Could somebody give me good stories of BP-II?

[scarecrow22]

Possible diagnosis and I Googled it and now I'm freaking out about lithium, about drugs which zombify me, about the word chronic which kept appearing in Wikipedia ( I know, silly silly thing to do), along with warnings I could be ill 50-60pc of the time. Would love some reassurance, please.

Bump. Please

I have a friend with BP-II. She has a degree and a good job, and is stable most of the time. She doesn't take Lithium. I have "soft" bipolar and has been stable on the same cocktail of meds for almost 3 years now. I'm not a zombie. :) Just remember that it might take a while to find the right meds for you, so you may go through a period of suffering side effects. It's worth persevering.

My Dh has bpII - not going to lie to you there have been some very tough times but he's been on lithium for over a year now and is totally fine with it - steady as a rock mood-wise and no more zombie-like than he was before
I also have a good friend who takes lithium & has no side effects, but it really really works for her. Try and stay away from google (been there, done that) - you ony tend to find the negatives, the people who are fine aren't posting!
Take care

We also have a family member who was stable on Lithium for more than 20 years and then it started affecting her liver and she had to come off it. This has been a rough ride for the past 3 years with a couple of manic episodes while they tried to stabilise her on other meds. So I would see Lithium as something you take only if other mood stabilisers haven't worked for you.

I have BPII. I'm married with children, have undergrad and post grad qualifications and when well, am a senior manager.

Lithium tends to be a first line choice for BPII as it's good for manic episodes. In BPII you're more likely to get Lamotrigine (lamictal) that has almost 0 side effects once it's established.

I do get ill, and have been seriously ill this year, but I go for long periods where I'm just fine and those periods are longer now I'm on the right meds.

Sorry, lithium is a first line choice for BPI not BPII!

I was offered lithium and declined. You won't have meds that you don't want to take forced on you.

Oh yes and stay away from Dr. Google, he is not your friend.

if you are scared of lithium you won't be thrilled about the side effect profiles of its main anti-manic type rivals either! liver problems are rare, and usually reversible, although as keema says it might not be the first choice for some types of bipolar anyway

I really don't feel like I'm taking anything even when my levels are quite high, it's just like being me but slightly less inappropriate less often and able to get a few hours sleep now and then and a bit less likely to get into serious difficulties. I first started taking it about 15 years ago I think.

have a look at bipolaruk.org.uk, you can phone their advice line or download some info or ask for advice on their message boards

Thank you everyone. I should say in my slight panic I'd not made distinction but might have soft bi polar or BP-II. Not yet a formal diagnosis but the signs looked startlingly familiar, sometimes things I'd never consider telling people.
I've had depression on and off for so long, but been v well 5 yrs on Venlafaxine. Bit set back in the spring rocked my confidence. I'm also terrified of having to stop taking a drug that has otherwise helped so well in the past.
I definitely needed some good news stories, so thank you. Reassurance greatly under rated by professionals I find. I also have 2 kids (nrly 4 & 1.5) and what should be a Vg job except I'm very sub par since I went back to work. My husband is a good man but always says totally the wrong things. He also has no idea how suicidally depressed I've been at times, even this weekend. So I feel very lonely and very scared.
Thank you for your kindness.
(And please nobody feel the need to post gloomy tales. Sorry I try to be supportive normally but I'm not strong enough on this thread.)