Racing Thoughts???

I have a 15 year old daughter recently diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. She is on Prozac and Lamictal.  The combination of the two seem to be helping with her depression and manic episodes.  She is still very concerned about her disturbing racing thoughts that she has almost every day. It is frustrating her and making it difficult for her in school, socially  and she says the visions are sometimes very scary.  Is there anything she can do or take that can help slow her mind down.  She is on a list to see a psychiatrist but that is more than a month a way.... don't know what else to do..........

[Xila31]

First off, let your daughter know she's not alone. We have a good community here and we have teens here with bipolar. She is welcome to come and talk to us, too, if she has questions or just feels isolated.

I also have racing thoughts and repetative thoughts. I get stuck in loops. This causes me high anxiety and worry. I also have confusion, forgetfulness, and frustration, and my thinking gets very disorganized. All of these things make it hard for me to work. It is hard for me to stay on task because my brain is moving so fast.

Right now I'm taking lithium and I'm hoping to see a difference. The medication will help her but she may need an adjustments. Also it takes about 2 weeks for the effects to start showing. Is she in talk therepy? Although a psychologist or a therapist who specializes in bipolar can't change her meds, they can help her with talk therapy. A combination of meds and talk is the best.

Keep us posted. I hope she starts doing better.

[ILADVOCATE]

Prozac is an anti-depressent not a mood stabilizer so sometimes with people with bipolar it can worsen mania. Lamictal is a good mood stabilizer but for some people with bipolar it treats the depressive aspect of bipolar better than it does mania. Speak to the psychiatrist about all this. In the meantime, for information on mood stabilizers and bipolar in general we have some websites linked up for clinically accurate but consumer friendly information at the welcome page.