Bipolar, mood swings, mania, hypomania, depression

[Meimeiquest]

Reading your signature, it looks like you may be coming off the Effexor way too fast.

Edited February 12, 2016 by KarenB
merged similar topics

[ang]

happy puppy and cat.         Cat your experience with mania, sounds just like mine was.      Very well written, thankyou...........                 Mine was always a result of medications.........

 

I am lucky to have a reference point, of the real me......           I was unmedicated until 35,  so I know I was never agorophobic, claustrophobic, suicidal, manic, bipolar, depressed, and all the other mountains of psych labels, I have gained due to these horrific tablets.  I am lucky, I know the real me, whether I will ever be able to get well enough now, to find that me again, who knows. The sadness is realising what the psych profession has done to me.

 

Dont be so quick to judge yourself or family members, with psychiatric labels.........as the old  ""it runs in the family""   rubbish.              I always thought my father suicided because of some sort of mental health problem, only to realise he most probably just went psychotic and suicidal on valium   (so yes, that runs in the family).  So me and two siblings medicated because of my father, and it runs in the family rubbish?  Only to realise that is rubbish, he had no problems, except he cant handle valium, I got nuts (psychotic, manic) on quarter of a tablet, so god knows what he went through on the stuff in 1966.

 

Perhaps my problems have always been that the gps always give some sort of Antidepressants, along with a benzo ...........        so many times, I got off these poisons, only to be damn tricked into taking them again,   same sort of drug, just a new damn name.   

 

As for alcohol,  I have found most SSRIs,  make you crave alcohol, always wine for me, and I could drink way more than usual, then not remember what I did   "'blackouts""  ....        Off the SSRIs,   has been easy to stop drinking..............    I also craved coffee,   I would drink coffee all morning, wine all evening.          I did not know then.  I do now.      These tablets mess up everything.   So I guess what I am saying is,   I never took any tablets till I was 35............ I am so damn lucky, that I actually know the real me, (pre the pills)   and the real me does  not have mania, bipolar, serious depression, suicidality, alcoholism, obesity,and all the other mountains of ""labels""    that seem to happen and come along with the psych drugs.  I never had liver or kidney problems, nor high blood pressure or high cholesterol, before these horrific pills.

 

I am happy I have my physical health back, off most of the stuff now,  but I will never regain what I lost while "semi manic and nuts"  on effexor,   I will never regain my self esteem, lost while on these horrific tablets, I will not get my old life back, I am just so glad, that I have a previous point of reference, and I KNOW ALL THIS CRAP,   was caused by these horrific ""happy pills"" that destroy your life.

 

So dont label yourselves, or your family in terms of psychiatric labels.   The DSM is just one big advertising brochure for the pharma companies, pick your aiment, choose your poisons..............   ignore it just as you would ignore  any other drug dealers.

[canboy]

how do we know if it is mood swings or bipolar disorder. From the day I started tapering my effexor, My mood is following a specific pattern . 2weeks of cheerful, happy mood ,then it starts moving towards irritable, agitated mood. the move is gradual ,increases and decreases day by day over a week. then stays there for a week or two.

[newbipo]

I wish I could answer... Having the same 2 years after quiting citalopran + 1 seroquel

[canboy]

So you are experiencing the same symptoms even after 2years of being drug free. Did you had any of these before you first went on the drugs.

[Altostrata]

I believe we've explained this many times to both of you.

 

canboy, your "mood swings" sound like they are withdrawal symptoms.

 

newbipo, it can take a long time for your nervous system to settle down from going off psychiatric drugs. Until then, you may experience The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

 

Rather than answer this question for you over and over in your Intro topics and elsewhere, I have to ask:

 

Why is it important to you to call yourselves bipolar?

[canboy]

Well ,I have read articles suggesting that psychiatric drugs can induce bipolar disorder and even psychosis. I am afraid. can you tell me how long this can last if its withdrawal. yes ,I know it differs from person to person, but in average how many months.?

[Petunia]

canboy, its impossible to say how long symptoms are going to last, there really aren't any averages. If you are getting symptoms while tapering, you need to slow down, perhaps by making smaller cuts. Also, have a look at this topic: Bipolar, Mania, Hypomania, Depression, or Drug Effects ...

[Altostrata]

Many doctors believe an adverse reaction to psychiatric drugs indicates bipolar disorder. This is absurd. An adverse reaction to a drug means the drug is a problem for you.

[Hellbutrin]

Has anyone experienced new bipolar like symptoms months after completing their taper?

[powerback]

yep I have bipolar symptoms ,I'm still tapering but theres no denying these symptoms .don't believe them ,I keep telling myself this .

