Posted by CK1 on November 3, 2005, at 15:16:33
In reply to Re: Hypomania-- a solution to TR Depression?, posted by Iansf on November 3, 2005, at 12:36:56
Girl,
The same thing happened to me on Paxil. I became sooo confidant, cocky, and happy. People gravitated towards me because I was so jovial and comical. I felt like this for a year and a half on Paxil and then it died off to feeling "good." There is a fine line between feeling "too good" and just "normal" and this needs to be addressed. If an SSRI makes you feel GREAT for an entire year and then poops out now nothing works, there is a serious chance you're bipolar.
Medications poop out significantly more in bipolar people as I know many people who have had sustained benefit from an SSRI for 10 years or more. Poop out is fairly common, but normally someone can simply go on to the next SSRI and feel good again.
In retrospect, I think I felt a little "too good" on Paxil and a lot of my friends spoke to me about being nicer to people and less cocky. I went up to new york for a summer to photograph and thought I was going to become a famous photographer and shoot for Vogue Magazine in the next two years. I slept MUCH less, sometimes 5 hours a night and felt great in the morning, went out and partied 4-5 days a week, etc. Things were great, but there is such a think as "too great" and this never lasts. This one year of happiness you spoke about sounded pretty darn good. Maybe you felt 10 degrees BETTER than normal for that year!In the past 10 months, I've been treated as someone with social anxiety/depression/ADD, and nothing is "clicking" and, worse yet, the SSRI's are making me jittery and agitated.
I believe I've been barking up the wrong tree with regards to my treatment. DIAGNOSIS IS KEY! If you are indeed bipolar and you are put solely on AD's, chances are you'll never get better and, if you do, it won't be for long.
I put off the notion that I have bipolar for the past few months because I didn't want to accept it, but all signs point towards it. My response to AD's alone, treatment resistance, SSRI SUCCESS followed by poopout, etc. Poop out alone should "hint" at the possibility of bipolar.
Anyway, food for thought. It's been 3 years since something has worked and you haven't even considered the bipolar diagnosis??? I'd find a new pdoc!
poster:CK1
thread:574432
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051031/msgs/575040.html