Bi-Polar... Fianally Their Listening *UPDATE QUESTION ABOUT PHYCIC OVER DOCTORS*
 

hey guys...
i posted a thread on here a while back on what to do if you think you've been giving the wrong diagnosis...

i was diagnosed with depression and PTSD about 5 years ago, but i never really agreed with the depression part as im not always depressed and i seem to have my happy moments...

i went into hospital in februay and my mood swang all over the place so i put on a mood stableiser (carbmazipine or tegrotol) but they never said anything about changing my diagnosis...

so... long story short i was up with my consultant today and he said they think i may have had bi-polar for quite a while now... WTF!!! NO ONE TOLD ME! ive been wrecking my brains trying to argue with them that im not depressed!

why do they never tell us nothing... does this happen to anyoen else where they don't keep ya informed in anything and your left wondering all the things urself?

ANOTHER QUESTION
today i went up to see a physic but she said she wouldnt do a reading for the future because she felt at this moment and time my future looked very weak and that at this moment she was unable to predict whether i had a future or not... :crazy: anyways we got talking and she says she felt that by my aura (which was black :blink:) she felt that i did not have a mental health problem that this was normal because or what ive been thru? any advice?

It's bad that they didn't tell you when they arrived at that diagnosis but at least you know now.
Do you find the carbemazapine helpful?

Ye, kinda. I was diagnosed with depression for like almost 2 years..I did try to suggest for my terapist that I wasnt sure if it was right diagnose, and if it could be possible that it was bipolar instead..She didnt listen to me at all...But when I got hospitalized a couple months ago, they eventually(after several weeks) told me I was bipolar :P

But I find it strange that they gave you medication for bipolar without telling you that they thought you were bipolar. Ive heard that you have to be hospitalized and you have to get informed before they put you on mood stabilisators...

hey colloguial... yea the mood stableisers help alot, before hand my lows were awful and i struggled alot with them... out of all the medication im on i find the carbmazipine is the one that helps the most!

hey ghostface... how did you feel when the finally told you you ahd bi-polar? i was told i was put on the mood stableisers to stop my lows from being so intense but not a word was mentioned about bi-polar or any diagnosis for that matter...

my consultant only said they are thinking about that as i possible diagnosis but they probably wont even tell me if it turns out to be the correct one...

Ack. I would be very, very, very hesitant to believe anything that came out of a psychic's mouth. I don't believe them, I just think they are very clever in "reading" people's body language.

I would HATE for you to get it into your head that you have no future because a "psychic" could tell that you had negative body language and was therefore able to deduce you were experiecing difficulties.

But, seriously, your doctor/psychiatrist has been to university and has a degree in medicine. They know what they are talking about. Don't believe someone who claims to see into the future over someone so scientific and medical.

I really don't know she seemed pretty accurate and did say some things that she picked up on that scared me because she actually knew what was going on, things she shouldnt have known. she has a reputation of being very accurate and some things she has said in the past to other people have actually happened...
i was sceptical at first but now i don't know what to think

I think i might post about the phycic in another forum also just to see other peoples experiences

i was told i have bpolar and i find the mood stabliser i am on really helpful! :-) it certinly elps reduce my mood!

did you find eeing the phycic helpful?

My diagnosis has changed several times and the only reason i actually know what i had was because i got to see my section papers! i do not lie the fact that they change it and dont tell you its annoying and in my opionin not very helpful!

you got to see your section papers? how so i go about do that? i never get told anything about my progress or anything so i find it very confusing... i don't like it! :(

the phycic i seen was good even tho she didnt do a reading... its opened my eyes a bit and has really got me thinking.

i appealed my section, so their was massive reprt writtenand with that their were my papers aswell! i can understand why you would be confused! i still am because its changed since ive actually been sectioned! its disconcerting aswell!

Sounds like it was a positive experience then! im not sure i would have found beingtold i had a black aura ncie tho! EEK

i was going to have a tribuniral to apeal to get off my section but thankfully it never came to that i i doubt i could see my papers...

if you dont mind me asking what have you been diagnosed with?

yea it was quite weird... ive been looking up on black auras and its not a good thing to have apparently

I saw my section papers. I just asked to see them. It's your right to see them *nods*. Then I saw what grounds they had sectioned me on. Psychopathic disorder, the legal definition- "a persistent disorder or disability of mind (whether or not including significant impairment of intelligence) which results in abnormally aggressive or seriously irresponsible conduct on the part of the person concerned."

would my cpn be able to give them to me? i think i know i was sectioned the first time on a section 2 because i was threating to leave and at the time i was quite ill... the second time i was on a section 2 which progressed to a section 3 and i thini it was because legally they had to have permission to restrain me as i was getting restrained numerous times a day... they did explain at the time but u was too drugged up to remember...

what do the section papers tell you about? like not persoanlly but in general?

