Is a flat mood and a balanced mood the same thing?

No, Flat is no good either. I would call the doc. I spent a LONG time being overmedicated because I mistook flat for balanced. It wasn't until my friends and family started telling me how weird it was that I asked my doc about it.

serafena

Thanks guys........I am going to call my PDoc today.  I do think it is depression and it is not as bad as it has been in the past, I still feel I need a little adjusting.  I really prefer hypomania to depression, any day.  I must be a hard puzzle to figure out!

Gem

Thanks, I am feeling more down as the day goes by, it really is depression.  I did put a call in to my PDoc this morning, but it will be late p.m. before they call back.  I can not take antidepressants, very curious if he will add something or I may just have to ride it out.  This feels like a bad one coming on.  The high light of the day, my daughter is making chicken pie for dinner that could just about cure anything!  I just have to hang on until dinner time .

Gem

Thanks OBB, I make a mean lasagna as well!  Yeah, something is out of whack.  I started on Saphris just recently and have done better on it than the others, hardly any side effects, I think adding Lamictal may help.  Just have to wait on the Doc to call back, he is good, but he always returns calls late in the day.  At lunch, I ran an errand and drove right past where I was going.  I have a bad case of brain fog as well.  Oh well, just hang and see how tomorrow goes and wait for chicken pie time!  Hard to do when you are trying to work full time.  I have no more paid time off left, used it all this year on this darn disorder.  On days like this I think really hard about taking a leave of absence for an extended period of time, other days, I could not imagine not working.  Welcome to my bipolar world!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gem

Serafena, I had to have a colectomy in August 2007 for colonic inertia and severe constipation. It worked until this spring and I had to have surgery for an ileostomy in May. It didn't start working and I had to have emergency surgery in June. When I woke up, I had a tube in my abdomen leading to a bag velcroed to my leg, 3 JP drains, and a feeding tube. I was in the hospital for 52 days, had to have 3 blood transfusions, a pic line for nourishment, a nasogastric tube for nausea, and a urinary tract infection from the catheter.

I got 2 jp drains taken out in the hospital, but came home with 1 jp drain and the feeding tube, which I had thru September when I went back to work part-time. I tried working full-time last month, but it didn't work because my stamina is terrible, so I'm back to working part-time. However, I am really lucky and am getting paid for full-time because of our agency's sick leave pool.

Now, I have to have an additional surgery in June of this coming year, to give me a traditional ileostomy; a bag on my abdomen. I live in Florida and cannot wear shorts, short skirts, or pants. I have to wear long skirts to cover up my leg bag. The worst part is that my sutures come out of my abdomen and tube about every 2 weeks and I have to have them resutured.

Also, my tube gets obstructed very easily and my husband has to help me flush it out. He also helps me change my gauze bandages. He has been amazingly supportive in every way possible, but I am just discouraged and June seems a long way away. Plus, I was tramatized in the hospital this summer, by everything that was done to me and the length of time that I had to stay. I don't understand why all of this has had to happen.

My counselor has been very supportive, too. He came to the hospital twice and helped me. He is seeing me weekly now, and hoping that I don't dip too low. I have a history of having mixed states or sliding into a deep depression. It takes me a very long time to come out of the depressions and we are trying very hard to keep me from going there.

I am very grateful for your caring and others on this board. It's a good place to vent and realize that you're not alone.

Butterfly

Butterfly,

That all just sounds so awful. I'm so sorry you've had to endure all that. My mood would be in shambles with even a portion of that misery. I hope you give yourself credit for being strong and hanging in there. I hope your next procedure goes more smoothly. You deserve a break.

Glad you're here.

serafena