Recently diagnosed and trying to find doctors.

I was diagnosed bipolar in January and was prescribed Lithium. The doctor told me to take it when I felt an episode coming on. Well I went from having a bad episode every 2 or 3 months to having several each week. When I called the doctor he told me he really doesn't know much about the disorder but he thought the Lithium would help. So I am currently trying to find a psychiatrist and a doctor who can help me get this under control. My best friend who bears the brunt of my episodes lost his father last Saturday while I was in the middle of my biggest episode yet. I feel so guilty that I caused him more pain and stress then he is already having. I have been depressed all week and have taken to screaming at myself when I start having racing thoughts. I can't talk to my best friend right now about what I am going through because I can't let myself put more on his plate. My parents are no help. It takes me being suicidal before they will get involved. I have 2 other friends one who is bipolar and one who has no mental illness that I have been turning to but nothing seems to be helping pull me out of my depression. I don't want to get out of bed and have started drinking every night just to dull the noise in my head. I have to force myself to get to work as I am self employed and the only thing keeping me going is that I cant let my best friend down as he is my business partner. He is also the first person in my life to ever notice that something was wrong with me and urge me to get help. Sorry about the wall of text I just needed to get all this out I guess.

I hope you find a good doctor soon! I was spiraling down earlier this year, but finally got back on track with help.

Hi-- I'm pretty certain lithium is not a drug you take only when you feel you need it. It is a maintenance drug. It helps prevent episodes. Bipolar is a disease where there is often much trial and error to get the medication mix correct. Often people will be on either an antipsychotic or lithium, and possibly another mood stabilizer. Or more. There are many drugs and combos to try.

Please know that with each episode, you suffer mild cognitive damage. This adds up over time. Bipolar is a progressive disease that gets worse if left untreated.

You are right in looking for another doctor. Don't settle for less than a psychiatrist or possibly a psychiatric nurse. If you feel suicidal at all, please go to an emergency room. You will get evaluated by a psychiatrist and probably put on a drug regimen. You will need to follow up with a psychiatrist after you are released.

Please find yourself some help. Your parents are just ignorant about mental illness, like most persons. If you can get them to go, NAMI has a Family to Family program that educates family members on the various aspects of mental illness.

Psych doctors are hard to find in some locales. If your primary care physician doesn't know of anyone, perhaps a crisis hotline could help. I used to work at my local NAMI and they should have the number for your county, assuming your state has that. Perhaps you could instead call your clinic and ask for a referral. In my health system there is a hotline to call for a nurse who can help you with finding a psych doc.

Good luck and keep us posted.

It's safe to say that it can be very hard to find a psychiatrist, even in urban areas. This is especially true if you want one who accepts insurance (despite supposed mental health parity). It's policy at my physician's office, which is part of a local hospital system, to not even treat bipolar, including bipolar 2. They refer it to their psychiatry department, which had a five month wait list when I was referred. Kaiser did something similar but got me in after about a month or so but appointments there were a complete joke - about 10-15 minutes each. Not surprisingly, I was misdiagnosed.

This months-long backlog was true of basically any psychiatrist who accepted patients and accepted insurance when I was looking (and ones who accepted both were few and far between).

That said, just keep at it. I seriously lucked out and found one with about a three month wait to get in. He is absolutely fantastic and now has me come in every six weeks or so.

If it gets really bad it's probably worth the $300 or so to see one who doesn't accept insurance. You can't put a price tag on your life. I know someone who went the out-of-pocket route, had the psychiatrist recommend medication, and after that got her regular physician to write the prescriptions. She doesn't have anything as complicated as bipolar though. I know you said that your parents were no help, but in this case maybe you could convince them to chip in.

Another route might be to find a therapist while you're waiting to see a psychiatrist (or on an ongoing basis). It wasn't difficult for me to find a therapist who accepted my insurance and I didn't have to wait to get in.

The sad thing is that 50% of psychiatrists will be retired in the next ten years! It is truly a crisis. After much searching (my pdoc retired), I finally found one that would take me in 6 weeks and would take my insurance. I feel truly blessed to have this doctor. So keep looking and you might get lucky. In fact, maybe your insurance company could help you find one??

My insurance company provided me a big list of psychiatrists that take my insurance. Unfortunately most docs on the list either didn't actually take their insurance or weren't accepting new patients, so it wasn't that useful.