So I have been irritable for well over a month now....off and on. January 3rd, I had a panic attack in the middle of the night. I went to my GP that gave me lexapro that made my panic WAY WORSE taking it twice, so I did not take it anymore. 3 weeks later she sends me to a psych. That mentioned bipolar to me. She later said I was not bipolar and told me she wanted me to try lexapro again. However I did not try it because I have been terrified because of "possibly" being bipolar. I am 29. I have never had a doctor tell me before that I was bipolar.
Anyways for the last 8 months. I am constantly analyzing how I feel and always thinking my symptoms are mimicking bipolar. I wonder if they really are if my anxiety makes me think they are because that has been my biggest fear since the day she mentioned it.
Anyways like I said I have been really irritable for quite sometime. Sometimes I feel like I have cloudy vision, other times things seem really clear to me, sometimes I sleep all night and still tired the next morning, and sometimes I wake up at 4am and stay wide awake for about an hour before I can go back to sleep. Sometimes I feel really jittery, and for about a day I feel like I do everything at a really really fast pace. Sometimes I feel like there is no hope to getting better, other days I feel confident that I can beat whatever is happening.
I have read that anxiety is a part of bipolar. Is this bipolar with anxiety, or is it just anxiety or is it just bipolar?
My GP and psych seems to be putting me through the mill and will never give me a straight up answer either way since they found out my fear is bipolar.
Sorry you are going through this. Honestly if it were me, I would get another opinion from a counselor who specializes in anxiety, bipolar etc.
anxiety is very common in many conditions including bipolar, OCD, etc.
but anxiety can also be present by itself without those conditions.
I actually prefer speaking with a counselor because sometimes the psych doctor's in my experience don't help me as much. But that's just me. I find counselors to be more personable, more helpful and easier to talk to. The only thing is they can't prescribe medication. The way you are feeling and the symptoms you have are very common with general anxiety.
Hi , I have suffered from depression for a long time and have been on meds for it . They work well for me and there are days when I feel great and days when I don`t want to get out of bed but in general have more good days than bad. My usual psychiatrist retired 6 months ago and on my first visit to the new guy I was having a bad day, my sister was in hospital and I was angry about her treatment and then crying because I was afraid of losing her. Within 20 minutes he told me that he thought I had bipolar disorder , I was shocked that the first time he saw me he could throw a diagnosis at me. He gave me a prescription for meds which I didn`t even hand in to the pharmacy. Like you I have been looking up symptoms of bipolar and seeing is that me, have I all those symptoms and usually I do not. It freaked me out as I could not understand how just because he saw me on one of my bad days I was now not just depressed but bipolar. It made my anxiety worse and like you I was analysing everything I did. Eventually told my gp and he said that my depression may have gotten a bit worse but he did not agree with the bipolar diagnosis. Your vision, sleeping pattern and all the problems you have are exactly like mine. He gave me some Diazepam 2mg and I can take up to 4 a day if needed. I take them when I feel jittery and have found them to be a great help and now that I have put bipolar to the back of my mind I am a lot less anxious and feel a lot better. Some doctors and psychiatrists throw labels on people and do not realise how it affects us but I am happily depressed and not bipolar. Hope this does you some good. Take care of yourself
I really don't think I am bipolar. And I am not saying anything bad about it. But the medicine she wants me to take, lexapro, would make it worse had I be bipolar which is the scary part. She did give me xanex but I haven't taken many because they make me sleepy. What kind of medicine is diazepam? Is it good for anxiety and panic attacks too?
Diazepam is just another brand of valium. It is similar to xanax but not as strong as xanax. I get it in 2mg tablets and one of them is enough to calm me down and if I am overly anxious I know that I can take two. It does not make me sleepy even if I take it during the day and even though I have been on it for a while it still works as well as it did when I first started. It is also absorbed into the system quicker than xanax so works faster. It comes in different strengths , I tried a 5mg a few times as the dr gave them to me to help me sleep and I had a great sleep and woke up feeling refreshed and happy. I stick with the 2mg ones as it is easier to add another if I need it rather than take the 5mg and not be able to function. Hope this helps, I have had panic attacks and depression for 15yrs but am happy with my meds and stable now.