Biploar Disorder and Pregnancy

How should a woman manage bipolar disorder while pregnant?

Every woman is different, and should work closely with her OBGyn and psychiatrist, during and after pregnancy. Together you and your doctors can determine how your disorder should best be managed.

So I am writing about my pregnancies, not as advice for how you should manage your disorder during pregnancy, but in the interest of sharing experiences and information that could be potentially helpful to someone.

First Pregnancy (30 yo): I didn't know that I was bipolar at that time, although I had been treated in the past for depression. I do not recall which medications I was on, if any (other than prenatal vitamins), during my first pregnancy. I also don't recall if I felt any postpartum depression. I was going through a divorce, while my first child, a daughter, was a newborn. Then she was hospitalized at two months for a mysterious health problem that almost killed her, but from which she fully recovered. I think that I was just kind of stunned that whole first year.

My Second Pregnancy (37 yo): By my second pregnancy, I knew that I was bipolar and it was being managed with medication (Depakote for bipolar, Wellbutrin for depression, and maybe more, don't recall). But, my OBGyn and I decided that I would to go off meds for the duration of my pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Probably should have gone back on meds right after delivering. After three months of breast feeding, I really bottomed out, and for the first and only time in my life, went in for day hospitalization. The hospitalization was mainly helpful in that it got me in front of a doctor who prescribed Seroquel for me for the first time. It was a miracle drug for what a huge difference it made in my mental health. The hospitalization also gave me a chance to have my first group therapy with other bipolar patients. Very educational. Even at my worst, there were people way sicker than I was.

Third Pregnancy (39yo):

With my third, last pregnancy, I stayed on meds the whole time, and didn't breastfeed, because I didn't ever want to get as sick as I did after my second pregnancy. I was disappointed about not breastfeeding, but felt that I would be a much better mother by taking my meds and keeping my mental health, and that my baby, like many babies, would do fine on formula.

For an article on the medications I am currently on, see "My Current Bipolar Disorder Medications".

Mood-ie-meter

Manic 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 depresseD!!!!

This blog is for informational purposes only, it is not intended to be used for the treatment of mental illness. If you are having emotional troubles, please see a human mental health care professional, not a computer.

What Medications Are You Taking for Bipolar Disorder?

Struggling mightily against depression...after a bout of mixed bipolar episodes.

What a Bad Day Looks Like

Yesterday, while my daughter was at a summer day camp, I sat in my car in a parking garage with a blanket and pillow, watching Wuthering Heights on my iPhone until it was time to pick her up. At one point, I was sobbing while talking to my husband on the phone. Several people, throughout the afternoon, hesitantly approached my car to ask if I was okay. At least I wasn't laying in bed all day, but still not a stellar day for my mental health.

The medications that I had been taking (mainly just Seroquel at night and Prozac intermittently...not the way to take Prozac) have obviously not been cutting it.

I am going to start taking the Prozac as I should, every day, and am adding a 1/2 tablet of Zoloft. Yikes! Zoloft (Sertraline) is a med that I don't like, and that usually makes me feel extremely spazzy, but I am willing to give it a try again if it will pull me out of this deep blue funk. We'll see.

What Drugs are You Taking to Manage Your Bipolar Symptoms?

I am interested in learning what other people are taking to manage their bipolar. Lets share info. Post a comment about what you are currently, or have taken to manage your bipolar disorder. How are your meds working for you? What are the good or bad experiences you've had with medications. Let help each other1

Reminder...the only person who should be making recommendations as to which bipolar medications you need to be taking is your psychiatrist. The purpose of this post is just to help us increase our knowledge of possible drug combinations taken someone suffering from bipolar disorder. This would be the type of information that you can talk to your doctor about, particularly if the medications you are currently taking are not working for you.

Moodie-meter


Manic 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 depresseD!!!!

This blog is for informational purposes only, it is not intended to be used for the treatment of mental illness. If you are having emotional troubles, please see a human mental health care professional, not a computer.

Bipolar Disorder + Artistic Impulse = This Picture

Have a creativity compulsion today, and this art escaped from my bipolar brain--a depiction of Bipolar Disorder portrayed stick figures and pills.

I haven't posted since March, and this is what you get. I've been struggling a lot with mixed episodes for the last several months.

I will be posting a few new articles soon as well as a discussion of medications currently used to treat Bipolar.

Mood-ie-meter

Manic 10 9 8 7 MixEd 5 4 3 2 1 depresseD

This blog is for informational purposes only, it is not intended to be used for the treatment of mental illness. If you are having emotional troubles, please see a human mental health professional, not a computer.

An Introduction To My Experience With Bipolar I

Guest Blogger Lilas Green

My name is Lilas. I am twenty-two years old and was diagnosed with Bipolar I Disorder when I was sixteen. At first, I refused to believe this; told no one and self-medicated with cocaine, Valium and obsessive exercise. Although I had been seeing a psychiatrist for years, it took me losing my job, my boyfriend, my apartment and almost my life to confront my demons and accept that I had an illness and needed medication.

This was a terrifying idea; I was much happier with the excuse that the reason for my crippling depression was because my mother had died when I was fourteen and I was “excitable” at times because I was a teenager. This is what I had led myself, and everyone around me to believe.

