Day 1 on bipolar medication

[A_Fish]

I have suffered from anxiety for about 10 years and diagnosed with GAD. Since I was diagnosed and medicated, I have been suffering insomnia and racing thoughts in my head. I just assumed this was normal as I worked in a fairly fast-paced work environment.

Now that life has settled down for me, my symptoms became more prevalent and last weekend I had to go to hospital twice to obtain some medication to help calm me down.

I saw my GP yesterday (a new GP) for a mental health check-up. He has diagnosed me as being bipolar. After reading about the symptoms of bipolar, it kind of makes sense to me now that perhaps I was incorrectly diagnosed 10 years ago.

The medication I was on I had to take every day. If I accidently missed a dose, the following day I would feel terribly depressed. I explained this to my GP who told me to stop taking that medication immediately and start on my new bipolar medication.
It’s day 1, so far so good. Everything appears normal and my head is not buzzing like it did when I was on the old meds.

I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and could tell me a little bit about the first 2 weeks of their journey after switching from a SNRI to a bipolar med.

Thank you 🙂



 

[baet123]

Hi A Fish,

Welcome to BB and thank you for posting. This is a great place for everyone to provide support for each other in an attempt to improve all of our qualities of life. I can tell that you are extremely strong and resilient and these are two amazing qualities which people strive to develop throughout their whole lives! Hats off to you.

Sorry to hear that as of late you have been struggling. It sucks that you were misdiagnosed however it is super encouraging that you are aware now of your condition which should benefit your well-being greatly. I would look into seeing a psychiatrist who specialises in bipolar. Although your GP is qualified to treat conditions, a psychiatrist who specialises in treating bipolar and conditions a like will be up to date with cutting edge treatment and interventions which may greatly assist you.

It is extremely positive that you have had a good first day on the new medication and that is promising. Please don't hesitate to speak up and contact your GP if you feel the medication isn't working or you are experiencing some negative side effects.

Please keep us posted and I look forward to hearing from you again.

All the best,

Nick.

[Lilly18]

Hi A Fish,

Were you diagnosed with bipolar whilst on the snri? I'm on an snri too and get really confused about it sometimes. Am I feeling what im supposed to feel like? I get racing thoughts ( only just figured out the definition on those ) amd can be very imoulsive. Im a bit lost trying to find myself.

All the best with your new meds ☺

[A_Fish]

Dear Lilly,

It is now day 5 since I quit the SNRI and started bipolar medication, so don't do anything rash such as discussing changing meds with your GP for now. I will make the effort to post my thoughts after I have been on these new meds for another 2-3 weeks.

Firstly, I think it's important (in my experience) we appreciate that the brain is an incredibly complex organ in our body. Using the word "disorder", when it comes to the science of the brain, is a really poor definition the medical community uses to describe us and what we suffer. It's not helpful. I'd really like to see the medical community change this to stop the stigma we are labelled with.

Back to answering your questions - and forgive my answers being in dot points.

1. If I ever missed a single day of my SNRI pill, I would feel incredibly depressed. Since the change to the new meds, I have not experienced that. Detoxing from the SNRI by immediately changing my meds did not impact me. I don't know why, but that's just what I experienced. Others might experience something different. I can't emphasise strongly enough to be cautious about making radical changes to your brain drugs, particularly if you are on a SNRI.

2. Being on bipolar meds, I still have manic and depressive experiences, however I feel like I'm more rational when articulating my opinions during conversations with my wife and friends. I don't feel angry anymore. Still frustrated about stuff, but not angry. I've also been able to remain passionate about what I believe in.

3. My GP started me on a low dose of this new medication. Increasing my dose "might" solve all my mental problems. Apprehensive, but also cautiously optimistic.

4. I no longer experience "racing thoughts". Before I go to sleep, I can now "switch off" easily.

5. I am still impuslive, but in a good way. I'd give you practial examples, however are restricted by the character limits on the forum. Most importantly I feel I can now make decisions more rationally.

6. I know the feeling of being lost. I still feel lost to some degree, but I also feel I now have the mental ability to set my own path with far more confidence in myself doing so.

I wish you all the best. Stay tuned on my future posts to follow up on my journey.

And remember to take care and be strong. 🙂

[A_Fish]

My bi-polar meds didn't work. I actually ended up in hospital because of it, expressing most of the severe side-effects.

Back on the SNRI.

If you are thinking of going to bi-polar meds, make sure you transition to them very slowly at a low dose.

I thought I was going to die after day 5.

Lesson learned - Notice the symptoms yourself if you are experiencing bi-polar. Be prepared for a massive change when you switch to them. They might work perfectly if you actually have bi-polar, but if you don't, you will be more lost than you've ever been.

All the best.

[blondguy]

Hello Fish

I was about to log off and noticed that you are super proactive with your health and good on you too!

There is great advice above from Baet123 and Lilly18 above

I have had chronic anxiety/depression for 35 years and I understand you where meds are concerned....I read that your GP diagnosed you with bipolar. If its okay can I ask if you have been diagnosed by a specialist as well?

Thankyou by the way for the support you provided on another thread too!

my kind thoughts and thankyou for being here with us

Paul

[A_Fish]

Hi Paul,

I saw a psychiatrist yesterday. They are hard to get ahold of and expensive. We spoke for over 90 minutes.

He doesn't believe I have bi-polar. By the way, there is nothing wrong with having grandiose thoughts if you are in fact brilliant. Most people underestimate their capability, as I did. We spoke in detail about me being "high-functioning" and how that is a challenge when in social circles. I get bored easily by people talking the same old crap.

Thanks for welcoming me Paul.

Fish