Trying to Cope with the diagnosis and my future

I've recently been diagnosed at 32 with bipolar I, after two strong manic episodes That required hospitalisation.

I'm currently on valproate, quetiapin and abilify.
It's been 6 months since the diagnosis and the manic episodes. I'm talking to my Doctor about getting off some of the medication but I don't know if it's even a good idea. I mean is this actually a manageable disease??

She says the idea would be for me to ONLY BE doing the stabilizer in a couple of months and I should feel normal for a while (I've been feeling a bit down lately, She says it's likely too much medication).

The thing is I'm scared of it happening again and I don't hear Many stories about people being able to tackle it with just stabilizers.

Well i'm posting this if anyone out there hás bp1 under Control i'd like to know how you manage to see if maybe there's some hope for me.

Hello Px.

I am BP2. There are similarities. Of your meds, I take quetiapine. I take other things for mood stabilizers and anti-depression/anxiety meds (I also suffer OCD).

I also have never heard of anyone, especially someone with BP1 staying solely on mood stabilizers. Did your doctor give a good explanation for this? When you say you're talking to your doctor about coming off of meds, who suggested this initially? Your doctor? It seems so.

Is your doctor a Psychiatrist?

Yes she's a psychiatrist. We've been discussing doing ONLY mood stabilizers and keeping SOS medication and alert for signs of crisis but I feel like that's a recipe for disaster.

It's certainly something I have never come up against. My doctor would not let me take one (mood stabilizers) without the other (antidepressants). She especially cautioned against taking the latter without the former.

Don't forget if you are ever at odds with a Psych or Therapist, you can always change. The relationship between doctor and patient is as important as therapy.

If you continue with this program, I would find a way to keep track of your moods and if you have someone close to you, that you see often, and who you trust, you can ask them to observe changes.

Well I talked to get today. She says Im going to stay on the depakote and iv abilify. It just feels so bad having to do meds everyday now. I used to ONLY do meds on episodes but Now mania has gotten bad at Times. I'm bp1 so no antidepressants for me. But it's been hard to accept such a diagnosis at 32. Also Im trying to look for a job again but it's going to BE hell of hard to keep it with so many appointments. Between taking meds, doing tests and the doctors I've got Four appointments this month. I wish they'd just back off a bit. It's been 6 months since my manic episode and I havent hurt anyone ir anything but it feels like Im restrained instead of being helped

The stress of life only tends to make things more difficult. I hope you are able to find a new job.

I am on daily meds. It is hard to come to terms with knowing that you have to be on them consistently but it has really helped. If I stopped meds, things would spring out of control. But, I have decreased my dosages. As I got older I found I didn't need as much. And maybe, one day, I will come off of some or all. It really doesn't matter to me, however.

I was recently diagnosed with Bipolar.

I been living with it probably since I was like 9 just was never diagnosed. I am in mid-40's. I pretty much avoided any mental health for a long time. I got hospitalized for depression & OCD as a teenager. I never really thought anti-depressants helped me, so most of my life I have coped without meds. My psychiatrist put me on a mood stabilizer and anti-depressant, but I don't think I will take it. I have been able to cope this long without meds and in past I never really thought they helped. I am not sure if I am Bipolar 1 or 2, but it was established that I had episodes of mania in my life and therefore Bipolar, I just didn't know when I got in these moods that is what they call mania.

I guess I have managed it by just living through it most of my life, the hellfire stretches of my life and the very happy stretches. Meditation helps. I have done unhealthy behaviors like excessive drinking and smoking in my past to cope. My feeling is if I coped this long without meds, I probably can continue to cope without them. Anti-depressants never seemed to work.