Depression without sadness

[MomofGBMGC]

I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder approximately 4 years ago.  I was in a severe mania at the time.  Since my diagnosis, I have been prescribed a multitude of medications.  All of the meds never had much of a chance to work since I was drinking heavily during that time.  I began self-medicating with alcohol about a year before I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and continued until 4 and a half months ago.  I stopped taking all of my psych meds 4 months ago in order to lose weight.  I have gained 100 lbs. over the past 3 years.  
For the last 9 or 10 months,  I have been stricken with the inability to do ANYTHING.  I can't stir up the energy to do very minor tasks.  I'm not sick.  I went to see what my GP had to say.  She did a wide range of blood work and was unable to come up with anything.  I feel absolutely fine.  I have the normal aches & pains of someone who leads an extremely sedentary lifestyle and is 60 lbs. overweight.  I'm not unhappy at all.  I'm actually the most content now, than I have been in years....aside from the fact that I feel so lazy!  I look around my house and see the effects of my physical condition.  I live in a 2 story house; the downstairs is awful but the upstairs is atrocious because it's literally exhausting to climb the stairs!  I go several days without showering or brushing my teeth because I dread the physical exertion.  I sleep A LOT- around 15 hours per day.  I've gotten to the point that things that used to matter to me, don't.  I feel very trapped.
I found several things online that addressed the issue of depression without sadness.  I was wondering if anyone else had dealt with this problem and what was prescribed to them.  I'm going to make an appointment to see my psychiatrist and see if she can help.

[LeftCoastChick]

Hi there, check out my post in the BP forum - you'll find that you will get mostly better answers in the forum for the disorder you have - most folks here don't have BP so it's harder for them to either relate or give answers based on BP.(except the previous poster).  It's important that you don't cross post or what's called "spamming" as it's against term of use. Stick with the area where you can benefit from the input of the other members :)

I do welcome you to MedHelp, and I hope the folks here can be beneficial to your own road to recovery,
LeftCoastChick
Depression Community Leader

[tzzst]

I'd look at changing your meds if your sleeping 15 hours a day at least discuss it with your doctor somethings not right if your sleeping 15 hours a day.   i slept for a little over 12 hours a day on the wrong antipsychotic medication, i'm on the right meds now, and i'm right on schedule with 8 hours.  you should make changes to your diet, cut any sodas, out, switch to juice, start drinking water, start making lifestyle changes, eat 3 meals a day, or 5 smaller meals if you can handle that.  oatmeal is great for breakfast.  start doing little things like this, and you'll see, they'll make a difference, it just takes some time.  once you notice that doing several things make a difference, you'll be wanting to learn other things that make a difference too.  exercise is good for depression too, even if its 5-10 minutes, a walk around the block, thats 5-10 minutes more time you'd put in than if you didn't do any, and little by little, it does make a difference.  

[ILADVOCATE]

Lack of motivation can be a part of depression. If you had weight gain from the medications it did make sense to speak to your psychiatrist about it. It was not a good idea to stop medication as symptoms will return. There are always options. Lamictal is a standard mood stabilizer that doesn't usually cause weight gain and it does have an anti-depressent effect as well. You could speak to your psychiatrist about that. There is more information on mood stabilizers on the website "Depression Central". Speak to your psychiatrist about available options. Make sure the information you found online is medically valid as there is a lot of misinformation out there. There is a links section on the bipolar forum with many helpful websites. Find out more information and speak to your psychiatrist about starting a medication that would have less of an effect of weight gain and be better on depression. If you still have a problem with alcohol abuse go to a dual recovery group for a person with a psychiatric disability and an alcohol abuse issue as that can set back anyone's recovery. Once you start on medication, talk therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy is helpful in addition.