manic depressive?

[nuts]

hello everyone

 

i was wondering if anyone here is bipolar and/or knows the symptoms? because i have been pretty messed up for a while, but im only now ready to come to terms with it and deal with it head on. i went to my doctor about 6 months ago and he was pretty dismissive of me, partly my fault though as i did not give him the whole story.

 

ive been looking for a long time at my "symptoms" and im convinced it is manic depression. obviously im no doctor! but i would like to know how anyone else out there handled it, or any other problem similar to this. would love to hear anything and everything, hearing other people handling there problems always makes others feel less alone, me included.

 

thanks to anyone who replies, much appreciated

[robowarrior]

Bi-polar isn't just being depressive, its a more like feeling like an emotional baseball in terms of severe mood swings, one time your normal, the next at the end of your means , or look at the complete list link removed here

 

Now, what is truelly important is indeed the story behind it. The things that make you depressive are the root of the problem. Medicines (read) suppress the symptoms, they do not solve it. Lets say for instance you take the anti-depression medicine for 3 years, you think you feel happy enough to quit, you quit, but the problem that initially made you depressed is still there, you will again fall into a depression, you see a problem remains to be a problem till the end of time until it gets solved. Especially if the problem comes from 'exterior' sources, then its not a brain problem.A problem that gives you depression is basically like a puzzle that needs to be solved to deal with it.

 

So for instance imagine there's nothing wrong in your life (in terms of exterior sources) everything and i mean everything is just going just fine, and you still get depressed, well then there are two options left. Either you don't have or give enough love for yourself or others, or you really do have a brain problem.

 

So tell us the WHOLE story, and you'll see its probably an exterior source that is causing you to feel depressed.

[Anna.]

My advice would be to quit trying to diagnose yourself and go tell a psychiatrist or psychologist your whole story and let them properly diagnose you. You do not have the qualifications or education or detatchment from the situation to diagnose yourself.

 

Don't get me wrong; I can relate, I've tried to self-diagnose myself for years, but I've been wrong a lot of the time, b/c I'm not qualified or educated enough to do that.

[kellbell]

Hey there,

 

I have worked with several clients whom are bi-polar or manic depressive. Also my grandfather has it as well.

 

The most classic symptoms of bi-polar are the "changing" moods. Going from being severely depressed to being manic.

 

The depressed moods are feelings of extreme sorrow, withdrawing from usual activities, not finding pleasure in things the person usually enjoys, sleeping and eating changes, feeling of severe hopelessness and meloncholy, and not uncommon, suicidal ideation or even attempts. When my grandfather had his depressive episodes, he would lock himself in his room for days and not speak to anyone...not even my grandmother.

 

The manic moods are the opposite. Extreme enegry, the person will not sleep for days, or get very little sleep, they feel excited, invigorated, like he/she is on top of the world (for no reason or not because of drugs). Also, the person has racing thoughts, talks fast. And also, the person can very irritable, pick fights. My grandfather used to do that. Out of nowhere, he would blow his top over stupid stuff. Another classic symptom of mania is the person will make irrational decisions, about money, spending, road rage, sexual behavior. My grandfather bought a HOUSE and a CAR on a whim when my grandmother was on vacation with some friends. The patient will get this bright idea about something, become very passionate about it, but never follows through. My grandfather does that as well.

 

A person can stay in the depressive moods for days and even weeks and be okay afterwards. And perhaps a few months down the road, the person may be manic. The rapid cycling between moods is very rare. There are two types of bi-polar. There is bi-polar I and bi-polar II. Bi-polar I is where the manic moods last longer than 7 days, and bi-polar II or hypomania is when the manic moods last 4 days. It is not as severe. Also, to receive a formal diagosis, the person needs to have a least one hospitalization for either the mania or because the person was suicidal or attempted suicide.

 

 

I would strongly advice you not to self diagnose. It is okay to do some research on matters but diagnosing yourself is never a good thing to do. Bi-polar is not that common and is very hard to diagnose becuase it tends to overlap with symptoms of borderline personality disorder. Also, the person needs to have these symptoms for weeks at a time in order to ger the diagnosis. If you really think something is amiss, I strongly advise you to get a referral to either a psychologist or psychiatrist. Good luck with everything and I hope you feel better soon.

[englishwoman41]

Hello, I am suffering from this and was diagnosed about 10 years ago before anyone had really heard about it in the United Kingdom. Mine started when i hit puberty in about 1976 but everyone just put it down to me being shy or having a hormonal thing.

I went through my teen years as a bit of a rebel but didnt do drugs or sleeping around, i mostly shut myself away in my room for weeks on end and burnt joss sticks and listened to music and then, as if by magic, i would go out clubbing and have all my friends come to stay and do crazy keep fit stuff like running out in the rain with cans of beans in my jacket and 2 pound bags of suger to help me get fit whilst i ran.This would last for around a month and then i would be back to staying in my room for another month.

My father was exactly the same as me but as he got older he was more reclusive.

I got to about 22 and by this stage i had travelled all around the world and had lived like a gypsy going through stages of reclusing in my room and then jumping on a plane and thinking nothing of living on a Greek Island for 9 months eating cheese and bread and picking grapes etc.

I always had a feeling that i wasnt "quite right" but i put this down to a number of factors and ignored the real problem getting drunk when i felt down.My friends , and i had a hell of a lot of them, were amazed at me and loved being with me as they thought i was a crazy girl and never dull. But i would flit all the time from being a total social crazy chick to a recluse.

I got married eventually and then had a baby. She was about 3 days old and i went hysterical in hospital and completely crashed into some kind of psychosis.I was given prozac and had a health visitor and because i was so down, none of my friends or family would visit as they were scared of me.

I managed to bring my baby up and got a little better and came off the prozac and went back to work.

About 6 months into work i started to get wild panic attacks and walked out of 3 jobs screaming that money made the world go around and i wanted no part of it. All people were evil and i hated the world.

My daughter is now in her teens and i had to give up work alltogether. My husband couldnt cope with me and started to get violent with me and so i split with him. My dad died and i since found out that he had also been suffering with bi polar but it went un recognised at the time.

The entire family have put me in a box that says dont go near as she is mad.I have been on various drugs to stabilize me but i find that my moods are made worse in the summertime and im fine during winter.

I have a fantastic psychiatrist on the NHS in England and she is from Russia so is like a god send.

Dont know if this is of any help but you did ask lol.

If you do feel like any of the above then go and get help, please dont sit in silence x

[englishwoman41]

I also cant cope with any form of pressure and i go to bed for upto 2 weeks at a time and hibernate. I close the world out when im in this phase and refuse to open any mail or answer the phone or doorbell. When im in this phase i will wash and dress in my pjs and just space out and think about how evil the world is and at one point, i did take an overdose. I dont eat and only drink water and snack on dry crackers.

My moods are ok at the moment as its winter and im settled but as soon as spring comes, im back down. Winter for me is so vivid and real and has so much clarity, its like a beautiful time.

I am on sodium valproate and venlafaxine at the moment but i refuse to take the sodium valproate in wintertime.

Winter for me is a new dawn of energy that sparkles.I dont want to ignore the beauty of winter whilst drugged up.

I am also Irish and i think that a lot of this new discovered mental illness is a sign of the fact that im a Celt and Celts are quite pure in bloodline but suffer a lot from mental illness and drink related problems. Im not into new age stuff and i read the bible every day. I am also a terrible perfectionist and hate anyone who tells bs. I have an in built radar and its as if i have a 6th sense sometimes but i hate it.

[englishwoman41]

I hate to go on about this but i may aswell spill. I have never gone out spending but i did used to suffer from rage at the world and when i was around 17, i wanted to go to Germany and kill Germans as i had a a terrible angst about Gemany regarding the holocaust. Im not Jewish, im an Irish Roman catholic but i felt as if i should go and get revenge on Germans for what they did to the Jews.

When i was at the beach in say Spain or Greece and i saw a German, i wanted to drown them and obviously, i never acted upon this but i could never be around German people without feeling this way. Im fine now but at the time i couldnt cope with it. It wasnt racism but more of an unexplained feeling inside and not something i was raised to feel as a family as my family often went to Germany and had lots of friends in Germany but i wanted to get revenge for what they had done to the Jews.

[englishwoman41]

Sorry if i upset anyone but im talking from the soul here.