[Klipsanen]

Can antipsychotics (tapering?) cause mania or bibolar symptoms? What its like?

[Hellbutrin]

On 9/24/2017 at 4:38 PM, powerback said:

yep I have bipolar symptoms ,I'm still tapering but theres no denying these symptoms .don't believe them ,I keep telling myself this .

Hi Powerback,

 

I'm a little bit concerned because up until the last week or so I was seeing a slight ease in my memory impairment and concentration issues. But this week my memory and concentration issues are back in full force AND I'm getting some new symptoms of withdrawal that I didn't have when I was tapering or in the two months since I've been completely finished with my taper. I'm getting agitated easily, my anxiety is way worse and I'm still having depressive symptoms. I'm really concerned that I messed up my physiology permanently and that I'm just going to have to deal with these symptoms for the rest of my life. The depression is getting really frustrating to me as well since I never had depression before I started taking antidepressants. The doctor's prescribed me to the antidepressant that I was taking because I was exhibiting some pretty serious anxiety, and they thought that the anxiety was going to cause me to have depressive symptoms. I'm ready for this to be over. 

[Hellbutrin]

5 hours ago, Klipsanen said:

Can antipsychotics (tapering?) cause mania or bibolar symptoms? What its like?

Yes, mania and bipolar like symptoms are common symptoms of antidepressant/antipsychotic withdrawal. It's interesting that the symptoms of withdrawing from the medications seem to be as bad if not worse then what they are meant to treat. Are you currently tapering? If you are try to go at as slow of a pace as you can. I hurried through my taper and I'm definitely struggling with that decision now, I just hope that I haven't done permanent damage to myself. 

[Klipsanen]

1 hour ago, Hellbutrin said:

Yes, mania and bipolar like symptoms are common symptoms of antidepressant/antipsychotic withdrawal. It's interesting that the symptoms of withdrawing from the medications seem to be as bad if not worse then what they are meant to treat. Are you currently tapering? If you are try to go at as slow of a pace as you can. I hurried through my taper and I'm definitely struggling with that decision now, I just hope that I haven't done permanent damage to myself. 

How quickly did you taper from your medication? In one month or? And how long you were on your medication?

I'm tapering from risperdal and i've been on 0,5mg (tapered from 1mg) for about 3 weeks now. I might go too fast with my taper, but i havent had any withdrawal symptoms since i've been on risperdal only for 2 months..

 

how you deal with your mania/bibolar symptoms? Are they bad?

[Hellbutrin]

2 hours ago, Klipsanen said:

How quickly did you taper from your medication? In one month or? And how long you were on your medication?

I'm tapering from risperdal and i've been on 0,5mg (tapered from 1mg) for about 3 weeks now. I might go too fast with my taper, but i havent had any withdrawal symptoms since i've been on risperdal only for 2 months..

 

how you deal with your mania/bibolar symptoms? Are they bad?

I tapered over about a month, but I was taking the medication for over a year and a half. I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think that you will have too much difficulty tapering if you have only been taking the medication for a few weeks. The bipolar/manic symptoms come and go, I just use self relaxation to try to calm myself down, and I avoid any overly stressful situations that might make me feel worse. I also have an absolutely tremendous support system that is very helpful. 

[Elkstar]

Topic title:  manic feeling during w/d?

 

I was already dealing with benzo w/d so now that my dose of prozac has been cut in half for a little over a month some of those symptoms are starting to worsen. I feel angry, irritable, ruminating thoughts overall down about this being my situation in life, inability to really feel joy but its not usual depression. All of this could be benzo w/d amplified however when I was put on prozac I kept having feelings of mania. I could never tolerate more than 10mg because of this. Its not a happy active mania but a feeling like my brain is literally in this elevated state it can't ground myself from. It makes me feel very impulsive too but I try not to act on it. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and felt like this. Overall my mood all the time now is more like this but I have moments where its really bad where I just sit there and try not to do anything until it passes. I'm pretty sure all of this is related to prozac w/d. Has anyone else experienced this? A similar feeling happened when I went on prozac but I wasn't in benzo w/d at the time. 

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by ChessieCat
added topic title

[ChessieCat]

On 12/16/2014 at 7:36 AM, Rhiannon said:

I was diagnosed as bipolar because of antidepressant use and withdrawal. That happens to a lot of people. 

 

What you describe, going on and off meds without a lot of trouble then suddenly it just doesn't work any more, is very common. Alto says our nervous systems are not made of rubber. I say, we only get so much "slack" and sooner or later we use it all up and run out. 

 

Everything you describe sounds very much like withdrawal symptoms and the kind of symptoms people get after going on and off meds a lot, the general destabilization that happens over the long term on psychiatric meds. You can read Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker (translated into many languages) for more information about that.

