Bipolar 2 Disorder

I see a lot of posts about planning stuff and having a routine that you adhere to. But for me at least it’s not a feasible thing to do in practice. If I plan something it just adds to the weight I’m carrying already with the multitude of things that the Bipolar brings. You can collapse under the sheer weight of your own expectations. If I’m free from a self imposed itinerary then I can do whatever as and when I see fit and want to do it. I just think that having a plan adds to the already heavy load you have to carry around with you every day.

What do you think about this? Do you think a plan is beneficial for you or do you prefer to have no plan in place and then see what happens?

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I’m not a Pharmacist or a Doctor. However, I have a degree in Medicinal Chemistry and I have found that my peers have found it beneficial when they ask me about what they have been prescribed. I’m able to put it in to Layman’s terms and not blind you with science. Having said that, there’s still a few parts that are complexed and tricky to understand. I have tried my best to simplify things best I can and if you have any questions feel free to ask me 👍

If anyone has any questions or requests regarding “Medication” then please get in touch with me and I’ll get a concise and detailed explanation back to you. I explain the history of the drug, how it works and what the side effects are. But I can tailor my response accordingly to suit your questions.

I use text books like the ones on the image above to form my explanations. I don’t just Google it as there’s a cacophony of information and noise thrown back at you when there’s very little information to make it plausible to form your explanation from as there’s two fake news posts to match the one that is validated.

As I said earlier, I’m not a qualified expert on this subject to be able to say what you need to do, however I have a degree in the Chemistry of Medicine and how it works so I can bridge the gap between what the average person understands and what the health professionals say.

I’ll never advise you to do anything that I don’t understand about the situation and I won’t tell you to do X, Y or Z without being 100% confident in my advice. If I can’t answer your question then I will do my upmost to advise or refer you to your health professionals or the relevant medical care.

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Better late than never but I just wanted to wish all the members of the “Living With Bipolar Disorder” group, and everyone else on the Mighty, a very, very prosperous New Year and a belting 2025 to come. Stay safe and sending love and support to everyone 🤗

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As we prepare to welcome in the new year, what do you hope the coming year will have in store for you?

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What sticks mostly in my head over the last few years is the day I received my diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder. I had to wait until it was safe during the COVID-19 pandemic to get to see the psychiatrist. I was referred by my GP to see the crisis team just before the outbreak and lockdown the pandemic brought with it. I was told to keep a Mood Diary, it was a very tedious and frustrating time for me as I had to wait 9 months to be seen. My health is in no way any more important than that of the general public and I understand why it took so long but I’m one of the lucky ones who didn’t do anything detrimental in this time frame and cause significant damage to myself or others around me. At the time I was on an antidepressant (Mirtazapine) and I had been prescribed a mood stabiliser (Depakote) by my doctor in the May of 2020. If you are Bipolar Manic, taking an antidepressant solely increases your susceptibility to experience massive spikes in mood swings and an extreme shift to Mania from being slightly depressive or stable. This rapid shift is accompanied by a rapid decline from the mania too.

The problem I faced was that I hadn’t been diagnosed by a psychiatrist that I was Bipolar at the time (as I was still waiting to see the psychiatrist), so as I had experienced 3 tonic-clonic type seizures that still haven’t been explained (personally I think it was a combination of the Sertraline and Tramadol I was on causing Serotonin Syndrome) and I won’t get an explanation now. At the time I suggested that it was Serotonin Syndrome which was met with deaf ears and ignored. I’m not a doctor or a pharmacist but I studied Medicinal Chemistry at university so I know a little about it and I have subsequently researched my text books and I have found compelling evidence that my suggestion was a valid one.

I’m currently researching the topic of what my medication (Olanzapine, Fluoxetine and Lithium) work on, their modes of action, and extrapolating backwards to see if there is any concurrent relationship between these. At present I’m looking into levels of the Serotonin (5HT), Norepinephrine (NE) and Dopamine (D2) levels in the brain that have been hypothesised to be linked to depression in people.
Being diagnosed with Bipolar has been a truly amazing experience that has opened my eyes to the World and to my existence. I don’t look at it as a negative in any way but as a blessing in fact. I have strengthened my connections with the people who matter and disassociated myself from the people who have made their own conclusions about me by knowing less than half of the facts.
There’s no such thing as a negative, it’s just an opportunity that you have to look at in a different way 👌

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