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Posted 1/3/2009 11:15 PM (GMT 0)

Hello, I have posted here maybe once I think, I mostly post on the CP forum.  But, since I have been diagnosed Bipolar I have tried to read up on the subject. 

 

Having bad Chronic Pain issues I have come to realize that being Bipolar comes with the territory.   I'm not sure which came first "the chicken or the egg" but I do know that many many people with Chronic Pain also are Bipolar.

 

Also, most addicts have mental health issues.  Since addiction is an issue with CP I was wondering if it was an issue with Bipolar as well. 

 

I was misdiagnosed with Clinical Depression for years before they finally listened to me about the medications not working and diagnosed me Bipolar.  Not that that is any kind of a Prize or anything, but it helps to know what is really wrong.  Maybe in a few years they will come up with something else...who knows?

 

Anybody got any ideas about the subject of dual diagnosis?

 

Me.

Posted 1/4/2009 5:06 PM (GMT 0)
I'm surprised no one has responded, uniquelyme. I imagine the two do overlap more that we talk about. I know that fibromyalgia and bp go together a lot as do -- obviously -- addiction issues and bp, as you said. There are a few members on our board with fibro too, and perhaps they're just not feeling well enough to respond. SO many of us -- more than not, I'd guess -- we diagnosed with depression before bp. So you're not alone there. But you're absolutely right, it does help to know what's really wrong.

Hope you're feeling okay these days,
serafena
Posted 1/11/2009 8:20 AM (GMT 0)

Okay, Sera, I will be the one to respond then lol...

Yes Uniquelyme, I am one of the ones who have both Bipolar and Fibromyalgia.. dx'd with Bipolar a year before the Fibro, but suffered from the Bipolar throughout my life and entire childhood.

I think a lot of times like Serafena has said Fibro and Bipolar do go hand-and-hand and I was told that from being Bipolar my whole life and going through all my episodes and nervous breakdowns could in fact be the reason why I have Fibromyalgia today - all the mental trauma and stress I have suffered.

However, I wasn't dx'd with depression at all before the bipolar diagnosis, I think because the mania was so evident in my case. You had to have experienced manic episodes (even if it was just a few EVER) in order to be bipolar, as opposed to just plain depressed. There IS a big difference between the two.

Addictions and mental health issues of course can go hand-and-hand as well. I struggled with my share of addictions in my high school years and was told that most people with Bipolar do tend to have addiction problems. Those addiction days are behind me now thank god! yeah

But if you don't feel right about your diagnosis of something, don't let it get you down... don't give up on yourself because you are right, it ALWAYS helps to KNOW what is wrong. If you don't know what exactly is wrong, how can you ever get better? Don't go through life with constant questions and no answers. Get the opinion of more than one doctor, if not a few different ones.

I wish you the best of luck. Take care and be positive! turn

AND SORRY I DIDN'T FIND THIS THREAD SOONER!

_____________________________________________________________

21 years old

Fibromyalgia, Bipolar Disorder, OCD, Irrational fears

Posted 1/11/2009 10:00 AM (GMT 0)
Nice to meet a fellow Fibromite with BiPolar, uniquelyme. I was slow to respond here over xmas and New Years as computer was acting up (doesn't do the xmas thing well either), and we were having a crisis of unusual proportions. Domestic Disturbance between Dad who has Alzheimers, and for whom I cared solely for two years, tried to take a swing at my son, whom he'd pinned into a corner in kitchen. Five ambulances, four mounties, six doctors later, he (Dad) was deemed a danger to others and self. So he sits in a hospital bed, doesn't have the first clue why he's there, I am morbidly depressed and in a Fibro Flare. Everything hurts. Dx'd BiPolar II, most of my disease manifests as depression, but give me a couple hundred dollars and all h--- breaks loose. Also, when in Manic phase, I pace, am horribly cranky, don't want to be bothered with anyone, feel like my skin is crawling, feel tremendous pressure in my head. Often, I develope a migraine.
Posted 2/1/2009 1:15 PM (GMT 0)
Oh yes, I have had chronic pain since I'm 17 and been diogonesed with bipolor a few years ago but keep going off my medication whenever I fel even cause it is so boring I think. But  I am not sure.  I also have fibro and I just broke( 2MORE VERTIBREA BUT THIS TIME i DID IT IN THE THORASIC AREA WHICH USED TO BE PERFECT, THE ONLY AREA OF MY SPINE THAT WASN.T DAMAGED OR HAD A DEFECT.) thoracic area. HORSEBACKRIDING THIS FALL!!!!!.  I  willl never, ever get on another horse again for as long as I live and I don't care if my girl friend says I should show her horses cause I.7'm such a good rider.  I think you have to grow up riding horses to be a good rider.  I didnt and never wned a horse either so I am not.  Plus I am in tremendose amount of new pain and really and getting depressed about it.  It sucks and I hate the vicoden I need to take to function a little during the day .  At least I only take 1/2 to 2 a day  so that isn't bad and I don't think I'm addicted yet.  Someone please help me?

