SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information - View Single Post - Bi-Polar......Schmolar! ?? any thoughts?

TigerLili · 01-18-2009, 01:39 AM

Mental illness can be very hard to diagnose and treat correctly. My mother was diagnosed as schizophrenic since her teens and was just very recently re-evaluated as having schizophrenic affective disorder. I have been treated for depression all my life and given anti-depressants. Of course they worked to make me feel better because I'm actually bipolar (probably type 1 because I hear voices - pleasant voices, but still voices in my head talking about me eg 'oh look what she's doing now, I wonder what that is she has' etc). Anti-d's tend to trigger off mania in BPs.

I never told anyone like a doctor because the people in the spiritual group I spent time with told me that it was my 'spirit guide' or 'god' and I should just listen to see what they wanted to tell me. I wasn't well enough to know I needed help, plus I am quite highly functioning in my daily life and work. And the voices really aren't distracting or unpleasant. The main problem for me is the ultra highs and the utter lows. I

I'm either the 2nd coming of christ and the angels are singing, or googling the most lethal way to commit suicide etc. From the outside, I look and sound like I have it all together, but I really don't. I am at a point where I have agreed to take medication, to be hospitalised for stability - whatever needs to happen. I can't stay sober if I don't treat the bipolar because when I'm manic, I think that some lovely champagne would be just peachy, then in no time I'm back to getting black out drunk and taking a handful of pills every night.

I hope you get a good diagnosis and treatment plan. I encourage you to research your own symptoms, talk to mental health nurses at a community health centre or whatever - doctors don't know everything. In the early days, I was told the treatment for my depression was to get a hobby. I wanted to throw myself off a bridge, but apparently scrapbooking would fix that. About a year ago I recognised that my good times, my ups, were getting out of hand and my downs were unmanageable and at that point a psychologist diagnosed me, but it's taken me till now to do something about the medication. I'm 38 now.

01-18-2009, 01:39 AM	#4 (permalink)
TigerLili Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Australia Posts: 370 Blog Entries: 20	Mental illness can be very hard to diagnose and treat correctly. My mother was diagnosed as schizophrenic since her teens and was just very recently re-evaluated as having schizophrenic affective disorder. I have been treated for depression all my life and given anti-depressants. Of course they worked to make me feel better because I'm actually bipolar (probably type 1 because I hear voices - pleasant voices, but still voices in my head talking about me eg 'oh look what she's doing now, I wonder what that is she has' etc). Anti-d's tend to trigger off mania in BPs. I never told anyone like a doctor because the people in the spiritual group I spent time with told me that it was my 'spirit guide' or 'god' and I should just listen to see what they wanted to tell me. I wasn't well enough to know I needed help, plus I am quite highly functioning in my daily life and work. And the voices really aren't distracting or unpleasant. The main problem for me is the ultra highs and the utter lows. I I'm either the 2nd coming of christ and the angels are singing, or googling the most lethal way to commit suicide etc. From the outside, I look and sound like I have it all together, but I really don't. I am at a point where I have agreed to take medication, to be hospitalised for stability - whatever needs to happen. I can't stay sober if I don't treat the bipolar because when I'm manic, I think that some lovely champagne would be just peachy, then in no time I'm back to getting black out drunk and taking a handful of pills every night. I hope you get a good diagnosis and treatment plan. I encourage you to research your own symptoms, talk to mental health nurses at a community health centre or whatever - doctors don't know everything. In the early days, I was told the treatment for my depression was to get a hobby. I wanted to throw myself off a bridge, but apparently scrapbooking would fix that. About a year ago I recognised that my good times, my ups, were getting out of hand and my downs were unmanageable and at that point a psychologist diagnosed me, but it's taken me till now to do something about the medication. I'm 38 now.