MRI and diagnosing?

I'm on a heavy dose of carbamazepine and lithium and seen a few doctors who have no doubt im bipolar. the meds help for sure jsut not as much as I would hope. I keep thinking im just a coward who cant deal with $#%^. All I can think about is getting a MRI to prove is have something or not, every since seeing a ted talk explaining the uses MRIs on diagnosing mental illness . Has anyone had this?heard about this?

yeah somewhere I saw MRI scans of a "normal" brain compared to a manic brain. The areas responsible for impulse control were very dim in the manic brain (duh). But Ive never seen it applied with anyone I know or myself. I've never brought it up to my team either.

I've had an MRI because of voices but I don't think it is actually used to diagnose bipolar

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Alright, worth a shot. Thanks

MRIs are pretty expensive.

In the US, there would have to be a medical necessity in order for insurance to provide coverage.

A dx of BiPolar alone won't constitute a medical necessity.

It's so expensive, most people won't pay out of pocket.

just wanted to see my ###$ up brain and point to it and have a aha moment. no matter how many professionals say theres a problem and not to take it all on so personally and let some of the stress go, i cant, I wanna frame a picture of my messed mri and slowly get used to it. OR see its not there and get off these meds that are aging me ten years a day. getting off topic my bad.

I had an MRI ordered by my psychiatrist when I began treatment with him. Other tests, too. He wanted to rule out any physical causes.

See that makes sense to me. I dont see why its not common. Ill try asking my doctors again but not so optimistic. Thanks for the replys

MRS (Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy) would probably be more beneficial. It's likely expensive too, and not covered by most insurance companies. From my reading, I understand it to measure or gather information about biochemicals such as neurotransmitters. It has mostly been used by researchers but may become more common for proper diagnosing in some cases.

I came across this when I was researching glutamate. So much information to learn about this amino acid and it's relationship to mental disorders. It's the most abundant amino acid and it's levels being too high are common in people with bipolar or schizophrenia. The med I take, Lamictal, is an antagonist to it. MRS should be able to show the glutamate levels in comparison to other neurotransmitters. The MRI would be able to show physical damage to the brain structure over time. In some autopsy MRI studies, there was evidence that the hippocampus was damaged in a brain that had glutamate levels in excess. This is supposed to be what happens when the brain is damaged after a stroke or traumatic brain injury. Glutamate dumping into the brain....bad! It makes sense that lowering it would help those of us with too much of this exciting transmitter. Too low causes many issues too, I'm sure.

There is interesting research showing that the amino acid, L-cystine, is beneficial to reduce glutamate, and increase glutathione, which is a super antioxidant for fighting free radicals in the body. Perhaps I should experiment and get off the lamictal...and change to OTC L-cystine ffrom the health food store...


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10736372

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/glutamic-acid

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3482580/