Bi - Polar and 15 little questions.

I went to my Doctors office yesterday. I've been going regularly for about 3 months now.

My first diagnosis was that I was depressed and a drug addict. No questions asked - my mom went in with me and said 'My daughter is a drug addict - she's depressed'. Doctor put me on Teva Trazodone and Wellbutrin. I noticed no improvement. Other than my own determination to quit as best I could the drugs and drinking.

As I said, I went back yesterday, I told her I didn't think things were working. My doctor had me fill out a form - it was 13 "yes/no" questions, and two questions about other members in my family.

I filled it out, she looked at it and wrote down a number - flipped the page over and referred to the back of the paper. (Which I wish I would have looked at when I had it >_

hey,i would love to see the 15 questions that decided you was bi polar
can you repeat them??
thanks...
seems strange that they diagnosed you like that

Originally posted by princessgrey


I don't have cancer, but do they have you fill out 15 questions about that too - and then off to chemo?!

Lamotrigine and Co-Queatapine (antipsychotics) are not chemotherapy, they're medication for treating bi-polar and seizures. If you have bi-polar the doctor was right to prescribe you with these medications but I would seek another opinion before taking pills as there can be severe side effect and if you stop taking anti-depressants and are bi-polar you can be a suicide risk as the withdrawals from those can send you into deep depression.

Wow, that sounds highly unethical and irrational to me. Yes, she should have sent you to a psychiatrist.

I probably have cyclothymia (bipolar 3), but have it under control for the most part. How old are you? What I can say is that most people with these "disorders" simply operate differently than most. It seems some of their brain regions are compensating for others being underdeveloped, and so some are barely activated, while others are on hyperdrive. It just takes more years for them to level out is all.

I was much worse when I was younger, but at 29 have just a few meltdowns each year rather than at least a couple a week. As a child, it was practically every day.

Are you a major threat to anyone? If not...might be best to get a second opinion.

reply to post by princessgrey


Depending on the questions, the diagnoses could have been at least started on the right track, but, I think your personal physician should have referred you to a specialist......or a psychiatrist.

There are some standardized tests for help diagnose this, but a diagnoses is a combination of several things, not just your answers to some questions.

WEBMD SAYS YOU GOT CANCER

[color=mediumorchid]I went to visit my general practitioner a few years ago.

At the time, I was a college student, new mom for the second time, and the baby had severe colic. I was stressed to say the least.

He asked me 3 questions and decided that I was depressed and gave me a script for celexa. I took it for a week and it made me not care about anything. I didn't like the way it made me feel, which is why I stopped taking it.

The questions were something like..

'Do you ever feel overwhelmed?'

'Stressed out?'

'Tired?'

What new mother isn't any of those things at least some of the time? Especially one with a colicky baby and demanding classes at college???

I would get a second opinion from a professional that is trained in that field, instead of just a GP.

Just my two cents.

I was prescribed olanzepine for bipolar. I've only had one psycosis so far, but im hoping I get to experience another. I took the meds for 2 weeks which was successfull in bringing me back down to earth.

ATS is the worst when your having a psycosis, i reccommend staying away.

reply to post by princessgrey

Yep, that's not only fishy but indicative of our "mental health" system. I used to work a job that had me seeing "clients" of the judicial system both adult & juvenile on a daily basis.

A number of them were diagnosed and prescribed in the same manner you apparently were. From my position, it looked like many of them had MORE problems AFTER starting the various anti-psychotics & anti-depressives.

Plus: The Doctors/Psychs were constantly changing meds and doses. That often seemed to make matters worse.

When the Doctors finally got what they were looking for, all I saw was over-medicated clients with a diminished ability to function in reality.

My heart really went out to them.

Do these drugs ever work? Maybe, but only with a proper diagnosis and NOT when they are used as a "catch-all."

Good luck to you. I personally know addictions can be rough, but I also know that most addictive personalities are stunning minds and hearts when they clean up.

reply to post by mileslong54


I understand what you're saying - but I wasn't saying they were for treating cancer. I guess I was making a joke, wasn't well received. I apologize.

reply to post by unityemissions


I'm 24 years old.

If by danger to anyone you mean homicidal or something, absolutely not.

reply to post by princessgrey


The fact of the matter is that to truly acquire an acurate psychological diagnosis, it is extremely--*extremely*--expensive, and insurances do not cover this type of testing. The process is a lot more involved than a list of 15 questions.

reply to post by cantsee4looking


I can't remember all of them and obviously not the correct wording but here's the best I can do:

1. Are you hyper for long periods of time?
2. Do you go on shopping sprees?
3. Do you call or visit people at inappropriate times of the night?
4. Have you been unable to hold a job, family problems or trouble with the law?
5. Do you do things that others would consider strange or 'not normal'?
6. Do you have trouble sleeping - but feel hyper and full of energy in the morning?
7. Do you have occasional times of feeling extremely self confident?
8. To the questions you've answered yes to - have you had more than one occur at the same time?
9. Does anyone in your family suffer from manic depressive, depression or other mental illnesses?

Sorry, I can't remember anymore - if I do, I'll post them.


All of these things seem like I can connect them to other 'illnesses' or just being 24 years old - why do these things automatically get me two prescriptions - no 'real' questions asked?

reply to post by princessgrey


I personally think that the majority of planet Earth's inhabitants are bi-polar. We all have our highs and our lows.

My suggestion is to go to a mental health professional....perhaps one that takes a holistic approach and find out what they have to say. You may very well have been misdiagnosed...a second opinion is always a good thing to get.

Do you happen to have the questions? I'd like to know what determines a bi-polar state of mind...

reply to post by Shotyoung


I posted the ones I could remember a couple comments up.

You need to decide for yourself what you are ok with putting in your body. I'm not you so I'll give you my little story, maybe you will get something from it, maybe not:


When I was 14 I began to get really depressed to the point of having suicidal thoughts. I did experience the low's of depression and the manic highs of, temporary excitement/happiness(?), or not being depressed.

I eventually went to a psychiatrist and was diagnosed with bi-polar (I was put on numerous diff meds)...I believe my dad 'has bi-polar' as well. Anyway up until this point in my life I was fine. Since going to the doctor and being diagnosed, my lows were lower and highs were higher. At one point a psychiatrist suggested I had a mild form of tourettes syndrome: I left the doctors office blurting out random verbal expressions believing I had tourettes (keep in mind I was very depressed and confused).

Anyway it got worse after that and I ended up going to a 'locked treatment center' as they call it, because my mother was having a hard time living with me. Extremely structured and extremely 'therapeutic' 3 hours of group therapy a day. I stayed at this place for 7 months then was sent to a boarding school for 'problem kids' for 1 year. Believe it or not this was good for me...anyway back to my point: I eventually realized that which was causing my depression was internal in the sense that it was something that needed to be worked out on a mental level.

Some time after returning home, about 2 years, I realized I didn't NEED this medication they put me on (seroquel). Because I know my body and mind better than any doctor. So I began to gradually ease myself off the medication (VERY SLOWLY). It took about 3 months and I was off.

And you know what...I was not only completely fine and happy....I felt BETTER being off the seroquel (which honestly makes you feel like a zombie).

So here I am now off all meds completely fine and healthy...If you told me I had bi-polar I would laugh...because I know I don't.

I feel like there are too many types of depression to just treat them all the same....there are many many many different causes and they should FIRST be treated on a mental level...All In all I have the strong belief that people with depression DO NOT NEED MEDICATION and never will if they find the root cause and HEAL IT, which is hard work don't get me wrong...its a kind of mental re-programming.

I don't know whats going on in your situation but my advise it to be wise and trust yourself first. Don't get pulled into the beleif of being something your not, because you will manifest that beleif.

I am not saying do or dont take meds, I am just saying ^this^ is my experience and be wise...


P.S. Many medications are PHYSICALLY addicting...and are not something to play with, the way some doctors play with them. If I skipped a dose of seroquel I would not be able to sleep at all and would experience symptoms of withdrawal.

Originally posted by princessgrey
reply to post by cantsee4looking

 

I can't remember all of them and obviously not the correct wording but here's the best I can do:

1. Are you hyper for long periods of time?

Yes.

2. Do you go on shopping sprees

No.

3. Do you call or visit people at inappropriate times of the night?

Inappropriate?! From when to when? Doesn't this depend on a two way agreement, as in...some people are good during these hours, and others at...other hours? What if I work a night shift? Inappropriate would be morning hours to early afternoon, I would think. If they don't want to answer me, they don't have to.

4. Have you been unable to hold a job, family problems or trouble with the law?

How many people could honestly answer no to this? Most would fit at least one of these criteria.

5. Do you do things that others would consider strange or 'not normal'?

Oh my, what an idiotic question. EVERYONE does something that someone else would consider weird.

6. Do you have trouble sleeping - but feel hyper and full of energy in the morning?

It's not a problem, I just don't require a lot of sleep most of the time.

7. Do you have occasional times of feeling extremely self confident?

Yes. After I've accomplished something which makes me feel I have the right to be a superstar for a short while. Isn't that sane?

8. To the questions you've answered yes to - have you had more than one occur at the same time?

Sure, why the hell not?

9. Does anyone in your family suffer from manic depressive, depression or other mental illnesses?

Does extended family count? If so, who doesn't ?! So if yes, then yes. If not, then no.

reply to post by unityemissions


I'll see what I can do about getting you a prescription.

I would definitely seek out a second opinion. Go to your local mental health center, and talk to a specialist FIRST. I dealt with depression for many years myself, and my family doctor had NO IDEA what he was doing when it came to brain meds. I came to that conclusion after being pulled off of paxil cold turkey and 3 days later slipping into a suicidal spiral....until my other meds finally kicked in...and even those ones didn't work like brain meds should.

Finally after years of trusting my family doctor, I went and searched out a psychiatrist and some other mental health doctors, and discovered very quickly that the family doctor, as I suspected, knew NOTHING about what he was doing. Luckily, my problem was ptsd, and although it is still there, I can manage without any meds now, but that took a lot of therapy and a lot of very hard work on my behalf.
If you are bi-polar, you can not do that. (at least I wouldn't advise it until you have gone through some sort of behavioral training therapy)
The medication that controls bi-polar-ism works a lot differently than just an anti-depressant.
Mood stabilizers keep you from having the massive up and downs of bi-polar-ism. My son is bi-polar, and just found out this year after he attempted suicide because he was bi-polar and was just on anti-depressants...without the stabilizer, anti-depressants are dangerous to bi-polar people.

Seek out a pro, and find out for certain if you are bi-polar, do not just rely on your family doctor!