Thank you for your post. I too have the anger fueled episodes and have alienated so many in my family during those times. The euphoric and the anger episodes both make me feel very empowered, something that is totally against my poor self esteem that I have had all my life. I am not familiar with the meds you are on . Do you feel stable on them? I had kidney cancer in 2004 and they removed it then 6 months later they found the Non Hodgkin Lymphoma. I am now in remission for the second time. I have a large arachnoid cyst in the posterior fossa of the brain and am not sure ECT is an option but for the first time ever I will agree to anything they suggest. At my age I am just too tired for the varying episodes and the depression gets deeper all of the time. Not sure I even know what stable is. Bless you and I hope you are doing well on you therapy. n
I am somewhat stable. I take six psychotrophic medications and have ECT every 3 or 4 weeks. We tried many antidepressants and now I am on an MAOI, Emsam (seligiline) which is a patch. I think the ECT does more for me than the medications. I never worried about giving up mania as I am more likely to be irritable than anything else... I think I was euphoric only a few times. You have my sympathy on having cancer. In the late 90's I had cervical cancer and had a hysterectomy.
I'll look for it and thank you for responding
There is a web forum called moodgarden.org that has a lot of 40+ members on it. It is a bit slow, but if you post a question it always gets an answer or two.
Thank you so much for responding so soon. My situation was much like yours, treated since 29 for unipolar depression and then diagnosed with BPII in my late 40's. I would not take anything but the Depakote because as a nurse I knew what the other drugs would do and I never wanted to put patients in jeopardy nor did I want to give up my mania. How are you doing now? Have you had difficulty finding the right combo of meds? I also have the second cancer since 2004 and this one, while treatable but not curable, makes me worry about having time to find the right combo of meds and finding some peace for my husband and son's and maybe me. Thank you again for caring enough to respond. N
It is never too late to get help. I think there are many people in this forum who are older... I'm 57, first starting on meds 10 years ago. I had been diagnosed with depression and on meds for that several times earlier in my life but I wasn't diagnosed with bipolar until I was 47.