 

If you want to embrace your "diagnosis" of bipolar, that's up to you, but it sounds from what you've written like you're actually aware that your symptoms have been caused by meds. And certainly what you describe is very much like what hundreds of other people have described here.

 

You're very fortunate to have a psychiatrist who wants to help you stabilize without meds.

 

This is what happened to me when I cold turkeyed citalopram.  I felt great for several months and then was bedridden for 2.5 weeks and lost 8kgs because I couldn't eat.  It felt like the flu but after finding SA and learning that it is a withdrawal symptom, I realised that it was due to stopping citalopram abruptly.

 

Danalee13 has posted about something similar happening to them.  Alto (this site's founder) has responded.  Quoted below:

 

On 7/8/2019 at 7:06 AM, Danalee13 said:

Does anybody else have the weirdest feeling of AMAZINGNESS+ clear headed happiness because you are coming off of it but also pure panic? It is the weirdest combination. 

 

On 7/15/2019 at 4:25 AM, Altostrata said:

You might have become a little hypomanic after you made those decreases. Hypomania is a withdrawal symptom. Although it does feel exhilarating, it's a red flag, it can progress to really uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms.

 

[Danalee13]

Hi to all who have posted in this thread.  I have felt the hypomania at its finest. I would have to read up but someone above is saying a doctor said they were bipolar during coming and off meds?

 

in my personal opinion - not a doctor - but it’s just common sense. If you grew up, before the drugs, and did not feel bipolar... I don’t think you are. If you only started to feel this after the coming on and off meds - it makes sense that that is what it is. 

 

I do do not like when doctors throw around diagnoses like they are nothing. This is why I am on this lexapro in the first place. For that exact reason. 

 

In all honesty this is what happened to me:

at age 21 or so, during college, I had been partying a lot. (I am almost 28 now). I had been doing a lot of drugs and cocaine. The come downs started to make me freak out and I went to a doctor and just couldn’t stop crying.  She didn’t technically diagnose me with depression but she handed me lexapro and threw me out the door. 

 

Before that - growing up - doing no drugs - I had never felt an ounce of depression or anxiety. I should have been asked these questions and not put on lexapro. I shouldn’t have been drug binging either - but lexapro and these drugs are for clinical depression and anxiety disorders aren’t they? Well I never had that until I did drugs. I should have stuck out the come downs or went to rehab instead of turning to a quack shrink. I am paying for this years later     

 

* I haven’t touched cocaine or the drugs I used to do since age 22. I am mad that I even went to this doctor.....

[Danalee13]

On 3/22/2015 at 8:32 AM, Bellisimo said:

yee i have had looots of manics periods. In the early w/d i would go crazy, within an hour i could change my mood four times from being furious, sad, euphoric and neutral..

I have never had any bipolar diagnos in my whole life, when i went to the docs in early w/d they said youy sound like bipolar .. now its gone.

I cried for 3 months in a row, and was very sucicidal.. then it suddenly disapeared and hasnt come back.

 

The rage i have felt alot too. No one could talk to me for a long time, i wanted to hit them all and i smashed many mirrors .. i know many people who got extreme anger from quitting ssri

 

 

Wow @Bellisimo just reading your “quote” on the bottom of your post made me have so much hope. Honestly compared to a lot of people on here, I’m not doing too horribly. ..  I never feel suicidal. And I actually don’t rrally ever feel depressed during this WD. Just anxiety. Hope it doesn’t start. Hoping and praying . If you read my story I was on 20 mg lexapro for 6 years. I have gotten down to 5 mg. A little too fast. But stabilizing on the 5 mg was bad in the beginning and now feeling better. Much much better. Will stay on 5 for awhile. 

[tsranga]

Folks

 

I have been reading through this thread and I just want to confirm that my symptoms are still withdrawal related.

 

No prior diagnosis of mental illness before I was put on low dose 7.5 mg mirtazapine for sleep. I was also diagnosed with GAD and possibly PTSD at that time. I have had one panic attack in 2010 that related to feeling alone, and have been dealing with existential thoughts in my mid life transition, but nothing that ever affected my executive functioning ability.

 

On mirtazapine, I did a 50% cut to 3.75mg after a year and then did a C/T in Jan 2019. Since then I have been dealing with withdrawal and overall it is getting better, with almost all areas physical and mental improving. I have also been diagnosed with SIBO, so I am on treatment since last week.

 

Since last week, I have been noticing a pattern in sleep, anxiety and mood swings that appears to be alternating.