When I finally understood the seriousness of my illness and the reality that it could kill me, I found myself in a very lonely place. I was nineteen and no matter how much I tried to explain the suicidal voices, the religious hallucinations and the dangerous behavior to the people close to me, they were unable to understand.

People were just unable to accept that it wasn’t because I was a particularly wild child that I broke into that guys house naked or rode my bike around London for miles in my bikini or disappeared with that random drug dealer for days, but because I had a chemical imbalance in my brain. There is nothing harder than accepting you have a mental illness then having to convince everyone around you that you are mentally ill. This is where I found myself.

Even now, three years, two in-patient hospital trips and a lot of medication later, I am baffled to find that a few friends still seem suspicious of my illness and I know this is due to the taboo that still surrounds mental health and not their trust in my character.

This is why I am happy to contribute to this blog, because Bipolar is a still a tricky subject and if I can help educate others through my mistakes and successes then something helpful is coming out of this illness.

- Lilas Green

Coping with Death of Loved One When Bipolar

My last post, in mid-December, was titled "Bipolar? How to Survive the Holidays." It turns out that it wasn't me who had trouble surviving the holidays, but my mother.

My mother, at 67 years of age, had an aneurysm burst in her brain in the 22nd of December. She passed away after a week of unresponsiveness in the hospital. She hadn't even been sick. The family was looking forward to celebrating Christmas Eve at her home. I'm still in shock, and miss her so much.

As an only child, the tasks of making medical decisions for mom in the hospital, arranging the funeral and settling her affairs and estate all fall on me. These sad practicalities on top of all the grief. It's been a couple of rough months for me and my family. The kids were very close to mom, and we are slowly trying to help them cope and work through their grief.

Grief + Bipolar Disorder =

Having had bipolar disorder for decades, I know that, when loved ones are in critical situations, I rarely fall apart, but instead go into autopilot and do what I can to help out and manage the situation. Thankfully, that's what happened again. That being said, I can't say enough about how crucial it is to STAY ON MEDS when faced with stress and chaos (and the rest of the time as well).

Bipolar Medications and Change of Routine

My mother lived about an hour away from us. And there were several times when I had to race up to her hospital or stay overnight in her town. On at least two nights, I either did not pack anything, or forgot to include my meds when packing, a dangerous situation. My advice for anyone with bipolar disorder is to always keep a little bit of emergency medication in your car, purse or wallet, somewhere that you have access to all the time, so that if you don't remember to bring your medications with you when traveling, you still have an emergency stash to carry you through.

In addition to the possibility that missing a dose of bipolar medication will precipitate a manic or depressive episode, people with the disorder and more vulnerable to manic depression when under stress, sleep deprived or during a change in routine, making it especially important to take meds during hard times.

Moral of the story for those with bipolar disorder...doesn't always seems to revolve around having bipolar medication? If you are not on any, get a prescription for appropriate meds. If you take meds for your disorder, remember to ALWAYS take them, particularly when life goes haywire and you need to hold yourself and family together.

Love you mom!

Bipolar? How to Survive the Holidays

The countdown is on! A week until Christmas. For most, the holidays are a mixture of fun, festive and frantic. But people with bipolar disorder need to be especially careful to stay balanced during this season of parties, shopping and family gathering. Here are a few suggestions from a seasoned veteran of manic depression:

1. If at all possible, don't fund Christmas with credit. Anyone should avoid carrying an expensive, income-sucking credit card balance. But credit is particularly dangerous for those with bipolar disorder, since out of control spending is a common result of hypomania and mania.

2. Try making many of your gifts. There really are home-made, low-cost, yet super cool presents:

• Make a calendar for friends and family, topped by personal photos, and filed with dates to remember, such as birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
• Burn a CD collection of your personal favorite Christmas songs to give as gifts.
• Give food and drink. Food: Home made Christmas candy and cookies. Drink: Make your own Kahlua, and bottle it in any cleaned used glass bottle. (Kahlua's easy to make with few ingredients: vodka, coffee, sugar & vanilla. Google for a recipe.)

3. Manage alcohol consumption. Speaking of alcohol, if you tend to consume too much, as do many folks with bipolar, try to reign in your boozing. A few tricks...

• If you are partying, every time you start to feel a bit buzzed, switch to water. Being adequately hydrated will also reduce the potential pain of hangover.
• If you are a white wine drinker, add ice, or ice water to your glass of wine. This will help you consume less alcohol and help to maintain hydration.
• If you have the will-power, skip the booze altogether. Drink lemon water, tea or some other drink of choice. This has the added benefit of reducing calorie intake, which can easily get out of control with all of the yummy holiday food.

4. Get enough sleep! It is easy to become sleep deprived during busy times. But remember, sleep deprivation can trigger mania, so get plenty of Zzzzzzzzzzs.

5. Take your meds. Again, when things get busy, it is easy to lose your routine. But always take your bipolar meds, as prescribed, especially when your schedule becomes hectic.

Mood-ie-meter

Manic 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 depresseD
 

This blog is for informational purposes only, it is not intended to be used for the treatment of mental illness. If you are having emotional troubles, please see a human mental health professional, not a computer.