I need advice.....If you are bipolar then are you treated with medicine or not?

Question

If so, what are you taking?

I have been treated but feel better when i was non-treated.....I feel awful and miserable....I was thinking about going back to nontreated .......I need help and advice.

I plainly said I feel better when NON TREATED ......why do you keep saying that I said the opposite...

Answer 1

So, if you feel awful see your DR, you probably need to adjust them.
Keep taking your meds, I have depression, and I finally told myself that I had to stay on my meds and not skip doses anymore, and after about a month I feel A LOT better.

Answer 2

It could be many things. Maybe you were misdiagnosed. Maybe you don't need medication, or most likely this specific medication is just not working for you. Because you know your body better than the doctor does and you know what works for you and what does not.

I was diagnosed bipolar fifteen years ago. It took some time for me to get on the right med and the right dosage but I finally did and I have been stable ever since. For me, medication and a few years of therapy worked. Everyone is different.

You said that you feel miserable so I would let your doctor know. You are your best advocate, you know you, so listen to what your body says and stand up to the doctors and tell them whats working and what is not working. It sounds like this med is not working. And not all bipolar people have to take meds. I do but you may not have to or you may need something else. Make sure you are going to a doctor who knows their **** about depression and meds. And make sure you are not seeing a doctor who is just pushing their favorite med because alot of shrinks have their favorites and they don't work for everyone. I am a therapist too but I only work with drug and alcohol clients. The main reason I have been able to maintain my sanity is that I listened to me instead of them. Good luck.

Answer 3

I am bi polar and my symptoms are managed with medicine. I take Depakoe. If you feel better nontreated than treated, tell your doctor. There are lots of medicines out there for us and some are just not the right ones for our particular systems. You are not doing yourself any favors by going off the medicine. The symptoms you normally show will worsen about by 2 then 4 then 8. Once medicated again, sometimes those symptoms never go away. Please go back to your doctor and tell her what you said here and you would be very willing to try another medicine because this one has not worked for you.

Answer 4

It took me FOREVER to find a helpful med. And I didn't really think it was helping that much, but my husband says it is helping extremely much, so to some extent, you may need to talk to others. It is hard to keep taking the meds when they give you headaches, make you sleep too much, get dizzy etc. But you have to keep trying.

I went for years without helpful meds because nothing worked for me. I did all the counselling and used a light box (for seasonal affective disorder, but most bipolars feel worse in the winter if they live up north) and kept a routine and honestly, I really have my act together with this bipolar thing, and it still wasn't enough. If you find a pill that works, it makes all the difference. For me, it was Lamictal, that one works on depression quite well. Some pills did make me feel worse, and sometimes it was probalby just a coincidence, I maybe had PMS (makes bipolar worse for ladies) or maybe it was winter and I wasn't getting enuf sunlight, or maybe just my bipolar was randomly worse. It's so hard to tell. But I know for a fact that some pills did make me worse. so take notes & don't use that pill again if you are sure it was that medication.

Most of the others on here are right, you have to keep trying. And ask your loved ones what their opinion is too, and if you have trusted them in the past, trust them now and take their word for it if they say your behavior is better and the side effects are probably worth it. It is one of the symptoms of mental disorders not to realize that your thinking and behavior are off. It kinda freaks me out, because I am quite intelligent, and to realize that I don't think right sometimes is very unsettling.

Good luck! Maybe you would benefit from joining a support group for bipolars? If you live in a major city, there probalby is one.

Answer 5

In virtually all cases, bipolar is treated with medications. They may also receive therapy and other treatments.

You need to go back--to the prescriber of the meds. He or she needs to know how you are feeling, and check on what these meds have been doing for (or against) you.

Do not EVER stop taking meds without a doctor weaning you off--or replacing with something else.

Answer 6

Go back to your Dr. I was in cognitive behavior therapy as well as medication of different types for 2 years, I was feeling the same as you. Thank god my Dr. finally found a medication that works for me. Dont give up the alternative is worse, believe me I've been there. Sometimes it takes a lot of trying to get a good match for you, my medication may or maynot work for you. See your Dr. and tell him/her that you are still not feeling well.

Today I am able to work. I never ever thought I would work again.

If you only being treated with medication , you should ask your Dr. about attending individual and group therapy. It worked for me.

Good Luck..Things will get better..

Answer 7

God Bless you! It is a long hard struggle to find the right medication. For me, I only had to try 2. First I tried Zoloft, nothing. It was like taking nothing. They played with dosages, still nothing. Then, I tried Paxil. I felt better, but it would drag down the muscles in my face into a frown and I couldn't control it. Then, Effexor. It was just right. (Sound like a 3 Bears story?) My daughter, who is also Bi-polar, tried even more Effexor gave her some relief, but we had to try 5 long years and she tried different things. Some made her gain a lot of weight that she is still working on getting rid of. But she finally found a combo of Effexor and Trileptor and she feels fine with that. So, don't give up and keep at it. In today's day and age no one should have to feel subhuman.

Answer 8

I'm sorry, but those are the side effects of your meds you are taking, and the biggest reason for people to "fall back off the wagon." They quit taking the meds.

You and your doctor may have to tweek the meds. Don't give up on finding the right meds- it may take a while, because many of the meds cannot just be stopped in a day.

Answer 9

Medication is the only way to deal with bi-polar disorder that is effective. When you say you feel better being non-treated it's the bi-polar disorder that causes you to think this way.

Do yourself and everyone else that comes in contact with you a BIG FAVOR and take the medication.

Answer 10

Sounds like your manic symptoms are being treated but not the depression ones. Whatever you do, don't stop taking your meds until your doctor says you can. Ask to be switched to a different medicine.