Posted by MomO3 on July 10, 2002, at 0:33:17
In reply to Re: Bipolar or ADD??? » MomO3, posted by BarbaraCat on July 6, 2002, at 0:10:11
> Hi Mom o'
> I've also struggled with the BP-II vs. ADD question and asked my pdoc. He said that a good test is how consistent your chaotic, disorganized thinking and behaviors are. If it's an all the time thing, it's probably ADD. If it's cyclical, it's probably BP-II. I've used that criteria and looking back over my life I've seen that the frantic overwhelmed life is falling apart feeling has been cyclic and is always followed or accompanied by a huge black engulfing depression. This despairing wailing black hole kind of agitated depression accompanying it is called bipolar mixed states and is presumably the most dangerous suicide prone kind of depression. I can vouch for that. It's hideous in the extreme. However, there are long periods of blessed calmness and relative normalcy. My concentration is generally excellent, except for periodic plunges into madness. This is not indicative of ADD.I think that there is a cycle to it.. it's really hard to say... I guess being in crisis mode - angry, irritable, depressed, and running around to the point of exhaustion, it's hard to remember times of 'normalcy'.. but I know I have not always felt like this.
>
> Have SSRI's alone exacerbated your anxiety or symptoms?
I took Prozac off and on for 9 years. I was being prescribed by whichever GP I was going to that week so I self-regulated the whole prozac thing. When I got depressed I would take it, when I felt better or it ran out I would stop until one of my parents would ask.. "are you taking your prozac?" I also drank heavily during those years (19-25) I think drinking was to self medicate the anxiety and agitation.>For me all SSRI's and their analogs righteously pooped out and any increase in dosage would drive me into panic attacks
Once in college things were not going well, I got my dosage of Prozac increased to 40mg from 20 and it made me CRAZY... I couldn't explain any other way than that. I took Paxil for 2 week last year and experienced the same feeling. For the last few months I have been mood charting and I needed something for depression and anxiety and I tried Paxil again... for a week I thought - aahhh... I have found the right cocktail and then things changed. On the mood chart I found extreme highs and lows all in the same day for over a week. The only way I could describe that feeling is that I felt like a caged animal - you know the one who smashes his body against every wall trying to get out of the cage and then just lays down and gives up.
, until I started adding lithium. This is pretty classic and sure wish I had known about it years ago - would've saved some singed nerves from all those panic attacks. So, SSRI non-response and/or agitation is a BP-II thing, but not an ADD thing.
>
> The extreme weariness you describe is what raises a red flag, however. You've probably gotten your thyroid tested but has it been recently? As someone who suffers from hypothryoidism, fibromyalgia as well as BPII mixed states (yikes! that sounds serious) I can relate to crawling on all fours as you describe, and a bone crunching fatigue. Hypothyroidism is rampant among women, you could say a true epidemic. It's a tricky thing also because many, many doctors will let a subclinical case slide 'oh, it's borderline low'. Crapola! TSH levels need to be 2.0 and lower, period. Also, the kind of thyroid you take is important, with the natural hormone generally better for those of us with mood disorders. Anyhow, long story short, I just raised my dose recently hoping to kick start my weight loss efforts and lo and behold, even my fibro symptoms are improving. Your tiredness truly sounds like it has a physical basis and perhaps a small dose of thryoid just to see is in order. It's worth a try, Mommy. - BarbaraCatMy thyroid was checked in February and the levels are normal - I have a nodule on my thyroid that was biopsied while I was in college and declared benign. They put me on thyroid meds at that point to try to keep the nodule from coming back... I immediately went from 150 to 175 lbs at 19 years old. My boyfriend was none too pleased. And I have struggled with my weight ever since. My current Dr wants to send me to a surgeon to check out this nodule, but I can't handle a gaping scar or those big needles in my neck again. Since the thyroid levels in my blood are normal, if there is something wrong with my thyroid (god-forbid) then it will probably be much more serious than my psycho-struggles.
What do you think about Chocolate? Someone posted something about the chemicals in chocolate being similar to wellbutrin. I have often thought about my drugs of choice and the order I would chose them - chocolate always comes first (followed by cocaine then alcohol). Last week when I was devastatingly depressed, I didn't call my dealer, but instead I bought a bag of chocolate chips - I finished them today...there were no cookies involved (although there was a separate batch of brownies the other day) - my husband didn't get any, they were hidden, I might as well just the whole bag directly to my postpartum belly.
Thanks!
Holly (aka mom)
poster:MomO3
thread:111115
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020709/msgs/111902.html