Excellent

Thanks for this addition to the site.
I think it will be very helpful to users.
As it seems I'm the first here, I'll introduce myself as Amanda and show you my chart! Today I'm OK!
:O)
I've been treated for depression for 14 years with a possible bit of Bipolar II in me apparently.
ooh, need people to talk to on here - not just me. That would be boring.
Cheers.

Amanda

Hi Amanda,

I thought I would jump in here too. I definitely carry a dx of BPII. But, since this is where the discussion started, this is where I'll post. I'm glad you got the ball rolling! I look forward to seeing how the discussion progresses. I would love to have people "like me" to talk to.... especially folks who are taking the time to track their moods and be responsible with their mood disorder.

I use my mood charts to track seasonal patterns and "monthly" patterns (you ladies will understand!). I also use them to see if there are any early indicators of an impending mood change. I take my charts with me to my appointments with my MD and my psychologist. The data are very informative as we make tx decisions as a team.

It would be great to hear how others are using their mood charts!

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!!
Jules

Hi Ladies,
I have taken my charts to the Psych, but he didn't seem too interested... :-P
Anyway, I am glad this new forum feature is here!
I agree that tracking menses is very helpful. but I still do not know how to use patterns to make valid predictions. The only thing I can see is that the number of sleep hours and the level of my mood seem to have a negative correlation, ie: as the number of sleep hours decreases, my mood seems to increase, and vice-versa. I do not know if one causes the other or if they are symptoms of the same beginning that I don't even know what to call...

Hello all my name is Amanda and I just found this site today. I think its going to be an awesome tool for me. I am currently in the process of coming off my meds so that I can get pregnant. I have a diagnosis of bipolar. I'm scared and excited and reading as much material as I can get my hands on about bipolar and pregnancy. I plan to use this site as a tool to track my moods in the effort of catching a depressive or manic episode before it gets out of hand. I plan to share this journal with my therpist and psychiatrist to make sure I am getting the best care possible. I want this to be a successfully journey.

I am open to suggestions for resources on the topic of bipolar and pregnancy if anyone knows of anything that might be helpful or if you have gone through this yourself tips and pointers would be great.

Thanks
Amanda

To keep the ball rolling....
Hi everybody I'm new to the site. I've recently weaned myself off of sertraline, after having been on it for about 1.5 years for post-partum depression. It had helped with the depression (which honestly I've had all my life) and it helped a TON with the irritability, which skyrocketed after my kids were born. I didn't like the idea of being on an AD all my life and was hoping after being a mom for a while and no longer nursing / hormones normalizing that I'd be better. I'm about 3 weeks off now. Irritability is high, depression is back. I am hoping that it'll lessen with time and I'll learn how to cope with both.... but honestly I can't help but feel if a little pill fixes it for me then why not... (and if a pill can fix it, doesn't that point to a chemistry issue, not just a cognitive one?)
I came here to track my moods overall and to also see if there's a monthly biological correlation IYKWIM.

Hope you all are well this evening!

ajstark623,
Pregnancy and no medication and bipolar spells much help from loved ones. I just got through a pregnancy about a year ago. The pregnancy was okay at times. About month 7 my baby's brain was really developing. (as happens with all babies at that time of gestation) I could barely sleep for nights at a time. I was taking lots of Omega 3, but it wasn't enough. I also took some herbs to help me. I consulted with an herbalist. Herbs can be very dangerous if I try to diagnose myself. (I am not an herbalist. I have no training).My husband was very helpful throughout the pregnancy. He let me know if he saw some mood changes coming. It really helped to have help from my children (laundry, dishes). I do have 4 children now. With all those children it is so important to not do everything myself. I recommend you get a healthy dose of help with household chores and take time for yourself each day.

I am new here too. I should keep my chat more daily. What a great tool!

Anna O.,

Just a few things about coming off of an AD.... It is common for people to want to be medication free for all kinds of reasons. For some it is the stigma of being on "drugs," for others it is the idea that "I SHOULD be able to handle this myself," for others, they just don't like taking any medicines, period. I'm sure there are many more. However, major depression is real disorder. It is just like diabetes and hypothyroidism. We would NEVER tell a diabetic to simply stop taking their insulin because they feel "fine." We would NEVER tell someone that they SHOULD be able to handle their thyroid! That's would be silly!!

