Posted by headachequeen on December 14, 2003, at 19:20:20
In reply to Re: topomax, posted by bridgey1128 on December 13, 2003, at 21:17:46
> I am curious. I have been diagnosed as bipolar recently. I SELF diagnosed myself as bipolar II and not just plain manic depressive because I don't fit that category of it. I am a redhead, and if any of you know anyone who is one..you know we have different rules for some odd reason. We feel pain more intensely, we bleed easier and we need more anesthesia. Every single antidepressant I have tried has failed which made me go back to my Dr and tell him.."Look, something ain't right" Then he said.."Hmm well then you might be bipolar" and 2 trips to the psych and here I am Bipolar II. I started on Zyprexa 3 days ago and I have gained 5lbs ALREADY!!!! My Dr said if I had any weight gain to immediately stop and we would try the Topomax. Are there any redheads out there who have experienced this kind of failure with meds? I am just at wits end and I have a husband and 2 kids to take care of. I hate being so angry and irritable all the time and then cry the rest. The only time I have some relief is when I go "manic" when I am around my friends. Then I am happy. Otherwise, it is all I can do to function! The Zyprexa has not worked at ALL. IT has made me MORE depressed and anxious..on top of me gaining a lot of weight rapidly. HELP! Anyone else having weight loss success with Topomax and bipolar II? REDHEADS PLEASE!!
first, although I am a redhead, I have to confess that I am not sure what the difference is between bipolar and bipokar II... I was diagnosed as being depressed and the doctor who so diagnosed me began to think I was bipolar because being a creative type when things go really well with my work...either the writing or music, the training, or the photography or whatever, I achieve these incredible CREATED highs... and when things don't go well I reach these incredible CREATED lows... he thought that my seasonal affective disorder was actually bipolar...
as my depression thing grew out of proportion he referred me to a psychiatrist... he had been going to put me on lithium but I had just been diagnosed as being epileptic and apparently lithium and epilepsy do not go well together... thank heaven...
the admitting psychiatrist informed that lithium would have simply eliminated my personality as I was not at all bipolar. She told me I had another sort of disorder, a form of depression and that she suffered with it too, the sort of thing that creative types like myself have to deal with... the so-called artistic temperament.
Apparently I presented a really bizarre and interesting set of symptoms so the head of the service took me on his case load when she admitted me and then told me I was not depressed but was hypo bipolar or something of that sort.... and referred me to a psychologist because of the personality disorder that needed treatment while leaving me on antidepressants...question: if I am not depressed, then why do I need antidepressants??? (zyprexa, effexor, and immovane)
At the time I was on Tegretol about 150 mg a day... and the side effects to that stuff are wild and woolly....
a few months after I was released from hospital I was put on Topomax and worked up to 400 mg a day along with 200 mg of Tegretol....
that is the medication history... oh yeah, I decided one day to stop taking the antidepressants.. if I am not depressed, then why take them, so I threw them away...
I am a redhead... flaming red hair... freckles... fair fair skin with a great tendency to sunburn even in winter... oh yes I am a redhead.... pale blue eyes too (what they call sun-bleached blue...darker on the outside)
redheads have the wildest quirks as you have mentioned....
pain??? we experience with far greater intensity than others... I guess that is in payment for the hair colour????? sigh...
and the lack of a clotting agent in our blood is a real pain in the neck.... the simplest cuts and scratches take forever to stop bleeding....
there is a shortage of calcium too...which contributes to the bleeding factor... my son and I can donate blood in less than a quarter of the time other people can... in fact they have a hard time turning off the supply when the container is filled... we take liquid calcium supplements to try and thicken the blood ...
during teenage years nosebleeds were a way of life... it was nothing unusual to wake up in a lake of blood and have to go to the hospital to get it stopped... a diet of milk shakes for a day or two after that.... cold liquids were always recommended and I always forgot that I was allergic to milk... love chocolate malts LOL.another fringe benefit of being a redhead is the immunity problem... we are born with severely compromised immune systems... most surgeons will tell you that they are warned in residency never to turn their backs on redheads... I have taken as much as eleven months to heal from post-op infections that should never have occurred; mosquito bites turn to cellulitis... it is common to have IV pumps attached to me because I need IV antibiotics for a cut or mosquito bite.. no joke and no hyperbole...
in one case a puncture wound went to cellulitis in 24 hours and to gangrene in 72 hours... I was lucky to have a skilled surgeon available and he saved my hand, possibly my arm, not to mention my finger...
incredible physio therapist was determined that there would be three surgeries and no more and she managed to save the use of my fingers.. I have 85% use of my right hand thanks to her...
being a ref head has its advantages
anonymity is not one of them...
nor is an immune system... or clotting factor... or pain control... I keep ibuprofen in business!!!I can no longer take Tylenol because of the risk to the liver... oh yeah, celtic types with redhair, blue eyes and fair skin are prone to haemachromatosis an over abundance of iron in the blood... the nosebleeds and the inclination of the blood not to clot helps but I really could do without it...
but the topomax is a blessing as one of the side effects is that it helps control migraine... not a migraine since January....I gained weight on Zyprexa... I also gained weight on Tegretol...and had already gained weight because of the depression or whatever... when I am in a down curve I love to eat... it is the comfort food syndrome.. I may not be hungry or even taste what I am eating but I eat anyway...
I have lost sixty pounds or thereabouts...
and while I have had side effects from the topomax and learned here how to cope with them I have had fewer problems with it than with the tegretol... far fewer....
at this point I am not sure what it is but the depression thing is rearing its head... and when I say depression "thing" it is because I am still in the dark...
one psychiatrist says I am depressed with some form that I cannot remember... the other says no I am not depressed I have a personality disorder because of childhood trauma and need psychotherapy... then says I am hypo (I think that was the term it was a year and a half ago) bipolar...
so I guess I am not depressed... I am just feeling moody???? sigh...But topomax is one med that seems to be helping me and doesn't seem to have any of the usual oh you are a redhead results for me... if anything, given the fewer side effects, maybe the redhead thing is working but this time it is a reverse spin?>???
good luck anyway...
kat
poster:headachequeen
thread:5053
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031213/msgs/289820.html