HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

i need advice on bipolar symptoms

Support Forums
>
Bipolar Disorder
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 8/6/2007 9:50 PM (GMT 0)
i have suffored from hypochondriac symptoms for years. i get real anxious over a medical term and think i have the symptoms. i go over and over in my mind with the what if's until it leads to panic attacks and loss of appetite for weeks recently my dr said becuase of these "racing thoughts" i could be bipolar she put me on zyprexa 5mg a day but the only difference i noticed between my paxil and zyprexa was that i slept alot more and gained 17 pounds in 3.5 weeks and retained major fluid in my legs and feet. when i went off of it because of the side affects i decided to see how my symptoms went. i made it a week before the panic attacks started back disrupting sleep and days. i had a fear of going crazy and being institutinalized or something. that fear is a little better but now i just feel super depressed like my will to fight is gone. i can't think of nothing but that i am not getting better and it scares me. i was wondering if i truly am bipolar or if i have some sort of panic /depression dissorder. i don't really have big highes or anything and this is the first big Low. any comments?
Posted 8/7/2007 1:53 AM (GMT 0)

Godsgrace,

Below are the common symptoms of bipolar illness.  What type of symptoms did you have to make the pdoc diagnose you?  If you feel uncomfortable taking your meds or having no change in your mood, you should definetly discuss it with your doc.  You do not want to keep taking meds, if you are not feeling better.  I also wanted to let you know that some meds take from a few days to over a month to start working.  

I have taken zyprexa (10mg) in the past for a little over a month, it made me sleep too much (14-16 hrs), but I didn't gain too much weigh (like 10-12 lbs over the 1 month+ I took it), but I didn't reallize it was mostly water weight till after taking it.  So hang in there, and contact your pdoc, or talk to a pharmacy about it.

  • Feeling very irritable or angry
  • Thinking and talking so fast that other people can't follow your thoughts
  • Not sleeping at all
  • Feeling very powerful and important
  • Having trouble concentrating
  • Spending too much money
  • Abusing alcohol and drugs
  • Having sex without being careful to prevent pregnancy or disease

Other signs of depression may include the following:

  • No interest or pleasure in things you used to enjoy, including sex
  • Feeling sad or numb
  • Crying easily or for no reason
  • Feeling slowed down, or feeling restless and irritable
  • Feeling worthless or guilty
  • Change in appetite; unintended change in weight
  • Trouble recalling things, concentrating or making decisions
  • Headaches, backaches or digestive problems
  • Problems sleeping, or wanting to sleep all of the time
  • Feeling tired all of the time
  • Thoughts about death and suicide

Posted 8/7/2007 2:48 AM (GMT 0)
i don't have any of the top symptoms but some of the bottom. in your opinion ,do you think i am just suffering from depression or can depression only be a sign of bipolar?
Posted 8/7/2007 2:49 AM (GMT 0)
when they say you have racing thoughts as a symptom of bipolar, what does it mean?
Posted 8/7/2007 3:43 AM (GMT 0)
Just a though, racing is hyper. So maybe the racing thoughts is the mania part. That is one of my biggest mania symptoms.
Posted 8/7/2007 3:54 AM (GMT 0)
Godsgrace,

When I have racing thought, it feels like thoughts are flying through my head.  Most of the time, I can't even think clearly.  Everything becomes fuzzy, I can't even keep up with simple conversations.

Here is a link that explains it a little better.  http://bipolar.about.com/cs/mania/a/bl_racing.htm

I hope you find it helpful.

Posted 8/7/2007 4:56 PM (GMT 0)
i think my thoughts are a little different from that. i just get one thing on my mind and worry, worry ,worry until the whole thing is blown out of poportion which leads to anxiety attacks. but it is all i canthink about. if i make myself i can go on with normal life but i obsesse over it. does this sound like racing thoughts to any one? does any one think i have been misdiagnosed as bipolar? thanks
Posted 8/7/2007 10:41 PM (GMT 0)
Dear Godsgrace

I also have been recently dx'd with bp ( mid June), but I an definitely relate to the racing thoughts. It is likely different for everyone, but here is what I came to discover about myself.....I over-thought everything. I was consumed with making sure I was pleasing to everyone else and that my decisions kept me in good standing-so to speak. I was constantly several thoughts ahead of the actual situation I was in, hoping my next move would be the right one. It was obsesive in a sense, the way I needed to make sure I was liked by the circle of people I was with at that moment. The sad thing is that I lost my ability to have an opinion on things....even small things like what we should have for supper. I am working daily on having my own opinion on things and it feels really good.

My husband suffered from this the worst. Because my self-esteem was/is low what ever he did or didn't do, I turned around into a negative tone against me. I had him in a no win situation. I had so much fear, worry, resentment, built up inside me because I never opened up my true feelings, this inevitably made my brain work overtime on trying to contain all these thoughts. I have started on lithium and I can't believe the difference I feel already. I explain it to my husband like it is literally a physial feeling that things are moving slower in my brain. I am thankful for what it has already done for me in helping me realize goals and start to have confidence that I can carry through with them. I still have a long road ahead of me, as does my relationship with my husband, .....But for the first time I feel like I am actually thinking for myself, and that , that is OK.

Hope this helped some
Dutchie
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply