MattyBoy

Okay so it's 3.00 am where I am, and about half an hour ao the police were round at hour house restraining my sister who was screaming obscenities at them and being aggressive. The inpolitically correct and insensitive term is she went bat **** crazy. She was recently diagnosed with bipolar and has been stable for 18 months but some effexor anti depressant has apparently triggered an episode of extrem pe and I mean EXTREME manic episode. I am worried sick and have stupidly just caved in to take 15 mg diazepam (my drug of choice was always booe but quit that. While a go nd don't want to to get back to it but the vevents of tonight pushed me so close to the edge that I had to take some valium. I had to physically restrain her and she was shouting random names out and attacking my mum and th police.mshes been taken away in a police van and my mother has gone with her and I think she needs to be sectioned immediately.

Any advice, support, word ps of wisdom who have experience mania would be appreciated...

dox

I have experienced mania several times. One time I was carted off by the police.

Two good things:
They took me to where I could get help and come down.
The mania, like other traumas in this life, passed.

I look back on those episodes from a relatively stable life with wife and kids.

Your sister is getting help, whether she knows it or not.

If I could give you any advice, it would be:
Look after yourself.
Mind how you go.

~dox

MattyBoy

My sisters currently in hospital safe and on some tranquillisers coming down. Can I ask... How did u manage to recover and do you feel you have a good quality of life? I just want the best for my sister and for her to help the illness so she doesn't have to go through the ups and downs.

JHF3

You can't blame a bad reaction to a drug on "bipolar", bipolar is just a figure of speech to describe behavior , feelings ect and is not backed up by any medical science what so ever. That was pinned on me once.

Maybe call a lawyer ,

In late November 2012 a jury in the Supreme Court of the State of New York awarded $1.5 million malpractice verdict to the family of a man who committed suicide while taking psychiatric drugs, including antdepressants Dr. Breggin was the medical expert for the plaintiffs...

This doctor has a web page, his name is Peter Breggin.

Threshold

My experience.

Various anti depressants tend to throw me into manic or hypomanic states. It is imperative that I discuss that with any prescribing drs so a med can be chosen that won't have that effect.

My manias are more dangerous to my life, finances, relationships and general well being than my depressions ever are.

I find bi-polar a condition that can be managed some of the time, but so far nothing has been able to keep me from having to deal with ups and downs. There has been no magic formula of meds, lifestyle, etc etc that completely prevents episodes.

Manias have fun aspects for me, and it was difficult for me to want to cooperate with treatment that was going to rob me of my highs, because it seemed unfair that I was going to have to experience my lows....but my highs did more damage and they seem to be the thing I most have to avoid.

Episodes like your sister's ultimately led to me choosing to forgo the highs because the danger outweighed the fun. Too much collateral damage.

My manic episodes have become more pronounced as I age.

dox

I was diagnosed at the age of 22.

Bipolar, or Manic Depression as they called it back then, is a valid medical diagnosis. There is also strong scientific evidence that it is genetic in origin. In my case my father and his brother suffered from it and family history suggests that their mother had it as well. My uncle committed suicide during a manic episode.

Today I do have a very good quality of life. When I was diagnosed, about 34 years ago, I was put on lithium. Lithium does not work for everyone and the side effects can be difficult to accept. Like Threshold, giving up the highs can be difficult to accept as well. For this reason I had two more visits to the hospital for failing to take my lithium and becoming manic as a result.

I must say that neither lithium nor psychotherapy is responsible for my current quality of life. For, you see, over the years I managed to drink enough alcohol to not be able to stop on my own -- ie. alcoholic. Over 8 years ago, I joined the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, got myself a sponsor and worked through the 12-step programme. This has done me more good than any psychotherapist. But, to be fair, I was less than honest with my mental health professionals. AA's programme of recovery asks for rigorous honesty. I am now usually able to be that honest, but none of us are perfect.

And I am still taking lithium. I still get highs and lows. I imagine that my current highs and lows are on a par with those of "normal" people. I don't know.

What I do know is that Life is . . .
life.

Abraham Lincoln said: "Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be."

When I first read that quote, I thought that there was no way that it could apply to me. I thought that I was simply not "most folks". Now I am not so sure. If I work for my, and others', happiness it seems attainable. Not always, mind you, but most of the time.
I can live with that.

Dyzio

I beg you, these things are just in the U.S.. Anyway, diagnosed person knows that enter into mania. Only in the mind of a blissful state.