Coming down from a hypomanic state and coping skills

[Halo]

I guess i will have to start thinking about changeing my thinking or something...

I think that this is an important part of what you posted. I know that it is disheartening to find out that there is no real alternative and that meds are probably your best bet so at least entertaining the idea of meds is a start. Maybe trying to figure the exact reasons why you are so against or opposed to going on meds is a good start as well.

Take care
:hug:

 

[stargazer]

Because sometimes I've gotten kind of miffed when the subject's arisen, I'm not sure I should state my opinion here. But it's hard to stay quiet sometimes. Basically, despite what I said in my last post, and despite what people in the medical profession say, I'm still unconvinced that there isn't an alternative for me.

I *will* say that if I were a diabetic, I would unhesitantly take my insulin, and I wouldn't question that this were the required course. When the subject comes up, my tendency is either to clam up or to state what I feel. But this is not to influence your choice in any way, since I don't really know you. And everything I wrote last night is also true. I mostly don't mind taking the depakote, but despite what I've been through, I still find myself hoping and even suspecting there's another way.

Maybe another analogy would be that of an alcoholic who goes to AA and stays there, and forty years after he's stopped drinking, still introduces himself as an alcoholic. This may work for him, and it may even be the accepted way of treating the illness, but for many people this will not work. So maybe I am not going to have to stay on this medication forever, because maybe my condition will improve.

I'm not trying to be controversial, by the way. These are just the thoughts that naturally cross my mind.

 

[Into The Light]

i think that if there were other coping skills to be found, they would have been discovered by now. cbt is one such way that works well for depression, and it's been around for a while now. i would imagine that anything like that to help control your mood swings without medication would have been come across, and it hasn't, unfortunately.

 

[stargazer]

I guess what I've been trying to say is that, I have noticed that the "mood swings" are much more evident when I'm in some kind of unacceptable situation, such as losing a great job, or finding myself out on the streets. Anyone would be disoriented in those situations, and medication might be beneficial. But when things are good, I don't experience them so much, and never really did. I mostly experience being in a good space, and I was like this before I took the meds.

But I'll talk about all of this with the therapist and the doctor. The doctor, in my case, is definitely not pushing the meds, and that's something that I appreciate. (It might however be connected to the fact that I'm on a low-cost program through the County, and they simply don't want to have to pay for meds unless it's necessary. As it is, they're dishing me out all my meds for free.)

 

[ThatLady]

There definitely IS another way, but it requires medication for the vast majority of people who suffer from bipolar illness to get to that other way. If a bipolar sufferer takes their medication as directed, and takes their search for wellness seriously, the medication may not have to be a forever thing. With CBT, one can learn coping mechanisms; however, one's mind has to be able to take in the information being given and put it to use. For those suffering from bipolar illness, there are too many times (in most cases) when they simply are unable to take in that information and use it in a beneficial way. The medications help them to do this. In cases where this is true, the medications are, in actuality, working to make themselves unnecessary.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

There are also individual variations in frequency and intensity of the mood cycles. Some individuals with bipolar may be able to manage fairly well on minimal doses of medication, or in rare cases no medications, for periods of time, provided they know the signs of approaching depression or hypomania and seek prompt medical intervention to increase the dose or resume medication when that occurs. For others, the mood cycles are too frequent and or too severe to make that option feasible

 

[stargazer]

That's good to know, and could be useful information for me. I definitely appreciate CBT and have felt that the present therapy (and therapist) are pointing me in a positive direction. Also, you (David) once said that your guess was that I would only need to be on a low dose of a single med--which is what has happened. As far as I know, I'm on the lowest effective dose.

I see a guy on the bus often who appears to be *severely* bipolar. When he's manic, he can't seem to control the pace, volume, and excitement of his long speeches. Sometimes he engages the interest of nearby others, and at other times he frightens everyone around him. Often the bus driver has to tell him to quiet down, after which he obliges with a brief apology, then perks up again.

At other times, he is completely quiet, looking helpless and dismal, dragged down, almost paralyzed.

My guess is that he's bipolar & untreated. (The bus driver thinks so, too.) I honestly do not believe that I have ever come across that way, at least not since I got off the original Kaiser medications that seemed to be complicating things when I *did* have a manic episode and first receive this diagnosis. Again, I had been on neurontin, trilafon, and klonopin *before* I was ever diagnosed bipolar, and the meds were given me for different reasons. So I am certain that all the damage of the 2004 huge episode was exacerbated by that mix of meds.

Also, to clarify, I'm not saying that I absolutely *won't* stay on the depakote. A couple people have said recently, "If a thing works, don't fix it." I think there's merit to that. But I'm not saying that I absolutely will either, because I might not need to. And once I get on my feet again, there will be a cost factor.

So, might as well take one step at a time.

 

[stargazer]

Brief postscript: my Buddhist teacher is an MFT, has a Masters in Psychotherapy, and conducts the meditation classes in a town further up the foothills. He sent me a story about a woman in his meditation group who overcame bipolar illness through twice-daily practice of meditation. Not sure how authentic this is, but it might concur with what ThatLady was mentioning, if the woman made enough contact with her "wise mind" to be able to see the approaching mania or depression, and to come to terms with them.