Anyone...

Hey Ally!

I'm in perth.

Trying to get through the night...

I find Quetiapene amazing for night ....i,m on 500mg on an evening after an hour and half of taking them I,m sapped out whether I,m manic or low ....I,m one of the lucky ones when it comes to sleep 💤 .... The lows are hell I,mean hell the mania is few and far ....x

Hi magazine

I've just started on quetiapene (50mg) at night. I thought the lowest dose was meant to help you sleep! I'm still not sleeping! How long will it take to work? I've just changed onto this med from carbamazepine as diagnosed bipolar!

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi ...i,ve been bi polar for 7 years now ...and as I,m on 500mg ....that's quite a dose ........so you have away to go yet all you can do is hang on in there until your meds are sorted ie more mg,s ...Everyone is unique to their own form of bipolar ....but i can say go see whoever on a regular basis if you're going through a change of meds ......if your early stages of bi polar keep a daily mood diary ....sometimes this can be the hardest thing to do but it does help whoever you see ....carbamazepine is a mood stabilizer....queitiapene are more of a relaxant......Maggs x Are you not having a new mood stabiliser for the day time .....

Hi Maggs.

I've found a lot of people from the UK on this forum.

I could be doing a lot better...

x

I'm bipolar 2, my manic phases aren't too bad, but the lows are pretty awful. I am on desvenlafaxine and lamotrigine.

I recently changed jobs after 5 years of travelling all over Australia, high stress and afterhours work too. The job made it difficult to plan or commit to a set routine.

My two enemies are lack of routine and stress (the biggest of the two). I sleep okay and make myself go outside at lunchtime for fresh air and sunshine.

I feel sorriest for my family, if I had sought proper treatment sooner, things may have been very different.

Hi Ally.

They say i'm bipolar 2 as well, with borderline personality, adhd, ocd with some others thrown in, but i also think they say things because they're not really sure. I know i have agoraphobia and social disorders, anxiety and suffer panic attacks, and bipolar as well.

I have quite a few manic episodes, and you're right, the lows ARE pretty awful.

I've been stuck between both for a long time now and it's horrible!

I have no routine or desire to have one. I'm content to see no-one, but that said, i HATE being alone with myself.

I used to walk my dog every day and night, as often as she wanted to go, but i lost her so i no longer walk or want to go outside.

I don't sleep. I can't anymore for some rrason although i think it's because of being stuck between up and down.

I usually go on and on without sleep until my head begins to slow down (it feels like a movie on fast-forward that stops every so often to offer me a glimpse of something before taking off again). By that time my body's exhausted and then when my head stops with the non-stop crap, i get to sleep for maybe an hour before it goes off again.

Funny, i'd give anything to experience a steady flow of neither up or down and i'm stuck in one and it's doing my head in!

I hate it!!!!!!

I don't take meds.

I've tried a lot but they make me ill or do nothing. Because of the high doses they had me on my tolerance level is now through the roof as well, so anything i do find that i can take, i have to take in extreme doses, and to me that's not worth it.

I can't even find a gp over here to give me something for a migraine, or to put me to sleep, and i refuse to go through the government catchment areas again to be locked up against my will, tethered to a bed for days while being injected with toxins that made me worse. There are no bulk-billing psychiatrists and i csn't afford $600+ per visit the good ones charge, or the $400+ the average ones want.

So i go it alone.

I'm unsure of what you mean by your family, but all of mine, except for my son, walked away from me and turned their backs on me. Disowned me.

I often wonder if they'd have done it if i had cancer.

My daughter keeps no contact and we were once very close.

My son has seen me at my best and at my worst, and everything in between. He's seen me locked up, tied up, handcuffed, zonked out, manic, missing, so very lost, and i could sit here all day...

My "family" saw nothing of what he did. They didn't even know i'd been locked in a psych ward or had melt-downs, yet he did and stayed by my side.

Love is unconditional, and that's the best thing I've learnt from being bipolar:

You find out exactly who your friends and family are and who will stand by you, and carry you, when you need people or someone the most.

Blood makes you related but loyalty makes you family.

I have no-one but my son.

I see no-one but my son.

I trust no-one but my son.

Are you alone, too?

Are you from sydney?

If you need or want to talk or scream or have a bitch or just need to write to get it out, you're welcome to contact me.

I hope you're doing okay and wish you well.

x