Cyclothymic friend

Hello everyone,

Cyclothymia is really confusing and sometimes it makes us feel lost and confused about who we are, how we live things, etc.
Has anyone met other cyclothymic people in real life? For once, I'd love to meet others like me, at least on the internet.

Take care,

Alex

Hi Alex! Welcome : ) Itʻs not easy to find people just like us... even on the internet. (most cyclothymia cites seem like ghost towns with very little activity) I think itʻs because itʻs a mild form of bipolar that many people with cyclothymia donʻt even know that they have it and are living their lives unaware and untreated. I felt just like you when I first got diagnosed, lost... major identity crisis... wanting so much to talk to people afflicted with this condition. Like dancing peanut, weʻre all looking for a sense of belonging. Thereʻs comfort in knowing that youʻre not alone.... that there are other people on the planet who are going through the very same thing and can connect and relate because no living breathing person in your circle of peeps has a clue. Whatʻs your story?? What are your concerns?? How long have you known you have cyclothymia? What treatment option have you chosen?
You can answer all or none... just a way to get to know you : ) Glad you reached out! We can help each other make sense of it all and find a way to live healthy, normal, productive lives despite this condition that has its strengths as well as its drawbacks : ) Looking forward to getting to know you.

Thank you for replying Fireandrain.
I was diagnosed 4 years ago (when I was 18 years old) but haven't taken any medication since then. I'm now trying to figure out if I should. As you pointed out, cyclothymia isn't well known by people and even psychiatrists, so maybe it's just a way we are and that we can deal with. But at the same time, I realize that it brings me a lot of issues with relationships, studies, etc. I still feel that my life is pretty confused and disturbing at times.
I really don't know what to do about it and if I should trust psychiatrists. I love and hate cyclothymia...

Hey Alex!
Great to hear back from you! I think you're super fortunate at 22 to have a sense that perhaps there's more going on than meets the eye. Like you I figured, "this is just the way I am"... I lived for decades believing that and didn't get diagnosed til I was 43! When I started to read and learn all that I could about cyclothymia, it described me so well I was stunned! I too struggled with maintaining relationships, romantic or just friends... The profile read: "people with cyclothymia tend to pull people towards them, then push them away. (we even cycle in our relationships... Love you hate you love you hate you : ( bing!! Story of my life!) I want to encourage you to trust a psychiatrist!! Meds have done wonders for my quality of life, my self-esteem, and my balance and emotional stability so I can finally be the kind of wife and mother I always wanted to become. This disorder has been devastating as I look back!! You have a chance to treat your symptoms early in life. I can't tell you how fortunate you are!! I feel robbed of twenty years of a healthier more fulfilling life. You can turn that tide for yourself and seek the expertise of a good psych doc!!! Hoping for balance and wellness of mind, body, and spirit for you : )

Hi Fireandrain,
What medication and dosage do you take?
Don't you think this disorder is manageable without meds? (healthier lifestyle, doing sports regularly, psycho-education, vitamins/supplements or any other natural stuff on a daily basis, etc.) Let me know what you think about it.
Thanks again, take care.

Hi Alex!
I'm on 4 different medications: 1) lithium carbonate - 1 pill in the morning, another in the afternoon, and two pills before bedtime. 2) wellbutrin (which is an antidepressant) - 1 pill in the morning and one in the afternoon. If we just take something like wellbutrin (known as an SSRI) then it could very possibly kick you into a hypomanic state. The mood stabilizer like lithium. (balances that out). 3) Xanax- 1/2 to a full pill there times a day for anti- anxiety and calmer responses to emotional situations. 4) Lamictal - recently added about 2 months ago. Up to 200 mg, but must start gradually and increase over time. I experienced runny nose and headaches but they decreased in intensity and eventually stopped. Recurred with each increase in dosage amount but this is my favorite. I feel more upbeat and positive, but more importantly, my thoughts feel more relaxed and slowed down instead of racing. I gotta go check my bottles to see what the exact dosages are, but for me personally, the meds have made a tremendous difference. I've heard of some people with cyclothymia decide that they have such a mild form that they would rather not take any medication and just roll with the ups and downs. I don't know much about the natural homeopathic routes... I know that there are particular threads that discuss that very topic : ). You really can't go wrong to at least make an appointment with
A psych doc so you can learn about all of your options. Medicated, homeopathic, or nothing at all. You can always try the natural path and if it doesn't make much of a
difference, then consider medication : ) all the best to you, Alex!