Our brain is the most complex organ in our bodies. It is very easy for those lovely little neurotransmitters to get out of kilter. If a person has a history of major depression, the unfortunate probability is that the disease is chronic and must be treated for life. (just like diabetes or hypothyroidism) The same thing goes for Bipolar D/O. The chemical culprits are Serotonin, Dopamine and Norepinephrine, and their corresponding brain receptors.

So, your question about a little pill is very appropriate. Yes... the little pill does the trick... and it's not your fault. Here's the litmus test: if you're "chemically" depressed, the pill will help. If you're not "chemically" depressed, the pill will not help.

I know that was a long answer to your question... but I am such an advocate for people with mood disorders getting appropriate treatment. I really want to see the stigma for treatment and being treated reduced. I wish you the best with whatever you decided. May you feel well and live with a spring in your step!

Jules

Hello everyone, I'm Jane and I am also new here. I have been battling Depression for too many years now--since 1999 actually. I can relate to hoping to be off meds--I was hoping that after menopause I would improve--but no such luck. My talk therapist and I just recently identified irritablity thru severe anger as a symptom of my illness--I have had it for years but thought of it as a normal character flaw and I was ashamed of it. But I used to get angry for rational reasons and I could control and channel its expression--and now I don't and I can't. So anyway, I hope this site can help with tracking.

I definately know this illness is bio-chemical in origin because my whole family tree lights up with either depression(on my Mum's side) or bi-polar (on my Dads). I agree, Life stressors can definity aggravate it but I don't think they are the root cause. If the pills are working for you and you are not having bad side effects, keep taking them. After all, if you had to take pills for your thyroid or your heart you would not think about going off them, unless your doctor told you to. The only difference with the brain is there are no convenient lab tests to monitor the effectiveness of the meds and sometimes words are a very inadequate tool.

I am bipolar. I just wanted to say, ssheehy, I'm really sorry your pdoc doesn't appreciate your charts. I take mine to my doc (gp) and he loves it. He's shown them to a pdoc friend of his and he says he wished all his patients used this site. I can't imagine a doctor not appreciating the info.

~BARB~

I was a nurse before I got too sick to feel I could work safely and accurately and I noticed some doctors kind of make up their minds about things before they even see the patient, especially if the patient had a chronic illness.

Amanda 1 - EPO? evening primrose?

Jules - you hit it home about what will be great about this forum. People who actually care about themselves enought to actually chart and try to improve their symptoms. No lingering around feeling sorry for ourselves for days on end!

ssheeshy - That is a lot of meds changes in one year! how on earth have you managed?

Well I was originally dx as severe depression about 10 years ago however it later became clear it wasn't that so the dx was changed to cyclothymia and is now verging on bipolar II. I'm a single mom with 2 kids and I work full time in investmant banking. I am struggling so much with balancing all this and the condition (and being recently sepatated) but I am damn well determined I'm not going to be beaten now!

Here is my last quarter chart for those interested. Oct wasa bad month for me as I was moving house and had a really bad cycle on to go too. The missed meds were due to a pharmacy ordering error and has sparked a full blown cycling pattern in me since.

Hi
Yeah, EPO - Evening Primrose Oil
I'm sure it helps with PMS and prevents my mood going too low each month.
I'm glad this thread took off! :O)

Anna O,

Just to add to what jules said. Depression is a chemical imbalance. It can be caused from outside sources and congnitive thinking but is still an imbalance. If you've been depressed for most of your life, isn't the little "happy pill" (as I call mine) worth it?

Mike

I Lurve my happy pill. :O)

Hi everyone.

I have been dealing with depression for most of my life. I have had major bouts in the past, the last one being about 9 years ago. I have had mild depression since and thought that the really bad times were behind me. Then it snuck up on me. I didn't realy notice. I was easily agitated, nasty to people, sleeping a lot but not really sad for about the past 3 months. About a month ago it's gotten really bad. I have been crying a lot, some fanatasies about suicide, withdrawn, sleeping a lot (taking Tylenol PM just to go to sleep to get rid of the day?

