Confused about Bipolar

[carrieann87]

Hello there,
I have been taking Carbamazapine, and sertraline along with Zopiclome for the past year. I have not had a diagnosis of Bipolar, but all the signs are there. My anxiety is hightening greatly at the moment as I have been seeing a pdoc and tdoc for the past year also and I feel that everytime I visit them I am not getting any closer in making myself better. Last september I had major depression for about 2 months. After that I remember going to the doctor and saying I dont need the sertraline anymore cause I feel much better, in fact great, after she insisted I carry on I had a bout of feeling like everything is great, but my OCD symptoms got worse, but was what my GP described as a manic type episode. My Pdoc then put me on to Carbamazapine with out really saying anything other then this will help to level your mood, he also pescribed me Zopiclome as I am or was a bad sleeper.
Since then I see my tdoc everyweek, and my pdoc every 10 days. I started to get frustrated of not knowing why I was on this medication and what what happening to me, so I did some research myself. I found out that all my symptoms match exactly those of Bipolar, and I then checked out the medication on the net and realised that was for treating Bipolar.
When I put all this to my Pdoc and Tdoc a few months back they have not said anything and I have got nothing more from them then they cant say yes or no.
The past few weeks I have had a new sensation of emotions and that is of loosing control. The other day I got so angry I pinned my dog to the floor and actually saw red I got that mad.
Today I completly went mad and starting throwing all my shoes down the stairs. and the other night I just broke down screaming crying cause i could here 2 people talking.
I just feel like I am not getting anywhere at the moment.
Do you have any suggestions that could maybe put my mind at ease.
P.S I also found out this week that my maternal grandmother was diagnosed 20 years ago with Manic depression, and was on tranquilizers, and apparently is still on pills to this day to keep her stable.

[adel_ezz]

strange they put you on zoloft without warning you that this may drive you manic which it did when you said everything looked great meaning you were heading towards mania. tegretol assumingly was to cover the AD and prevents mania. it seems they used the AD because you were depressed for a while. funny your docs don't talk to you about your illness and seem to request that you obey their orders. yes tegretol is an old drug very classical too but usually avoided by doctors nowadays due its high interactivity with other drugs. i don't understand why you consulted a GP instead of a pdoc.

right now, are you still on any AD because i have the feeling you are having some severe swings or mixed states. I don't see why docs don't use antipsychotics they help a lot even if it's said that it'is only used in the case of psychosis. Because they help with BP1 and also for 2 when the person is hypomanic.

As to your docs can't say yes or no whether or not you are BP, i have a view here. I believe that NOT that BP should take an MS like your tegretol, BUT that those who need MS are called bipolar. in other words those with mood swings who can be stabilized under an AC and the like, deserve to be called BP pts. Really the subject is tough by all means and pts get unstable for no reasons or slight triggers. I doubt tegretol alone is your med because it's so classical, of course am not a pdoc to decide, they are the specialists here really, tegretol however is prescribed for a variety of other diseases not necessarily BP or even as an anticonvulsant.  

my modest view, you can get better under an antipsychotic like seroquel which will help you lift your anxiety or abilify which is good for depression. I don't see your case very severe besides with tegretol you will need to do some blood testing at a distant intervals. whereas there exist things like lamotrigine (i can see you are using the generic names) which is effective for depression, doesn't request blood testing, doesn't produce headaches or weight gain and also effective for the mixed state you are passing through right now.

you can also consult other pdocs. I have the feeling that you live in britain because those are the pdocs who prescribe tegretol and of course the rest of the commonwealth countries.

good luck