I've found Carbemazapine to be the most effective mood stabilizer too [am also bipolar but along with schizo-affective, though the bipolar tends to be the most dominant].
Seeing a psychic sounds interesting.
I think..but don't quote me on this..that it'd be the psychiatrist who would be able to show you the section papers not the CPN.
Sorry, I feel like I'm interfering..

I was dianosed with a personality problem and bipolar because i have horrible downs but i am not always down i can be alright at other times! they can restrain you on a section two but if it lasted longer then a month then they would have had to put you on a section 3! when your section 2 was transfered to a section 3 you would have had to have had a mh act asseement and then someone normall the social worker would have spoken to you to tell you why you have been sectioned..or at least thats what happened with me! but you would definatly of had an assessment but if you were out of it on drugs then i guess you might not remember it! i know how dopped up those drigs they give you make you! it sucks!

xxx

sweetie ur not innterfereing at all... i need all the tips i can get! i really apriciate all your replies!

the carbmazipine really did settle me down but at the beginning it made me a lot worse before i got better...
what dosage are you on?

i'll try and get my consultant to get my papers... would it matter that i switched from an adolesant ward to an adult ward... i was sectioned in the adolesant ward...

yea i remember when they told me they were putting me on a form 10 (section 3) they had my consultant doctor, my staff grade doctor a social worker and 2 staff nurses outside the door incase i kicked off...

it really does suck being so drugged up... at the time i didnt mind so much because i felt so strange but now i can hardly remember much...
its strange

All the papers that were written on the adolescent should have been transferred to the adult ward and then back to your psychiatrist I would have thought.
I'm on 800mg per day and I take it at 8pm so that I don't get the hangover tiredness effect the next day, if you take it later then you tend to be very drowsy the next morning in my experience.
My psych put me on 1000mg but I decided to cut it back. Haven't got round to telling him yet [not an advisable way to do things, heh].
What about you?, what's your dose?
I found it horrible when I started taking it, the tiredness was the worst bit.

im on 300 in the morning and 300 and night... ive been on it now about 5 months and im always very drowsy in the morning although i am on risperidone and limavain (can't spell it) and occaisionally clopromazine depending on my mood as i take it for a PRN so i guess that would contribute to the drowsiness... i mean its impossible to wake up in the mornings!

i think talking to your doctor about coming reducing your carbmazipine would be advisable really... whats the worse they can say...

do you have to get ur blood taken regularly for your tegretol levels?

im seeing my consultant again on wednesday i think i might just bring up my section papers... im curious now! :)

I have had one blood test so far and it came back that my levels were therapeutic. I've already reduced the Carbemazapine to 800mg, I probably will tell the psych [am seeing mine this week coming too]. I don't have monthly bloods or anything like that though I think people taking it are meant to.
Can understand you being curious but just hope that looking at the papers won't bring you down as they were from a time when you were quite unwell sometimes looking back at stuff like that can be depressing.
You can take the whole dose of Carbemazapine at one time eg. 600mg at 6pm or whatever time in the evening you prefer. I gather from when I've asked my psych about altering when I take it isn't much of a problem at all.
Risperidone can be quite sedating but it depends on the dose.
I know what you mean about it being impossible to get up, usually manage to drag myself out of bed around 10 but the effort involved takes liberties heh.
I hope your appt will go well on Wednesday :-)

I agree, looking at your papers can be a huge downer! i looked at them and still have a coppy that i can lookat whenever i want and it makes me think "wow i was an idoit" but if you want to see them i hope they help! itcan be clarification and make you see how ill you were so you dont go back their i suppose! :-)

it sounds like you were very unwell having so many people outside the door..not very fun esp being restrain i think that is horrible and wrong and i dont gt how one human being can do that to another i mean hold them on the floor and injecting people its horrid! :-(

I'm not on what yu guys are on, im on "depakote" anyone ever been on that? i think its not normally used or something? i'm also on olanzepine and have too reduced, but im scared of telling nyone incase they resection me and inject me with it! EEK i find it hard to wake up too but i think its due to the olanzipine rather then the depakote so i sympthasis their!

