Hi, I am currently 18 years old, and have been suffering from depression for about two years now – for which I went to therapy and was prescribed medication when it started. Anyway, I have not been taking the medication for some months now, after accidentally weaning myself off of it. Now, I have started to notice things about my behaviour that have been existant for some time, but have only recently become of major concern to me. Here is a link to a list I have compiled, as it will not fit here:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/setokaiba/symptoms.png

There are lots more, but do you think these could possibly be symptoms of another type of mental illness besides depression? I know that manic depression and bipolar disorder run in my family, as well as OCD and OCPD. Could this be something I should be seeking treatment for? Thank you in advance for any help.
Thank you, but I didn't mean playdates in the sense you probably took it. I still live at home, and will be starting college in the spring, and I am constantly being forced to hang out with certain family friends that I cannot stand, as bad as that may sound. Not like going next door to play with the toddler's choo-choos or anything.

As a bipolar person I have to say it sounds as if bipolar could be an issue. The things you describe such as having family members who are bipolar, and the co-existence of anxiety and OCD style symptoms are very common for bipolar people. Also the temper outbursts and tears.

Something else to consider is that research released just a few days ago confirmed what many psychiatrists have speculated about for years now – treating bipolar depresion with antidepresants can make bipolar people feel worse over time.

Perhaps you would feel better with a mood stabilizer?

Please check out the link below. You can do some free professional online bipolar tests in private that are the same as a psychiatrist would use. Then you will know if bipolar is a possibility and can go and talk with a medical expert.

You are doing a very wise thing in seeking information and being proactive about your health. You will get it figured out and get effective treatment and everything will improve 100% so please hang in there.

I have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, fibromyalgia, manic depression, and lupus. I am not sure if the fibromyalgia is the lupus or if they are two separate conditions. I am very tired and in a lot of pain, all the time. I do well for myself. I have two jobs . My immediate family is wonderful. I couldn't be more blessed. The depression makes me feel guilty, I can't seem to accept the fact that my life is great and I feel so awful at times. Like death. I think part of me still has problems accepting depression as a real disease, even though I have sought treatment. Then there is the pain and fatigue. I just don't know what to do. I don't know which doctor to see. Everybody is a specialist but no one can figure out what to do with me. I am being treated for the thyroid with Synthroid and the depression with lamictal and sometimes paxil. Nothing for the pain, but I am about to go to another rhuematologist. All the pain meds make me sick and I can't work. I am feeling helpless.

Hi there! I'm no expert at medical conditions but I do feel that you need a support group that you can talk to especially if you are feeling depressed. You should not deal with this alone. You should have someone or a group where you can always share your feelings and who will give positive boost because life is beautiful and we will only go through it once so live it to the fullest in the positive way. Don't feel helpless because you still have all the powers in the world to make decisions to make your condition better. You say you have a wonderful family. Aren't they a strong force to keep you fighting? Aren't they worth all you strength to fight for? If so then keep on fighting and you will get your reward eventually. Believe and it will happen for you. If you need someone to talk to just contact me and I'll be there.

If you're using omega3 for bipolar treatment,for how long have you been using it?Are you using omega3 solely or as a conjunction to valproat,lithium etc.?If you're using only omega3,has it been protecting you from mania and depression so far?

Never heard of this one! Will have to ask my Dr about it this week. Med review time!