What I don't understand is my mood swings. For example, this week I have been depressed for the most part. Mon was just blah, Tues morning was good but then I could feel the depression coming on in the afternoon. Wed and Thurs were horrible. I spent a lot of time crying and thinking about how bad things are. Basically I cried every time I was alone and sometimes with others around. I mean, I sit at my desk at work and cry. People must think I'm crazy! Today started like that then all of a sudden I could feel the fog lifting. Is this normal with depression? I never know how long I'm going to be in a good mood. I have been using my primary to get anti-depressants which has worked until recently. Are these mood swings normal with depression? I just don't know what's normal anymore.

Sorry to ramble on..just wanted to know what you think

Hi Rutterbtr: Because of what happened to me recently, anytime I see someone posting about large mood swings I feed compelled to strongly suggest they see a psychiatrist if at all possible. They have made a lot of discoveries about the biological things related to depression and also, sometimes what seems to be a clearcut depression really isn't.

If you are female, you could be having perimenopause issues complicating things. (I go back quickly to be sure you didn't mention your sex.)

The other thing they have found (and this is what changed my Depression Dx. which I have had for almost 10 years) is many psychiatrists now think more people move along a spectrum of moods which can include what they call hypomania in addition to depression. Agitation, anger and anxiety can indicate this hypomania in addition to depression. It often happens to people with a history of early onset depression. The thing is, some antidepressants can make it worse which is why I am strongly urging you to see a mental health professional if you can. They call the new awareness of the mood spectrum disorder the Bipolar Spectrum with the prior manic-depressive aka bipolar illnesss being called Bipolar One, and those of us with the hypomania symptoms being called Bipolar Two or other numbers up to about Six( I think). So they have really made progress in determining type of illness.

The problem is, this mood spectrum way of thinking of Mental Health is NEW. The DSM manual for psychiatry , which is what most medical professionals who are not Mental health specialists probably use when they diagnose and prescribe meds was last updated in about 1995---so most of this Bipolar Spectrum stuff is not in it.

Here on this site under the Bipolar category, there is a lot more, more coherant information and several books and web-sites are recommended. Especially look at the posting with the "Geek Alert" warning as the "geek" part refers to those of us that LIKE to look info about our illness up. Please check it out.

Anyway, about two weeks ago I had an episode of feeling like I litterally wanted to crawl out of my skin. (and quickly please). My pdoc told my that is a key symptom of Bipolar Two and as I had finally TOLD my talk person about feeling uncontrollable anger and irritability my diagnosis got changed to Bipolar Two. I had a hard time talking about anger and irritability because I was so ashamed of not being able to control it---but now I am glad I did. Bipolar Two and other numbers need different meds than straight-up (Unipolar) depression does and, as I said, somethimes antidepressants make things worse instead of better. Now they are redoing my meds and I am already feeling some benefits. So please check this out for you too.

And please, please remember to call someone (your doctor, an ER, a helpline) professional if you do really feeling like hurting yourself. There is help and caring out there, life will get better, just give yourself a chance. Unipolar or Bipolar, treatment can help.

Thanks for all the info Lizabeth. It is very helpful. I think I am definitely ready to go see a psychiatrist again. I had a good day today but you never know when a bad one will happen- I just don't want to live like that.

hello all:
im new here Ive been dealing with depression off and on for 20 or so years and was wondering what somes responce to being put on cembalta and welbutrin.???

I was on Celexa 20-40mg for the last few months of 2008 but after a visit a month later my doctor suggested we taper off the Celexa and try an old regime that was helpful for me when feeling "manic". I guess the celexa propelled me up in the mood spectrum and I didn't notice it, but to be precautious I went back on my old cocktail. If I start feeling depressed again, we'll probably add the celexa back into the mix. But never by itself again. When i tapered off the celexa I didnt feel any need for the rest of that stuff so January was a medicine free month