Kniwit

Posted 2/1/2009 3:04 PM (GMT 0)
Dear Knitwit: I think you are much too hard on yourself, in all due respect, even your handle (knitwit). I don't think you are a knitwit at all. I don't know how old you are now, but However you've survived with Chronic Pain and now, BiPolar (as am I), even the fact that you're reaching out for help shows you're a hero. I also take a codeine compound for Fibromyalgia pain as well, I was hit by a truck (while crossing the road, in a crosswalk), which left me immobile for several months, then just depressed and in pain. Soooo, here's the problem, as I see it, the meds we have torely on to keep our degree of pain at a workable level, ie. that allows us to have some kind of life, also depress the central nervous system, therefore increase depress, and possibly other BiPolar manisfestations. However, we somehow keep trudging along realizing that life raft someone just threw us, has a big whole in it and eventually will sink. What a complex situation. My pdoc, is totally against my taking pain meds, he believes they are responsible for keeping me depressed, and he's right. However, as I see it, there are no alternatives. Because, we have no life without pain meds, and will have only a partial life due to depression. I wonder what dixon put that challenge together for you and I and many others with dual diagnosis. Anyway, I am very sorry you hurt your thoracic vertebrate. Have you had a bone density scan. That can be fixed with meds and a good diet (lots of calcium). Please vent away, it makes me feel better (not to hear of your recent injury), but to hear someone is struggling with the same intertwined dual diagnosis issues.

Posted 2/2/2009 12:39 AM (GMT 0)
I feel for you both. I wish there were some way I could help knitwit! I would do it in a heartbeat. All I can do is "listen" and sympathize. (((Hugs))) serafena
Posted 2/2/2009 1:58 PM (GMT 0)
Me again: Thank-you Sarafena. I have almost a workable arrangement, that keeps the pain (75% of the time), at bay. I've been down all the convential road ways of managing BiPolar and my liver cannot withstand the large doses of anti-seizure medicine required, to fix my moods. I also was offered Topamax, but it has  a 10% chance of causing kidney stones and since all my urine tests are positive for blood, as my GP puts it, you've got some gravel in your bladder. All we need is for a couple to bond and I'll be rolling in the aisles, (and not with laughter, lol). Soooo, back to common sense. I prefer on label meds to off. This means I want my medicine to do what it was developed and time has proven it does exactly that, ie, Valium helps my muscles relax, as well as allows me to sleep and takes the edge off the cranky, irritable, nasties of BiPolar II. BiPolar II's don't get the manic episodes, just episodes of anxiety, pacing, uncomfortable in your own skin kind of irritability. It feels like there is so much pressure in your head it feels like it will burst. The valium helps. Also at bedtime, as well as during the day in a major Fibro Flare, I take elavil (amyltriptilene), which puts me out, and out of pain. That's for the neurological pain like TMJ and spinal pain. Codeine compounds do not work for this kind of pain. Also, I take a whooping dose of zoloft 150 mgs. in AM to get me going. So those meds, and the Codeine compound, have been around for thirty years, minimum. We know what they can and cannot do. These I prefer because it gives me a modicum of managibility, which helps me feel like I have some say in my own life. So, I try to explain to the doctors. Sometimes they get it, sometimes, they don't. Sometimes I get peeved at the pharmaceutical reps who say, this "new drug" (which costs the world) is good for everything. Neurontin, good for neuro pain, good for bipolar, good for MS, all in one little $50.00 pill. Same as Abilify, good for Diabetes, good for BiPolar, Huh. Then There's Lyrica. I am not so peeved about this b/c it serves to put Fibromyalgia on the map. Now when you say,"Ï have Fibromyalgia", they don't pull a complimentary package of sugar pills out of their desk drawer, pat you on the back and send you packing.

Posted 2/2/2009 3:51 PM (GMT 0)
Sounds like you've been around the block a few dozen times with your meds. I wouldn't be screwing around with my meds anymore either. You know what works and what you want. I admire that. There's so many meds. There's so many purported things that they can do, and after a while, you just don't know anymore. I'm relatively stable, but I'm on 5 meds for the bipolar alone. I don't know what works and what doesn't. I was going to propose to my doc that this spring we try taking some of them away, because I just don't see the need for so many meds.

serafena
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