hello im 25 was finally diadnosed 1 year ago. been suffering for the last 6 years since i was about 19. and i tell ya for me i was getting worse and worse over the years and im on medication now. i didnt agree at the start not being fond on pills and $#%^. but with out them now i dont now what id do. life is much more relaxed on decisions and every thing. you dont have all these crazy thoughts rushing through your head in one day. u do get them every now and then but now were near as bad. im on 2 different mood stabilizersa and and anti-depresant. and valium just to help me sleep some times to keep me in routine. i have tryed for so long silently to my self i have suffered. and i go to the gym and exersise and get out and do thing to keep my mind healthy active. but trying all the right things with out med. can only last so long be4 u hit a big rock bottom. and its just waiting to bit u in the but. so i say check your opptions now before its to lat and your cyclothymia gets out of controll. because you do get to a pint when you get bad that your not in reality or the right state of mind and u dont now how to get help and you just keep saying to your self ill be right ill be right. but you have lost it that bad that every one else can see it but your self. this is how it was for me. and maby you will only have to try meds for a year or 2 but its wearth it so you can see the differens in the way you feel. because i felt so much better with the mood stabilizers. and the way i felt before i was on meds i thought it was normal because id been feeling like that for so long since i can remember but it was normal. i say profesional help then take it from there. xoxo

Hello Fellow Cyclothymics,
I haven't checked this forum in a while because, like Fireandrain mentioned, this forum doesn't get a whole lot of activity so I find myself hanging out in the BP forum. Being diagnosed as cyclothymic is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that we know what condition we're dealing with, the curse is that when we research the disorder we find that it usually gets mentioned as a brief paragraph in BP literature that states that cyclothymia is "mild bipolar"... extremely frustrating!!!

Alec7- Just wanted to say hello and a couple of things to you. First, I am SO happy for you that you received your diagnosis in your 20's. While you may have mixed feelings about that, I, like Fireandrain, was not diagnosed until my 40's. After our diagnoses, we had to wrestle with the thoughts of "oh, why didn't I find this out sooner? my life could have been SO different!" So you're very lucky in the respect that you have a name for the beast at a relatively young age and can move on to acceptance and management without having lost decades to an unmanaged condition. As far as medication goes, it varies from person to person, as we each have different body chemistry. Some can manage homeopathically with vitamins and supplements, exercise and diet; others need medications. I lived for many years with a relatively healthy lifestyle and my condition was wildly out of control. I am one of the individuals that NEEDS the medication.

Also, after having read up on BP, the literature states over and over that individuals with BP notoriously self-medicate (in my case, it was alcohol). In addition to needing the medication, I had to completely delete alcohol consumption from my life. I went through my adult life just believing I was just drinking to relax (not medicate myself from a disorder) and have a long history of binge drinking. What I did not realize is that drinking was actually introducing a poison into my system that made me totally manic when under the influence (I just thought I was a binge-drinker who did a lot of stupid stuff when drunk, usually involving sex). Alcohol (and pot, but I don't use that), in the BP person, literally causes a negative chemical reaction that can induce mania. Don't know if alcohol is part of your life, but just wanted to mention it since it is one of the parts of the equation I had to alter to keep my condition managed.

