies in highschool.

gymjunkie1 · 09-28-2009, 02:07 AM

I started off that way similarly. I was so depressed in high school, i would sit outside the class abosutly balling my eyes out day in day out for no particular reason, rarely attending class, many a time sitting in counsellers rooms.
being out of school for only 2 years now all of a sudden i was absoulty hyper tp say the least. I isolated myself to satisfy my energy needs. I would exercise 4-5 hours everyday, 7 days a week, (this includes high intensity, and no bathroom breaks) and still manage to get up at 5.30am in the morning and sometimes struggle to get to sleep around 10 or 11 in the evening.
I was prescibed medication for the "depression" which i did not find effective and didnt take them.
Besides the excessive exercise almost everyone described me as a young kid, endless energy, non stop.
I even won an award at work which was the 'buzzing around the shop as if i was on drugs award'.

I have done every single medical test under the sun, yet my heart seems to race extremly fast at times like im going to have a heart attack, and on the other scale occasionally i feel so down its insane.

ONly about a month ago i went to a psychiatrist once and i was diagnosed with bipolar. I have been taking epilum since then.
I can honestly say the last 3 weeks, i have felt so normal. Yes i may still have that energy, not to the same degree tho, but thats just personality.

The real thing is with all of this, whether i am truly bipolar or not is the question. The meds make me feel fine. and thats all i know.
How long im happy to take the meds for is a diffrent question.

hope that helps

Imadeit · 10-06-2009, 10:56 PM

Hello,

I was 19 when I was 1st Dx with BPD. I felt alone and scared my family agreed that I needed to be hospitalized for the illness

For me this was a 6 month treatment that was horrible, yet the best thing that has ever happened to me. I was learned that yes BPD is at times a burden, however it has it perks if it is worked with. I started treatment 9 years ago and started to learn how to work with it about 4 years ago,

It is my opinion that to many time people count on medication alne to solve the problem, yet the truth is, there is some under lying issues that has never been resolved. I learned that I can't blame anything for being or having BPD disorder, I also learned that just because I have this disorder I am the only person that can control my reactions. I guess what I am saying is hang in there, because it will get better the longer you work on it. I hope it helped.