Unfortunately, you can't force people to take their meds. The difficult thing is that when you are manic, it's actually a pretty cool feeling. Unfortunately, you eventually come down from it and have to deal with the consequences of spending too much, having indescriminate sex, etc. The depression part is typically the overwhelming force for me. I have put my family through hell. Especially my Mom and daughter. You would think that a person who lived through her Father's suicide would know that no child goes through a parent's suicide unscathed. Unfortunately, when you are depressed (or manic), your thought process is soooo skewed, that you actually believe that the people you care about would be better off without you.

I have been fortunate in that I have a family and a couple of incredible friends that have never given up on me, even when I gave up on myself. All I can say is be there for her and hope that as she gets through her teens she will realize the effect her illness has on her and the people that care about her and take the meds. They are not a cure-all, but I know for sure I would be dead without them.

God bless and good luck!

As someone who was VERY high functioning (a computer programmer and analyst) for 13 years after being diagnosed, I know the uneducated comments some people make are difficult to handle. I was hospitalized almost once a year for those 13 years, but would only be off work for a few weeks. It was sad, because if I had been in the hospital for a "medical" illness, my coworkers would have been informed and there would have been flowers, cards, etc. Unfortunately, bi-polar seems to be a "don't ask - don't tell" illness. When I got back, I would just go to another project and proceed to work myself into another episode. Only a select few knew. Now, I'm very open with everyone. Hopefully, they can see that I don't have two heads and fangs and I can help educate them on the illness.

I'm a bi-polar rapid cycler, have been since I was diagnosed at 17, spent years on and off my meds, I was young, headstronge and in-denial. Finally checked myself in to a program, found some meds that worked and stayed on them for a year. Then my Doctors wanted to try ECT did 2 rounds of it a day for 12 weeks, was monitored for another 4 weeks and have never needed meds since. Gave me a lot of control and eased my episodes. Almost kinda like a cure, but doesn't always work for everybody.

I agree that many people are uneducated when it comes to mental illness. I also think that the stigma is slowly getting less. I know many people who are on something for some kind of mental illness. That could be because I work in the field. There are so many ads on tv that will hopefully do something to decrease the stigma. Also, some of those people who act uneducated have it in their own family but are not willing to accept it for some strange reason.

Two of my exes are bipolar...and my brothers ex girlfriend...and sometimes I wonder if I am...

should have mentioned that i'm unusual as far as bipolar patients......

i don't show outward signs of the rage or depressions, and i haven't had a mania stage in nearly seven years.......


and the medication doens't slowly quit working for me, IT STOPS SUDDENLY, landing me in the hospital.....

so far i've, since age 9, been on tegretol, mellaril, lithium, klonopin, topamax, prozac, wellbutrin, abilify, and trileptal...........

i'm currently taking lamictal and effexor XR


if these quit working on me i'm seriously thinking about the ECT....might not have a choice....

how is that working out? My daughter is on lamictal - she has taken prozaz, lexapro, abilify, risperdal and trazodone...

well i've been on lamictal since november and iit's by far the best mood stabilizer i've ever been placed on....just make your daughter watches out for the rash.

yeah, the hospital warned us about the rash.

YES I AM THREW OUT THE YEARS I FOUND THAT MANY PEOPLE FIND THIS INTRASTINE,ME WELL SOME ARE DIFFRENT,,,,IAM FUNNY DUMB AS,WHEN I DONT BE IN THAT STAGE NONE WOULD TELL IF I WAS,,ITS CRAZY I TEND TO GET IN THAT MOOD WHEN I GET NERVOUS OR DEPRESSED WHY BEATS ME..BUT SOME HAVE WORST FROM A OK MOOD TO A VIOLANT MOOD WHICH IS MEDECATED TO CONTROL...BUT YES I AM BUT THE FREINDS AROUND ME TREAT ME NO DIFFERENT I GUESS THEY KNOW THE DIFFRENCE WHEN IT DOES ACCURE WELL I HOPE YOUR OK AND CAN HELP YOUR SELF HAY BE IN TOUCH IF YOU WISH TO CHAT OK

They had to take me off the lamictal because of the rash. I've been on soooo many meds since 1994 that I have forgotten most, but they include zoloft, effexor, nortriptoline, prozac, wellbutrin, depakote, lithium, respiradol, klonapin,xanex, tegratol, paxil, cymbalta, etc. I am currently on 4 different meds. I've been on that combo for a year now and am doing pretty good.

Hope everyone is having a good day!

I was on prozac for a whole 3 days until I became so suicidal taking it that I had to go off of it quickly. Havent been on anything since.

I know a woman who takes something called Abilify I believe for bipolar and she said it works great for her.

My posting may not fit in here but my experience with bi-polar is a little different than most…as it turns out was not bi-polar but had a heart condition…

I went most of childhood and early adult life diagnosed as bi-polar. All kinds of meds, Lithium, Ativan, Depakote constantly changing dosage, strength, times etc. Out side of that I was in good health nothing that ever hospitalized. Until one day in 1992 was having a really really bad manic episode and a friend took me to the ER.