 

It mostly starts with a gut disturbance, which affects sleep (3-4 hours) and then the next day, I am more restless, irrational fear, stuck on one thought and feeling trapped, before it gets better in the evening and I am able to get a solid 6-7 hrs of sleep.  The day after a good night's sleep, my anger is disportionate to the cause (there is a lot of frustration/inability to communicate calmly), but other than those bursts, I am more relaxed during the day, but I am unable to fall asleep  quickly.. 

 

My brother (an MD, who is on AD) advised that  I get checked for bipolar II,  and my half brother is bipolar. There is no other history of mental illness in maternal/paternal family tree.

 

Feedback? Does this eventually go away or at least get more consistent rather than this alternating pattern?

 

 

[AzaanMalik]

On 12/15/2014 at 10:55 PM, newbipo said:

Hi all, How are you doing?

 

It's being a while since I last post in here... need some help / advice from you all...

 

History:

 

In January I attempt to stop citalopram. Everything was going well until I crashed in desperation after some stressful situation.

 

I was taking citalopram from 4 years. Before that I was on:

 

Anafranil: 1 year (came of due lack of emotion - no problem)

 

Paroxetine: 1 years (came of due lack of emotion, lack of libido - no problem)

 

Fluoxetine: 2 years (same reason - no problem to stop)

 

My last one was citalopram... I took for 1 year than I stopped cause I got pregnant, 3 month out I lost the baby went back - had NO problem during this process.

 

I allways come off antidepressant because of the flat feeling and have to go back, 1 or 2 years later due Panic attacks, anxiety and mild depression (circumstantial).

 

Last time I was ok on citalopram. But wanted to stop because I was trying to get pregnant. The process was ok until I went on the internet and stated to read thing about this drugs... I went bananas...

 

I tried to reinstate and was feeling worse. My mood was swinging like crazy + a lot of anxiety. I went from depression in one day to normal in the other. Because of that I went to see a psychiatrist.  He first ask me to go back on the citalopram, but after seeing my situation told me I was now bipolar for long term exposure to antidepressant and that I should never take it again. He diagnosed me with rapid cycling + mixed state.

 

At the beginning I thought it was not the case… that I was only having a LOT of panic attacks + depression. But, at some point he manage to convince me. My family disagreed and I had some problem with this psychiatrist so I went to see a different one.

I saw other in the meantime and none of them diagnosed me as bipolar. This last one is helping me to stabilize without medication (can you believe that?) He calls me back when I’m in distress, he is kind. He thinks I’m having a high blow panic attacks, not mixed/bipolar disorder. The bad part is… the brain wash that was done, doesn’t leave me. I’m now thinking that I really am bipolar.

 

I decided to post here what I’ve been feeling to see if someone relates to my situation. I don’t remember being hypo/manic wile on Antidepressants. People always said I was intense but always due to circumstances… never out of the blue… I thought I was normal… but this is turning back on me… I started to see this as bipolar symptoms…

 

Here is what I’m dealing:

• My moods are going up and down. I will wake up very anxious and depressed and as the day wears off I’ll feel better.
• Last Saturday I had a breakdown. I was extremely anxious and thinking that I could not do it anymore, I was sure I was about to commit a suicide. I took Xanax and talked to my Dr. I was calmed after that. He said I was having an extreme panic attack. Not bipolar.
• I feel my mood and my reaction in waves… like in a minute I’ll be feeling positive (I can do this, it will get better) and the other I would be negative (Who am I kidding? This will never end). My only stable moment was at night where I reached: Feeling normal and stable.

Questions:

• Do you feel the mood going into waves (minutes apart)?
• Have you ever had a panic attack where instead of being afraid of dying you wanted to commit a suicide (mind confused, dizziness, feeling like you are going crazy)?
• How many of you were diagnosed as bipolar because of Antidepressant? Could you describe the situation and how you are dealing with it now?
• Does anyone relate to this while stopping antidepressant?
• In your opinion, what is happening to me
• Should I throw my dream of med free in the garbage?

PS: I never had problem while ON antidepressant, only when I tried to stop… I have no problem with illicit drugs, I don’t drink alcohol  (not even coffee)

Please, I need some real people experience… hope you can help me ♥ 

Hello. I was reading through your topic, and I myself did feel hypomania/mania while I was taking the drug, but only two symptoms, overconfidence and a little too happy not any other typical symptoms of mania. But I think my hypomania/mania is constant, it doesn't change in intensity, and it doesn't get switched to depression. I feel anxiety and sometimes I feel depression probably due to withdrawal, and that state of hypomania/mania is still there. It's not like it gets switched, and it's been about 7 months since my last pill and I still feel the same, my hypomania/mania is still just as it was when it started. Hopefully you are well now, but can I you about your mental health now. Can I ask you about you bipolar diagnosis. Please your words can be a huge help. I am hoping you reply. Thank you.