Bipolar DUers check in here.

[Ellen Forradalom]

Manic-depressive and, well, I wouldn't exactly say proud of it, but it's who I am and what's for dinner. Anyone else?

[mopinko]

1. got a kid

that is recently dx. she is 17 and things are finally cooling down a bit. have an iep meeting for her on monday. she is not in school at all, and we will be fighting for theraputic day school for her.
also have a sister, and my dad probably was.
so how are you getting along? how old are you? how long dx?

[Ellen Forradalom]

20. I'm in my early 40s

Dx since 1996, with a unipolar diagnosis before that.

Lately the needle on the mood-o-meter swings between the-crazy-bag-lady-is-in-a-good-mood-today and quasi-normal. Must be the arrival of summer. We've been bumping up my stabilizing drug to bring me back w/in two standard deviations of the mean, mood-wise.

[mopinko]

28. summer helps a lot of people

i have a sister that is bp, and also one that has had major depressions. she was always worse in the winter, and got a lot of relief with a light box.
do you sleep well?

[DIKB]

2. It's been a while

but I was diagnosed as melancholy (let's just say i wasn't completely honest with my doctor) so it probably goes a lot worse. Frankly I don't like to be labeled. I'm a typical stubborn latin-male.

[scarlet_owl]

3. Checking in.

I have bipolar disorder, as well as PTSD. That's all I guess.

[lazarus]

4. Not a lot of us, apparently

I've got it, and have ADD added in for fun.

[mopinko]

5. lot of debate about that one

whether they are actually 2 separate things, sorta separate, whatever. lots and lots of people have both.

[dolo amber]

6. I'm a both-er

:hi:

And a bother to some I'm sure...;)

[lazarus]

9. one problem is

that the two conditions mask each other, so diagnosis can be very difficult. We knew I had ADD for about 8 years before the bipolar became evident (although I may have not even have developed the bipolar before then).

[mopinko]

11. and somtimes treating one

causes the other to flair. it is a very tricky disease in children and adolescents.

[ironflange]

7. My daughter, 13, has it

She was diagnosed early, at about 8, so it's well under control. She is really "touched with fire," a terrific singer, actress, and artist.

[lazarus]

8. we're thinking my 12 year old has it

it's hereditary, or can be, and she's either got BD or ADD or both.

[ironflange]

13. Find out for sure

The sooner the better. There is history of bipolar in both our families, and I am unipolar depressed, and sometimes cycle briefly myself. I'm fully convinced it's hereditary. My daughter still swings sometimes, but we know what's going on now and it's easy to deal with. She's even been through Kawasaki Disease (google it), though it was caught early and she suffered no permanent problems.

[lazarus]

23. we're in therapy

with both a psychologist and a psychiatrist. I remember how hard my own diagnosis was, so I'm not taking any chances here.

I'm also helped by the fact that she's not going back to her mother's as she was supposed to after the school year; I've filed for custody.

[mopinko]

10. do you all know

that bp is getting more common and appearing at younger and younger ages with each generation? i am uber sceptic about holistic stuff, but there are double blind tests that show that high dfa omega 3 supplements are very helpful for bp. the replacement of corn and soybean oils for more complex fats in diets goes hand in hand with increases in bp, and well as mojor depression and other mental illnesses.
cold water fish oils are the best supplements, salmon oil is #1. the more the better strategy does not apply. 1 gram works better than 2 which is better than 5.
be watchful for signs of mania, as it can happen.

[ironflange]

14. Flax oil helps a lot in our household

[mopinko]

16. no

flax oil does not contain dha, which is the important component. even cod liver oil is better.
this is a good website/book.
http://www.bipolarchild.com/newsletters/0501.html

this article is about fatty acids.

[JohnLocke]

12. A DUer I know is bipolar but doesn't want it out here, so I'm a proxy.

He asked me to check in for him. :hi:

[mopinko]

17. say proxy hi

how's s/he doing?

[JohnLocke]

18. Fine.

A recent diagnosis, but he's doing as fine as ever. :)

[mopinko]

29. sucks to hear those words

for a minute, it is great to have a word to call it. then the size of it sinks in. blech.

[TrogL]

15. Rapid cycling

three days up, three days down (with variants)

Today is day two of a downswing.

[sus]

19. I was diagnosed about six weeks ago.

[Ellen Forradalom]

21. Welcome to the club.

The adjustment to the Dx can be quite a process. But it's possible to make one's peace with it.

[sus]

22. thanks.

he's starting me on Lamictol and i'm in week five now.

[lazarus]

24. Best of luck

I'm still trying to find the right meds, unfortunately.

If you ever need anything, or to vent, etc., feel free to email or PM me.

[Elidor]

25. My significant other is/was

She was recently rediagnosed with some generic-sounding term I can't recall - something that involved aspects of both bipolar and schizophrenia - perhaps it was the new name for schizoaffective disorder, I don't know. They change the names every couple of years now, and I can't get her to talk about it very much.

It's played HELL on our relationship. She's VERY resistant to treatment. She recently announced her intention to quit taking her antipsychotic meds, and I am very uneasy about it. I don't know how we can survive as a couple if she has more episodes, because she pushes me away with one hand and pulls me close with the other.

When I log onto DU in her presence, I have to be prepared to explain to her every thread I am reading and anything I post in response, because she is convinced that I cheat on her - ME, who went 7 years without a relationship before I met her! It's hell. It must be love, too, or I'd have walked away by now.

[mopinko]

31. the more they learn

the more it all runs together, it seems. it will be great if they can get to where they have a clear diagonstic something.

how long have you been together? it is very tough on so's. my daughter loves to threaten to stop taking her meds. i learned not to panic at that. she cools off, and takes them.

[BlueJazz]

26. Hey...forradalom...Screw You!!

I've always enjoyed reading your posts... You have a nice way with words...You Creep!

Yes, I've been diagnosed with Bi-Polar but Drugs (Legal ones) have helped. :)

[Ellen Forradalom]

27. Speaking of a way with words

You really know how to make a girl's heart sing, doncha? Cheers!

[BlueJazz]

30. Oh...I'm just kidding. Your post brought to mind my former

..self. I had fairly wide mood swings and would be happy one second and "down in the dumps" the next.
Thanks to drugs, I'm usually in a more normal mode.

[Droopy]

32. I have schizoaffective disorder

It's a mixture of manic-depression and schizophrenia. I have to take Lithium and Geodon which is an anti-psychotic. Those meds saved my life.

I was hospitalized three times before they got the diagnosis right. But I guess I can forgive them becasue it is a rare disease and I really wasn't too helpful with giving them information that they needed. There were a lot of things that I used to not be able to talk about concerning my illness. I just couldn't bring myself to say that I hear voices when nobody is around or that I thought people could read my mind. I was too afraid I guess. Paranoid.

All's well now. I can live a normal life as long as I keep taking those meds. But it was a long time coming. I went about nine years without being treated. When I look back on it, I'm surprised that I'm still alive.