In process of being diagnosed, have a few questions

Goodevening all,

I have only just joined these forums, as recent events have led me to seek out as much information as possible on BP.

Unfortunately I'm not in a state at the moment to go into depth on my background or history or what have you, but I'll just say I'm a student at university who is well on the way to being diagnosed as being bipolar. I've seen a counselor and a GP, both of whom are confident that is my situation, and have both referred me to a psychiatrist early next month for a full assessment. There is a group called the blackdog institute at a hospital near to me who provide a bipolar spectrum test. I scored a 42 where anything above a 22 is considered to be serious.

Anyway, my reason for posting besides meeting some similar individuals is to get some questions answered...

1. Is it normal to go through a period of denial about being diagnosed BP? I don't have illusions about the symptoms, but the idea of a lifetime on drugs and being officially BIPOLAR isn't ideal..

2. Is it possible to eliminate the down periods and keep the highs with specific drugs/usages? I've read that doing so can induce psychosis, but what if the drug use is moderated and you stick to regular patterns of eating, sleeping and exercise?

Perhaps these questions seem silly to people more familiar with BP, but any advice/wisdom is much appreciated.


Faust.

Faust wrote:Goodevening all,

I have only just joined these forums, as recent events have led me to seek out as much information as possible on BP.

Unfortunately I'm not in a state at the moment to go into depth on my background or history or what have you, but I'll just say I'm a student at university who is well on the way to being diagnosed as being bipolar. I've seen a counselor and a GP, both of whom are confident that is my situation, and have both referred me to a psychiatrist early next month for a full assessment. There is a group called the blackdog institute at a hospital near to me who provide a bipolar spectrum test. I scored a 42 where anything above a 22 is considered to be serious.

I've never taken a spectrum test. They sound like they would be interesting and I'd love to know where I'd score. When I first went into a visit mental health professionals they just diagnosed me after a few visits with being rapid cycle and have psychosis. What are the spectrum tests like?

1. Is it normal to go through a period of denial about being diagnosed BP? I don't have illusions about the symptoms, but the idea of a lifetime on drugs and being officially BIPOLAR isn't ideal..

I went through one for about a decade, lol!! It's not uncommon at all to think you are ok, or just going through a phase. Then you start to realize deep down something is wrong with you, at least I did. Then you don't want to admit or think it will go away. Think you can handle things yourself...... The thing is in most cases it just makes things worse. My mental state deteriorated until a point where I lost subjective track of time and a lot of memories.

The drugs and the label may not be an ideal way of going through life, but you are bipolar if you are, label or not. The drugs are there to ease your symptoms and to keep you from doing bad things. At first they told me I didn't have to take drugs, then when I told them about the loss of time they said I had to before something bad happened to me. Chances are, if you are just hypomanic you won't have to take any drugs.

2. Is it possible to eliminate the down periods and keep the highs with specific drugs/usages? I've read that doing so can induce psychosis, but what if the drug use is moderated and you stick to regular patterns of eating, sleeping and exercise?

I honestly don't know. Before I went on meds I was almost always high. Now that I am on the meds I seem to balance out going between highs and lows with neither being as intense as they used to be. An improvement IMHO. It means my psychosis never occurs, which in some ways annoys me because the days are so long now that I have a sense of time. If you stay high you will start to have delusions and hallucinations. You might even get like me and lose time/memories. I wouldn't risk it tbqfh.

Perhaps these questions seem silly to people more familiar with BP, but any advice/wisdom is much appreciated.

There are no silly questions! Well there is but as long as you are genuinely seeking an answer, there are none. I guess you could ask us what kind of clown nose is best and that would be silly but you know. Ask anything related to topic and you'll get plenty of answers on here.

I wouldn't say that I ever experienced denial of being Bipolar, although some people do definitely. I fought for the diagnosis of Bipolar previously because I knew that it was what was wrong with me. When I finally got it by multiple doctors, I got really scared & backed off from it. Kinda like having doctors validate it was like giving me a death sentence. I came to terms with it however, & no, it's not a death sentence. The only thing that tends to happen now, is that when I'm not in an episode, I tend to doubt whether I truly ever was Bipolar, & that has led to problems because I would stop my meds, only to have everything return ten fold.

But yeah, I get your feelings. Knowing that you have to be on my meds for "life" as they often say, is really not ideal, as you put it. Actually my mother is struggling with that more than myself. I've accepted that I need to be on meds for now, & will be for the foreseeable future. I've only just got stable, since December, & my mother is asking when I'm gonna get off the meds. I keep telling that I can't do that, but she insists on me asking my doctor how long I'm supposed to be on them. It's like she believes that once I get stabilized on medications, that the Bipolar is cured & I got get off of them. Doesn't work that way... Ok, sorry for going on there.

As for the medication question, I really don't know if it's possible to do that. The only time that happened for me was when I was on a high dose anti-depressant with a low dose mood-stabilizer. It helped the depression all right, but the highs were still occurring at an ever escalating basis. That kept happening until it got out of control, I was hospitalized, the doctors were appalled that I was on that anti-depressant, took me off, & not I'm not supposed to touch those anymore. I'm just on a mood-stabilizer & anti-psychotic. At the moment, I don't have depression nor highs. I'm truly stabilized. Bipolars are not supposed to be on anti-depressants alone as they cause those uncontrollable highs. I say that because I don't think it's possible to have a drug that doesn't treat the highs, & be in control of it. I just don't think, personally, that is possible to have control of that situation. Although I miss the hypomania at times, I think I'm much happier having stability.

I hope that when you get the diagnosis you can get some medications that are proper for you & can help you out.

- EGD.

Faust wrote:1. Is it normal to go through a period of denial about being diagnosed BP? I don't have illusions about the symptoms, but the idea of a lifetime on drugs and being officially BIPOLAR isn't ideal..

It's quite normal to go through a period of denial as you come to terms with everything. If I was younger, I think I would have reacted differently, but I was just so exhausted mentally and physically from years of being BP and incorrect diagnosis' that I was just relieved to know what I had.

Faust wrote:2. Is it possible to eliminate the down periods and keep the highs with specific drugs/usages? I've read that doing so can induce psychosis, but what if the drug use is moderated and you stick to regular patterns of eating, sleeping and exercise?

I'm not sure if it's possible to control them like that. Like Zyphyr, before I was on the meds I was always high, but now that I'm on the meds the cycling has slowed down quite a bit and the hypomanic episodes aren't as sharp or intense.

TweekedOut wrote:

Faust wrote:1. Is it normal to go through a period of denial about being diagnosed BP? I don't have illusions about the symptoms, but the idea of a lifetime on drugs and being officially BIPOLAR isn't ideal..

It's quite normal to go through a period of denial as you come to terms with everything. If I was younger, I think I would have reacted differently, but I was just so exhausted mentally and physically from years of being BP and incorrect diagnosis' that I was just relieved to know what I had.

I had no period of denial whatsoever, I was happy to have finally gotten the correct diagnosis after 10 years of suffering. I was relieved that I could finally get on with my life, even if it meant being medicated for the rest of it.

I am only on anti-depressants, but my highs were never REALLY bad (unless I was drinking), they are usually manageable. The thing with me is, I have never been good at routine and having to moderate everything (sleep, eating habits, exercise) is really hard for me, which tends to stress me out, so I am fighting a losing battle it seems lol.

Faust wrote:1. Is it normal to go through a period of denial about being diagnosed BP? I don't have illusions about the symptoms, but the idea of a lifetime on drugs and being officially BIPOLAR isn't ideal..

2. Is it possible to eliminate the down periods and keep the highs with specific drugs/usages? I've read that doing so can induce psychosis, but what if the drug use is moderated and you stick to regular patterns of eating, sleeping and exercise?

1. For some people.
I was the one that recognized the symptoms and need for treatment, yet ironically I also denied it up and down and attributed the madness to extreme distress and neurotic worrying.

2. Let me know if you find out!!!

For question 1

Absolutely there is no one that wants to be told look man you have a severe chemical imbalance in your brain that alters your perception of time space and reality in different periods depending on how it's malfunctioning.........it is now possible that all the things that seemed completely normal in your perception everyday life could quite possibly could compared to that of a "crazy" person. But there is also a good chance that you have made a number of wonderful thoughtful and reasonable choices as well. Will you be wondering for a while which ones are which sure....will you be able to move on...why not......

For Question 2

Man if only we could just keep the mania!!!!!!!!I love that hard hitting fast talking fun loving mania right up until it get's you in trouble. You'll find as you start with the treatment what is going to happen is you will just being trying to keep in the middle not high not low just in the middle solid sleep diet and exercise will help a lot.

I hope your treatment starts soon and goes well. Think of it this way......you might have to take some kind of drug treatment plan for the rest of your life but.........at least you'll be LIVING WELL the rest of your life if I could have back the years I lived undiagnosed I would in a heartbeat.

Hi and welcome

I was in denial about BP for a long time - my GP initially suggested it and wanted me to go on mood stabilisers but I refused to. It was a bad idea as I spent many years being very unstable. I have got used to it now and realise it is better being diagnosed and treated but yes I went through denial.

As for keeping the highs - if you could control how high you went and that you did not go psychotic then that would be one thing but you cant and highs can be really destructive. I know that some ppl are more controlled one way than the other but overall treatment is likely to affect both extremes of mood. Imo tho this should not stop you from getting treated tho.

I hope that we can help support you on here

Cracked

ZyphyrI've never taken a spectrum test. They sound like they would be interesting and I'd love to know where I'd score. When I first went into a visit mental health professionals they just diagnosed me after a few visits with being rapid cycle and have psychosis. What are the spectrum tests like?

One blackdog institute bipolar spectrum test
http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/pub ... f-test.cfm

2. Is it possible to eliminate the down periods and keep the highs with specific drugs/usages? I've read that doing so can induce psychosis, but what if the drug use is moderated and you stick to regular patterns of eating, sleeping and exercise?

You'll have better luck changing the color of your eyes, my friend! Learn to roll with the changes. Acceptance and management are key components. You have to revisit them every day. Be thankful when your highs are high. Be aggressive when your lows are low.

Hope that makes sense, Faust.