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overwhelmed & scared

I went to my pdoc today bc I had a bad reaction to Cymbalta when my dose was lifted to 120mg. She said I may not be 'just depressed ' that with my years of irritability and alcoholism (I'm 21 years sober) that I may be bipolar 2. So I looked it up. Tons of new words. Hypomanic? I'm not the best one to ask if I meet criteria for any diagnosis bc I minimize everything. No I hate when people poke at me with their fingertip or pat my arm, or grab my arm. I have days where im pumped on large doses of Starbucks (which costs $ I dont have) and I clean all day, then garden, then surf the net and sign up for volunteering in areas I never f/u on. I wad diagnosed 15 yrs ago w/depression n anxiety. 6 yrs of Paxil saved me. Then petered out. 7 yrs of Lexapro- awesome but didnt help irritability. What a B I was at home. Now 2 yrs on cymbalta, my eyes swelled shut & I couldn't swallow. Today I start Prozac. BUT she says maybe you're BP2.
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Thank you
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6726276 tn?1421126668
Please check NAMI. Free support groups. Pamela
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Avatar universal
10 years ago I was misdiagnosed BP1 , taken off antidepressants, and onto Lamatrogine. While dosing up on the starter pack, I had panic attack after panic attack, finally went to a proper psychiatrist, he said I am not BP1. He immediately put me back on an antidepressant. Then I just suffered with irritability. So he added Seroquel at night. He is an addictionoligist as well and said doctors dont get addicts. They diagnose us improperly as BP1. I COULD NOT TOLERATE LAMICTAL. Maybe my irritability since childhood is a deep sense of sadness from traumatic events. Plus some menopause mixed in. Im just scared. I don't even know why. I start my first Prozac in the morning. Your feedback is so valuable. Thank you
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Avatar universal
Did you get a different looking pill when you changed your dose?  Sometimes people are actually allergic to a filler in a generic version of a pill, and not actually allergic to the drug (and eyes and throat swelling shut sounds like an allergic reaction, although I certainly can't tell you that for sure over the internet).  

As for the BP II--well, maybe.  Those high activity levels or even the irritability could be signs of it, but they might not be.  If she's pretty sure, lamotrigine might be something to look into, as it is a mood stabilizer with very good antidepressant effects.

I recommend you check out psycheducation.org.  It has a lot of useful info on BP II, mostly in plain English.
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