^
I've taken Depakote before but it was 5 years ago so I can't remember much of how it effected me at all apart from it made my hair curly :O
Have taken Olanzapine before also, so definitely can relate to the tiredness it causes =/

oh im on 2mg of risperidone at midday and 2mg before i go to bed...

yea ive only had my blood taken the once and that was a few weeks back but apparently if your only tegratol your meant to get it done every three months... no overally happy with that bc i dont like needles but if it has to be done it has to be done!

yea at the time they were looking to send me to a secure unit in england (im in N.Ireland) but i tried my best to settle down! yea the restraints were awful and i have visions of them everyday! i was getting restrained about 3 times a day at the time and being held down made me worse... it got me mad as hell!! but if it was to keep me safe in the end like... *shrugs shoulders*
looking at my papers would maybe bring all that back and if im struggling with what happened in hospital now that could maybe trigger it off a bit?

sunshine, would you maybe discuss with your doctor about reducing it? tell them your not happy with the dosage and explain why? im sure they wouldnt re-section you for that? just explain to them your willing to work with them but you need to have some say in it too...

ive never heard of depakote, is it a mood stableiser or something?
colloquail it made your hair curly? thats odd as hell! lol!

Odd as hell for sure!
Yes, it's a mood stabilizer.
Guessed you're in NI just by the 'Tyrone' bit :-)
[lived in Belfast last year]
I think if you're having visions already it won't help with that, in my opinion.
xx

oh... how'd you find belfast?

i think curiousity is gonna rule over this one... i wanna know now lol...
you know the way when your in inpaitent they right everyone notes every few hours... can you see them as well? now im just getting nosey :)

You can ask to see your inpatient nursing notes whilst you are an inpatient so I would've thought you can see them post admission, I don't know where they keep them so I guess it might take a bit of time for them to get them to you. Not sure.
Belfast was, well, fun :-)
Is fine to be nosy about your own notes! :-)

they keep the IP notes them on a computer system! its called RIO in england and you have to write a letter to be able to see them! but if you were in for a long time they can only give you a certain amount i think because their are so many!?

curly hair! i want that :-) yah hopefully it will work!

i too get flashbacks whenever i hear a fire alarm because it just reminds me of the panick button which they always pressed before getting restrained and it definatly doesnt help me reading back to when i was getting restrained it just makes matters worse! but if you do look at your notes i hope they help! :-)

xxx

yea whenever i hear alarms too i freak out because of the same reason! usually because i was going to restrained or some of the other girls were having a rough time too... it makes your mind go into over drive... i hated them god damn alarms, the sound just never goes away!

It wasnt really a huge surprise, it was more like; I told you so!
But they also told me they had to keep me in the hospital for a longer time than planned so they could try out different medication.
Im on lamictal now, but it hasnt really done anything for me so far.

Haha, ye, you can see them(well, your own). I regret not seeing mine:-p

How old are you? In some cases they are hesitant to give someone a firm diagnosis because of their age, and teens can have a lot going on that affects their moods that isn't related to a mental health disorder at all.

I also just want to add that I wouldn't believe a word out of a psychic's mouth. They are trained in something called "cold reading" which is a type of reading people that can elicit a lot of information without you even realizing it, and is very very effective.

Im 18 but ive been in these services since i was 13 then changed from CAMHS to adult services when i was in hospital...

ive heard of that cold reading and it does make me weary but this women seems to really want ot help me, she's not going to do a phychic reading at the mo but shes going to do this thing were she'll cleanse my spirit...

the way im looking at it ive got nothing to lose...

whats lamictal ghostface? if they come to a final diagnosis that i am in actual fact Bi-polar will this mean having to go back to hospital even though im on a mood stableiser?

Even if they do give you a firm diagnosis I don't see any reason for you to go back to hospital unless they really feel you have to. With me (I'm bi-polar and live in Belfast) they give me the choice to go in as I get much support in the community and they prefer it that way, so I only go if it gets to the point where I'm a danger to myself.

Just to let you know I only got my diagnosis this year although they had been thinking about it. I had been diagnosed with severe clinical depression 6 years earlier though had been to and from my doctors from I was 15 with problems. No matter what age you are, though especially if you are younger, it can take a long time for them to diagnose you.

You have a right to see any of your medical notes, though they may charge you a small amount for them, and they may also refuse if they feel it would be detrimental to your health.

I doubt they will make you go back into hospital unless they think you are a risk to yourself or others or you feel you would want to go in! although the cost of keeping someone in hospital is ALOT so they will probably do everything they can to keep you out of hospital!

cleansing of your spirit sounds interesting! tell me if you think it helps? :-)
xxx

Just as an FYI, in the current DSM IV, which is the diagnostic guide for mental health disorders one of the diagnostic criteria for Bi-Polar disorder is being 18 or older, although some doctors don't adhere to that.

so you have to be 18 before they can actually diagnois bi-polar!? that would explain why their leaving it to now to look into it a bit more?

i was talking to my cpn about it 2day and she said that theres some sort of illness there that it needs to be detailed alot because im not always depressed but she said its definatly not a personality disorder.

starnight, were you in knockbracken by any chance? i was in donard the adolesant ward for quite a while.

yea sunshine il definalty let ya's no how the cleansing went... im so excited but aparently its gonna be a lot of facing up to my past which im not ready for but i can stop at any time right?