Posted by judy1 on March 13, 2003, at 10:59:18
In reply to Denial of Bipolar - frequency of episodes, posted by Sam Grimes on March 12, 2003, at 17:12:24
Hi,
Like Ritch already wrote- I also have bp1, but only take the heavy drugs during manic episodes. it took me forever (like 5 years of rapid cycling) before i accepted responsibility for my treatment). i have to emphasize that it was me, not my husband or family or doctors. it was like a door opened up and i saw the damage i was causing others. now i have a wonderful relationship with a pdoc, and often when i'm manic i'll e-mail silly poems and he will suggest i take depakote. if it gets too out of hand (psychotic), i'll add zyprexa. it took 3 years with this pdoc to reach this point, and i'm sure my husband would love to share what he went through with you. my best advice- once she is down from her hypomanic? episode (btw, nobody on this planet wants to voluntarily stop being hypomanic, it feels too good- unless it's dysphoric), sit down with her and say you love and will support her, but demand she at least see a therapist. because taking drugs daily is so difficult and unpleasent, and because her episodes are so infrequent, she may be able to get by the way i do. Ritch- lithium just had too many side effects for me, and high dose depakote with zyprexa works very quickly (2-3 days vs. a week or more for lithium). hope some of this helped, i can add more if you need tips for overspending, etc. take care of yourself-judy
poster:judy1
thread:208489
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030310/msgs/208727.html