As far as meds, I am on Prozac 40mg (an SSRI anti-depressant), Trileptal 600mg (a mood stabilizer), Revia 50mg (controls impulse to drink alcohol), and Seroquel 50-100mg as needed (an anti-psychotic/neuroleptic) for racing thoughts at night. I need the prozac to control the depression/anxiety, and the mood stabilizer to keep a balance (I have sustained depression with occurrances of mixed episodes...high and low all at once... basically makes you feel like you're going to explode). So this is the combo that's working for me. I am also taking vitamins and supplements to boost my seratonin and GABA (2 of the 4 brain chemicals).... the psy meds corrected my dopamine deficiency, so I'm trying to manually boost the others. I also try to stay physically active (a challenge at times because I'm fitness-minded, but a bit lazy at times) and eat a balanced diet. I can't attribute my feeling good to one specific thing (tho the mood stabilizer helped immensely), but between the meds, supplements, and lifestyle, I am feeling MUCH better (at least not feeling like I'm spinning out of control).

So you have a lot of options. I would advise not ruling any of them out until you try each. Thus far you're unmedicated. Are you living an otherwise healthy lifestyle? If not, maybe adjust exercise and diet and see if that works (may be able to live without the meds). If that doesn't seem to work, then maybe give meds a go. Everything is worth a try. And if you give meds a try, know that you need to give it time. Each med will need to get into your system and be stepped up to the "treatment dosage" (the dose where you feel maximum benefit) before you give it up and move to the next med. This frustrates many people (me included), but you have to hang in there and try combo after combo until you hit upon a med that brings you enough relief with side effects at a level you can live with them. Every med has side effects. EVERY MED. So keep that in mind. The key is deciding whether the side effects are tolerable or not... and only you can decide if the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

As far as trusting your psy doc... trust his/her medical and pharmaceutical knowledge. I've been to some good ones, and some that you felt like a head of cattle being run through a medicine mill. While I've trusted all of their medical knowledge (since they have schooling that I do not), the ones I've felt most comfortable with were ones that I could tell were actively listening as I spoke.... and you can tell when someone's listening or just nodding their head at you. For me, if they listen, I open up and tell them everything. Telling them everything is important... they can only give meds that address issues that you're telling them about... if you hide things, they're treating you without the benefit of all that is really going on with you.

Anyhow, that's my 2 cents (err...50...lol). Do try to hang in there. While there's not many of us in this forum chatting back and forth, we ARE here and we DO understand. Talking to one another really does help. Please do come back and keep us updated.... we're pulling for you

-Koshka

well said koshka69
yes ive been reading the bipolar forum because i find we all tend to switch over to there that way we can all talk and read.

Hello everyone, thank you very much for your messages. As usually, I can relate to every word you all say about your past experiences and feelings in cyclothymia (hypomania on alcohol, crazy thoughts rushing thru mind, loneliness, stress, etc.). I also regret not being medicated earlier but all what matters is the present and future. You can't go back in the past, so you got no choice but accept and move on. I hope you all did it well.
Though, I don't understand that Cyclothymia isn't better known because I think it should be considered to be as serious as any other type of bipolar disorder. It's not a "mild form", it is a different form! A lot of psychiatrists don't prescribe medication and tell people that they're just sensitive. Otherwise, they think they're just depressed and prescribe antidepressants which make us even worse, I mean hypomanic (personnal experience). There're many people struggling like that too long.

I've been finally treated for 1 month and I feel so much better, confident and stronger.
I went to see one of the best psychiatrists of my country (France) who is specialized in mood disorders. He put me on a low dosage of 2 mood stabilizers, Lithium and Depakene, and that work perfectly. About side effects, I don't feel anything but a little hunger that I'm trying to control.
As of now, I think it's impossible to deal with Cyclothymia without a proper medication. It is a form of bipolar disorder, as simple as that! This is what I didn't realize before.

Take care everyone.
Please leave me a private message if you want my email address or talk thru instant messenger. I'm looking to meet cyclothymic people whatever the age, sexe, location... etc!