Posted by wendy b. on April 12, 2002, at 11:57:40
In reply to The price you pay for hypomania, posted by Ponder on April 8, 2002, at 18:52:01
> > > Maybe that will be my new goal: the search for a constant hypomania.
> >>
> > I feel like I should know the answer to this question. I am seeing a new psychotherapist. One of the things I have asked her to do is to help me monitor my mood and watch for trends up or down. I "lose insight" as they say, when either depressed or hypomanic and often don't take appropriate action until things get extreme.
> This women has said to me that I should not be concerned about hypomania; that I should just go with it and enjoy it. I always thought that an important part of avoiding depression was controlling hypomania...the what-goes-up-must-come-down concept. She says this is not true. Now I'm confused. Input?
Hi there,I suffer from bipolar 2, and am on a ton of Neurontin, which seems to work well for the mood-stabilizing effect, and Wellbutrin. Xanax as needed for anxiety. I am sorry - your therapist is not right about letting the hypomanic phases do what they will, I'm afraid.
Hypomanic phases can always escalate into full-blown mania, & believe me, you DO NOT want to go there. ANY hypomanic phase has the potential to do this, and the longer you let those neurotransmitters keep firing in the same ways they always have, the harder it is to control. Full-blown mania is where you walk naked down the streets carrying large pieces of furniture and get picked up by the police, or get in fights and really hurt somebody, or kill yourself, or just end up in a hospital in restraints. I don't mean to scare you, but it's true - for a real wakeup call, read Kay Redfield Jamison's books, listed in the book club page on this Board. You do not want the mania.
The aim in a bipolar's medication regime is to bring your mood disorder to a level where you can function (career-wise and in relationships), so the highs do not get as high, and the lows do not drop so low. The medication (when it works right) brings your brain functioning to a normal pattern, not so erratic, and thus not so harmful to your system. Sure you will go up and down, but it is possible to be AS productive as you were during your hypomania, just not so self-aggrandizing as before, not so sure "this is the best thing anyone has ever accomplished on the face of the planet," etc, etc. Please ask for a mood-stabilizer that gets you out of those hypomanias ASAP, and if you ARE on medication, have it checked again and tell them you need to come down from that high.
Also look up the "kindling effect" on the search function of this Board, and find out more, in general, about your illness. There is so much on the web about bipolar.
I know it's hard to let go of your "old self," but the new self will be healthier with the right meds.
Off my soapbox,
Wendy
poster:wendy b.
thread:102030
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020408/msgs/102870.html