The Bipolar Support Thread

[BippityBoppity87]

Hi everyone Just thought I'd start a shiny new thread for anyone who is suffering from bipolar disorder.

Hope everyone is ok!

Thank you. It was the anniversary of her birth on Tuesday there.
How are you managing without the meds?

I have bipolar disorder
Im nearly 10 weeks pregnant

11*weeks

I'm doing OK. I gained a lot of weight though. Ugh. Funnily enough I lost weight on meds. I still have my ups and downs. But so far so good.

So sorry to hear that @Brokenanother1

I think I've lost weight too bizarrely. I was originally on mirtazapine, which just made me want to empty the entire fridge and cupboards, oh and it made my anxiety go through the roof to the point I couldn't leave the house. So I was fat and depressed! Thankfully they took me off it after two weeks (OD'd twice)

That's great. I have put 2 stone on with the olanzapine. PP mentioned aripiprazole doesn't cause weight gain so going to ask my gp about it.

Ang, Congratulations! How are you feeling?

Thank you Bippity- yes to fat and depressed when taking mirtazapine. I was on that for a year but then changed to amytriptoline. It also made me a nervous wreck aswell as hungry hippo.

@Brokenanother1
Well they took me off my Lithium before i got pregnant so moods are quite up and down
But im still on my antipsychotic which they said was fine to take ( Quetiapine)
Can't spell it lol

It was awful Broken Never again. I told them that it wouldn't be wise to put me on sertraline either, but they did anyway. Felt like saying I told you so! Think I just make this stuff up?! 🙄

I don't know how to spell half the meds either angandbaby19 It's taken me over a week to spell aripiprazole and I still use auto correct! Let alone know how to say it.

Be kind to yourself. You might still be adjusting to the hormones and all the changes. Pregnancy is hard enough without the extra challenges of bipolar, antipsychotic's etc. I stopped olanzapine. I was very lucky the hormones agreed with me to an extent but 2 weeks after the birth it was like being hit by a truck. Very scary and straight back on meds. Do you have a good psychiatrist/cpn/gp?

Bippity
Yes it's so frustrating when you're not listened to. I have a hard time trying to describe how messed up I am/feelings/things I'm doing.

Thank you for being so kind. I have only done 2 posts before. I'm new you can probably tell. Have no idea how to highlight names, sorry. I'm abit rubbish

That's ok broken .

Just below the message box (not sure on computers, I'm on my phone) there should be a emoji a I sign and then a picture of a paper clip. The middle one, if you click on it shows you what symbols to use for different word styles. Not that it makes much difference anyway!

I bought my tartan trousers btw. Got them from Sainsbury's, so not expensive. One dark blue and one forest green 😊 And a new pair of glasses that I really liked the look of.

How is everyone today?

I was just wondering, has anyone had any experience of travelling with bipolar? Do you have to declare it? What about the meds? Can you take them?

Not that I'm going on holiday anytime soon. Haven't left the country in about ten years!

I travel a few times a year, I just keep my meds in my carry on luggage (in case they get lost). I’ve never declared it, I do have travel insurance through AmEx but it wouldn’t cover any bipolar related incidents just other stuff. Had one minor mishap once in Italy where I took a little od of a packet of lorazepam but nothing terrible happened except I can’t remember that trip!

Good to know. I don't even have a passport. I really need to get one as I do like travelling, just haven't in years. Around the country yeah, but not actually left it!

Obviously ideally you’d declare it to your travel insurance, there used to be a company recommended by the manic depression fellowship (now bipolar uk) so it’s worth checking there first. I’m just too lazy and cheap to mention it 😳

I'm going to guess it's expensive? Haha. That would put me off too.

I get my travel insurance from a specialist insurance company online that deals with people with all kinds of physical & mental health illness.

It's less than 'ordinary' insurers but still a lot for example last year it was £75 in travel insurance when I went to Crete.

To be honest you should really try to have stable mental health before you go as I had a serious depressive episode once in Lanzarote- crying on the beach it was not fun, there's nothing worse than feeling unwell far from home.
Plus many countries do not have good mental healthcare services- we are actually very lucky here, some countries even in Europe have old fashioned 'asylums' etc!!

Will try to remember the name of the insurance company.

Got it. It's AllClear Travel, they sell their own insurance & act as a broker for other insurers. I've used them twice now as I have epilepsy as well.

That's not bad actually! I'm not planning on going anywhere soon, although I'm a lot more stable than I was. I can tell when a depressive episode is about to come on, hypomanic not so much, until I've come out of it. But they don't usually last long. Maybe a couple of weeks.

My mum had epilepsy, thankfully I haven't, but it's something that does play on my mind. I think hers was mainly drink related though.

Does anyone claim pip? I've been thinking this for a couple of months, but don't know how to go about it. I've had crisis team involvement a few months ago, but I don't know what other evidence I would need? Plus it seems like hard work!

Sorry for all the questions this is all new to me.

I’ve applied for pip, waiting to hear back. Was quite stressful, especially the assessment.

You might as well go for it, if you can handle the stress.