h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

could someone please explain the symptoms to the above. Reason being I think I may suffer from a mild form of it. I get such manic episodes which I hate and need to learn how to cope/deal with them. So any advice about symptoms and how to cope with them would be very gratefully received.

The depression/downs and normal periods, luckaliy I don't need any advice on, they are old hat and I know what to do for those.

Its the happy/happier/manic happy then just manic I need advice on.

Thanks

If you truly think you might be dealing with something like bipolar, my advice would be to seek out a professional, rather than something online, even from good friends. One of the scary things that can happen in a manic phase is that your perceptions of how "well" you are can get truly out of whack.

Just my

I have been asking for professional help for 13 years, the doctors are not interested, the best I got was psychotherapy, which I had to pay for. On the 3 meeting she brought up a lot of rules which hadn't been mentioned before so I left. Another one which I saw whilst at Uni for a couple of sessions kept asking about my masturbation habits, and nothing else, funnily enough I became quite uncomfortable and left. These peole hold too much power and are not prepared to be corrected or discuss information found out outside the sessions. not somethig I need to open myself upto again.

I cannot get medical/professional help, I earn zero I cannot afford to pay for private. All I can do is ascertain whether or not I have this, from on-line sources and then find out how others deal with it from the same.

If only I lived in an ideal world, but I don't so I need to make the best of what I can find here and elsewhere on line.

Well, bipolar disorders (there are several different types) are incredibly complex neuropsychiatric conditions. Regardless of how well educated you are, and how much you read online, it's not something you can "diagnose yourself" with -- it takes an outside perspective, and a highly trained one at that.

That being said, you can identify *problems* in your life (like mania), and try to find solutions for them. One thing people will commonly do to start is use a diary to find what types of things (environments, interactions, foods, etc.) trigger their manic episodes, and what types of things help them "step down" into a calmer phase (i.e., hot baths, certain music, meditation). Once they know what those things are, they can avoid triggers, and use those "steps" whenever they need to.

But self-labeling yourself as having a disease, and then trying to self-treat the disease can lead you down an incredibly dangerous path.

I know its not ideal, but if it gives me ideas to try and perhaps some relief, then thats got to be good.

Well, just so you know, there are potential downsides of going down this path as well. When people self-diagnose and self-treat, sometimes....

* they are so sure that "X" is the cause of their symptoms, that they don't notice later on when something more severe is actually going on, that really needs medical attention.

* they use the label as an excuse to withdraw from life

* they get involved with self-treatments where they are in over their heads. this can especially be the case with bipolar, where (besides medications), the most effective treatments are cognitive-behavioral therapies -- again, not something that can readily be done by someone without training, but some people will try it on themselves anyway, and can mess up their heads quite considerably in the process.

I'm sorry for being such a downer, but you really do have me worried.

One place you might find a good online support group is WebMD -- I believe they even have some professionals who check in and answer questions now and then.

Don't worry, the label bipolar won't change the symptoms or who I am, but it may give me some insight and understanding. I have come a very long way in coming to terms with the whole incest issue, and I believe what is happening now could be a side-effect of the previous trama. The manic episodes scare me, I am mainly looking for infor about them, and whether they can be stopped half way. As for treatments, that is most likely to be in the line of what I already do, which is diet/yoga/meditation etc. eg pumpkin seeds are full of a substance which gives you a natural high, can't remember the name though. Don't think I will get into too much trouble with this approach.

Its just I felt very alone and wanted to hear other peoples experiences, to compare and contrast.

The fact you were worried makes me feel cared for, which is therapy in itself - thankyou!

Here's the link to that WebMD board I was thinking of:

http://boards.webmd.com/topic.asp?topic_id=138

At the top, there's a link for screening. If you click on that, there's some useful resources. The resources are all created by a drug company, so they all have drug company words all over them, but they're still very useful -- things like a symptom diary to help you find what can be causing your highs and lows.

You might also find this link useful --

http://www.dbsalliance.org/index.html

Some of it's information is pretty US-specific, but there's a lot of helpful stuff otherwise.

Hey Kaz

I don't know if this helps you at all, but I think I can relate a little to what you're experiencing.

A couple of years ago I was having the worst of all possible times triggerwise - it was summer, which has always been difficult for me (and heat historically triggered my epilepsy). Add to that I'd been attacked three months earlier, in almost copycat circumstances to the experience it triggered from 10 years before, the day I left home for good.

But I was dealing with it fairly spectacularly, and coping with a very busy and stressful job. I had also been trying to find somewhere new to live and was about to move, but it all got too much. I started going into fits of hyperactivity with no need for rest, then plunging into depressions, which the meds weren't stopping - and swinging from call the Samaritans to call Nasa, all within the course of a day. The feeling of triumph at having dealt with so much, after having so much to fear, went to my head and I lost balance. The mechanisms that brought me up from depression were overcompensating, and sending me skywards, and the ones supposed to calm me down, were overcompensating aswell, so..

Very distressing across the board, and it took some time for the stressful circumstances in my life to pass (and for me to lose my job) before I could call myself settled again.

Later, after some haranguing of psychiatrists having convinced myself I was bipolar, one guy said ...PTSD. After that, I discovered slowly and started to understand trigger factors, how they manifested emotionally and how to cope with them - and realised too, that I'd had a fairly bipolar experience of life, and a similar attitude. I found a better balance for the most part, once I'd started to deal with the consequences of history, as you are now, and brilliantly.

I've written an article I don't know if you've seen, that might help with some stuff. A944246

What I'm saying is Kaz, you have been through an emotional mill in the past few months from stuff with your parents to getting hitched (and congratulations once more ). Bearing in mind medication you might be taking to lift your mood already, other factors like caffeine, smokes and so on, it might just be that the feelings you've had lately have been a lot more extreme than usual, which can be frightening.

It can calm down if you let it, and take care of yourself, but whatever happens you've got to talk to a professional about it and some of the things you've been through, to get the most accurate picture you can. Oh, and shop around! You're the customer.

Hope this has been of some help

Take care,
Chris

Thanks Chris and Mikey, taking things calmly today, the manic mood of the past week finally lifted last night, so I don't feel the need to run around panicking at the mo.

I will check out those links, I may even see my doctor, but with all the misdiagnosis of the past, I won't be holding out much hope!

Kaz, I really hope you can get some respect from some medical people. Not being able to get that sucks. Anyways, for what it's worth, I have to accept the label I've been handed, and the treatment that's been prescribed for me, but I still feel there are other ways also to deal with a problem. There's a lot of stuff I do myself for myself, and some of my family and friends also help out. I feel that a solid and sensitive social support structure can help people a lot. It's no good when individuals are isolated and on their own with their problems.