biopolar discorder? Manic?

[xoxoNicole]

I just turned 29 a couple weeks ago. i have always been active. captin of my hs soccer team, a scholarship to college to play soccer, kept jobs for years and have had somewhat normal relationships. my parents were fighting alot then got a divorce 12 years ago. i started to get panic attacks. I have been feeling "this way" for 14 years and finally decided to take control of my feelings.  I went to the dr. last week and she gave me lexapro. i guess i had all the signs of depression and anxiety. (which i already knew) i only took lexapro for 2 days then had the worst side effects... anxitey, i wasnt sleeping at night and couldnt even go to work "this feeling" was so bad. went back to the dr. today and she told me that i might be bipolar and then gave me depekote. im nervous to take it because i cant miss anymore work. i just want to be normal again and not to feel "this way" anymore. i want to get better and i know this all takes time and people react different to different meds but i just want to know if it will be ok and "this feeling" will go away at some point. there is alot more to this story and i understand i need to talk to a phychiatrist but i thought this might be a start.

[paranoid_cataclysm]

Yeah it's like zzzmykids said that it's not a good idea to let a general practitioner do this.  Letting a general practitioner diagnose mental illness and give you psych meds is pretty much like letting a guy who's wasted at a bar who has the knowledge do the same thing.  Lithium is like the most praised mood stabilizer out there but it has some long term side effects that can be really bad.  It might take a few weeks for you to feel the full benefits of the medicine and for the side effects to go away or become tolerable.  My uncle started taking Geodon a few weeks ago and he asked me how the hell I managed to go to work when it was making me have trouble moving since this happens to him occasionally too.  I'd give you my personal experience with mood stabilizers if I had any.  I only ever had doctors try to prescribe me antidepressants which I always refused to take and antipsychotics which not only obliterated most of my psychosis but also completely got rid of my depression.

[zzzmykids]

Nicole, I like depakote, but favor the oldest one around, Lithium.  BUT first I favor you getting a psychiatric evaluation and not ever letting a general practitioner anywhere near your brain or MEDS. If you can find a pharmacologistpsychiatrist great, if not look for one that specializes in bp.  Mine is the head of a psychiatric hospital here and specializes in bp so I feel safe.
Hope you get to feeling better.  When picking up your meds, say, I probably fall into the two percent that have adverse reactions to psychotrops, and ask pharmicist if there is a chance or severe side effects.
Good luck. zzzmykids

[ILADVOCATE]

Depakoate is a full mood stabilizer and is far more helpful on bipolar than an anti-depressent which can worsen mania in a person with bipolar when taken alone. Its best to start it now so you can stabilize. It should not cause you to miss days at work but it takes a while for a person to build up to a proper blood level. If you want to know more about the side effect profile and the like you can go to the welcome page and look up the websites listed there which are clinically accurate but consumer friendly.