After about an hour and enough Ativan to knock out a horse, heart rate still way up, a Dr. walking through the ER saw me hooked up an EKG machine, and in about 10 min after that had me heading for the surgery for a condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. After 4 hours of heart surgery, and 14 extra connections between my AV and AO nodes severed I felt like a million bucks…

Turns out that WPW is a congenital birth defect and with enough extra connections can send your heart racing, cause you system flood with Adrenalin and when the heart finally drops you get a crash…out ward appearance of …ta-da

That was the last day I took meds and have not had an episode of any kind since. My therapist at the time paid out of pocket to have about 60 other bi-polars checked…9 out of the 60 had WPW.

Wow Frosty.....sounds like your one lucky guy! That's an amazing story!

your comment makes sense...obviously there are different levels of this disorder..I think I was/am right in the middle...I don't know...I have never got an official diagnosis, that is to say, I've never seen a doctor..but my ex girlfriend..(years ago)..she kept on saying that I was bi-polar and manic depressive...we did argue a lot...also, she really did suffer from this disease/disorder...I didn't know if she said I had it just to make her feel better..or if I really did have it...perhaps both were the case...needless to say, after we broke up..I went on to graduate school, graduated, feel fine now...never taken any medication or had any professional consultations...perhaps it was just the circumstances during the time I was dating her that made it appear I had it...

Roco

Im bipolar apparently, was diagnosed as having a mild case on Val Day this year, but Im not sure if I was diag right. Im not in denial, I just think Im more depressed than ne thing. I carry more signs of the depressive site than the manic, but I also know that not all ppl carry all the symptoms. Whenever I get a chance to go see my new psychiatrist, Ill have her rediagnose me and if she also says Im bp, then ok. My brother is apparently bipolar also. I have a good question for everyone: is there a way to know HOW LONG youve had it? I may have been diagosed with it on Val Day, but that doesnt say HOW LONG Ive suffered with it. The main thing I have to watch out for is when something frustrates me and/or I get impatient cause thats when I can get a real short temper. Plus when I get like that I tend to talk to ppl, depending on who it is, like theyre stupid. For ex, if Im saying something and they dont hear me, Ive been known to say it real sarcastically, sounding as if theyre dumb or something and I hate when I get like that. Its as if the emotion just takes over and I have no control. Im not on ne meds. Was on Depakote ER. It worked in the very beginning, but my dose was too high, so it got lowered n felt like I was taking a vitamin, so I stopped it. My counselor will love to hear that when I see her . Hopefully this will all be resolved soon and I can work on getting better. Thanks for reading.

I was diagnosed with bi polar as well as severe depression in January of this year.

My therapists just always said I had depression until the couple of times that I was in a SEVRELY manic state around them. I would bounce around and get up and rearrange stuff around the room and talklikethisandlikeohmygodicouldn'tcontrolwhatiwassayingandblahblahblah. I laughed uncontrollably and made a joke out of everything and then about three minutes later i was bawling my eyes out and didn't know why.

It is so frustrating to go through the mood swings without even having a trigger. I've lost friends because they couldn't deal with me.

I stopped taking my meds about a month ago because my father told me that i was a different person and that i wasn't "his" daughter anymore. i have an appointment with my psychiatrist on the 29th.. he's going to strangle me.

BP is a hard thing to ive with whether you have it yourself or one of your friends or loved ones has it.

Oh its been driving me nuts. When my brother was apparently diagnosed, I was like 'wow', but it all made sense, fit him like a glove, but me? No way! I even worked with a girl, was her assistant, and found out she had bipolar. I was like oh ****, but she never REALLY took it out on me. I was lucky, cause she HAS had episodes at work, but it was before I got there. This was all before I knew I had it, if I have it. I thought I just needed anger management or something; had NO idea my counselor was gonna say Im bp. Now I cant get it out of my head sometimes. I wish I knew WHEN I got it, WHEN it started, not just when I was diagnosed. I think it started back when my mom died in '95. I had a job at the time and kept it for 2 yrs after so I kept busy and my mind occupied, but when I left that job in '97, thats when the bad depression kicked in. All I did all day then was think about her and how I miss her, so on top of all that, I self medicated myself with 3 bottles of wine a day and smoked a lot of pot...a lot, gained weight and went downhill, couldnt hold a job, nothing. I sure hope my new psy says Im just depressed and not bp, but if I am, I shall deal with it. How can we find out though WHEN we got it or WHEN it started; anyone know?

I don't think you'll ever really know for sure when your symptoms began. I was diagnosed in 1994, but I look back at my life and can see the symptoms back in the 1980's. They say it can be hereditary. In my case it looks like it is. My Father was never diagnosed, but he took his own life in 1981 and being more educated on it now, I can see the symptoms in his behavior when I was younger. There are some studies that say you may be born with the gene, but it may never manifest itself unless you are faced with a traumatic event or severe stress.

Also, there are different types of bipolar. I believe it is bipolar II that shows typically depressive behavior as opposed to a lot of manic episodes.