Im on Prozac, Tegritol & Seroquel

2 months ago, I suddenly became so tired i could not get out of bed. I would sleep 8 hours, get up a few, sleep 8, up a few, so i had two sleep cycles per day, and lost my motivation so badly to get out and do anything (like go to the college classes i was struggling to not fail). I usually have tons of various hobbies, but i couldn't bring myself to get interested in anything or get motivated to do it. I wasn't sad, just more apathetic and tired. Although anxious and pessimistic about my future prospects (chance at college now doomed). I stay at home and have no friends that i talk with, besides my brother some, but when i go to work i suddenly have outbursts of chit-chatting i can't stop. I was diagnosed with ADHD young, and this summer was on Aderrall XR for it, but it made me have manic episodes i couldn't risk having, so i stopped. I feel like i'm depressed, but then i get sparks of manic now and then? Is it bipolar or just normal depression? I plan on seeking treatment.
I previously had been on Amphetamine Salts for my ADHD three years back, and at that time also was prescribed Fluoxetine for the reason of having an unbearable overcharged sex-drive, in that i could not keep from constantly trying to touch my girlfriend, just from primal urges driving me mad constantly, and while it did help with that (to the point where i even was unwanting of sex when she was demanding it, quite laughable now) it also interacted with the amphetamine to cause SEVERE mood swings ranging from how-did-i-not-die-that-day mania where i felt no pain (walking away from laying a motorcycle down and rashing my arm up, to pour peroxide right on the wound and bandage it) to very very dangerously depressive states. I like to blame everything on my girlfriend at the time, she deserves it in hindsight for how she mentally and physically abused me, but after enough near-death experiences i cut off my medications and moved out of state to work in a factory and regain my sanity.
After regaining enough of my sanity, i worked for a year and a half at a job back home and have made alot of progress financially, and now began trying to go to college again. In the workplace, i am a highly respected guy, which is strange because in school i only had 2 to 4 friends and basically no presence in public, but at work the guys respect my intelligence and skills as a machinist. I do great except that when i was on Adderall this summer i began having manic periods where i would get myself in hot water with my coworker who was a long-time friend who also was a stripper and i was hopelessly crushing over. I am lucky to have not gotten fired. I'm relieved she got married and left work on maternity. But for myself, it's been three years without any dating or even talking alot with a girl publicly, such as at the rare occasion a friend drags me to a party. I'm coming to terms with the idea that i may be single and not looking for many years.
My father's sister had severe Manic Depression that ended her marriage and self-exiled her from the family and time zone even. I'm not that bad by far, but honestly i do have my times where i get really hyper and wild and volunteer to do 84-hour work weeks with no problem, and just cant stop myself from going over to my coworkers and talking, like i feel this huge urge inside me like im craving talking and interaction with people like it was physical hunger. I am usually very quiet. Right now i'd have to say i'm on the upswing and approaching a more manic time, as i can hardly sleep 5 hours per day now, and stay up to do stuff like type huge essays here about how crazy i seem to be going. I know that the last few months, i was not myself, in a depressive sense, and there's been plenty of times i've been unusually manic, unheard of from a quiet guy like myself. I just do stuff rash without thought, like call ex girlfriends late (BAD). I just wish things would balance out.
Oh and i went to a walk-in clinic when i first got way tired (bottom end of the apparent tide) and they did what they said was a full blood test (they took three vials, that nurse was a saint, i felt nothing and she was done in under ten seconds) and they saw nothing abnormal, including the seperate thyroid results. I don't know if this has importance to the theories of hypo- or hyperglycemia.

Well, it's probably not bipolar disorder (manic depression). Your mood isn't fluctuating from extreme mania to extreme depression, so my guess is probably depression. Bipolar disorder is also classified by extreme periods of flat affect. The only disorder which would fluctuate rapidly from mania to depression is cyclothymia (mild bipolar disorder). But then again, I'm not a trained psychologist, so the best thing you can do is to seek treatment.

Ok I have a odd case.
I have a history of anorexia and ocd. In my previous treatment for the eating disorder, the doctor put me on prozac since i was experiencing some depression (20mg). I got out of treatment nearly two weeks ago and all together it's been about 8 weeks on prozac.
Here's the problem.
Over the past 3 or so days, I get really manic and super happy. It doesn't feel like normal happy. I go crazy, FULL of energy, racing thoughts, talk really fast (too fast sometimes that i don't even know what i'm saying), and just feel overpowered. Strong as an ox.
Now every once in awhile, I'll get hit with a random spell of depression, and everytime it happens, it's worse and worse. To the point that I don't care enough to move, I just lay on the sofa and stare into space. And at one point I have begun thinking a LOT about suicide. Pill overdose mostly.
But it only last maybe 3 hours tops then i'm HAPPY again. And occasionally, I have "NORMAL" moods, where I'm just well normal.

The smart move would be to see a psychiatrist.

To answer your question… ppl who have bipolar disorder do not do well on antidepressants alone. Our response typically is that antidepressants: A. work then stop, B. do nothing. C. cause agitation, and/or D. flip us to manic, mixed states, or rapid cycling. That's all very well documented. It is not that the antidepressant causes bipolar, it is that bipolar was there beforehand but unrecognized.

At the same time, ppl respond differently to antidepressants. That you are having a hard time on a low dose of Prozac could mean a couple things including that the dose isn't high enough or the med isn't the right one for you. Just the same, the suped up energy suggests that you'd be best off getting an evaluation by a psychiatrist, preferably one who specializes in mood disorders. It the answer is nope, not bipolar, you'd still be better off being treated by the type of doc who specializes in psych meds since you are not having a typical response to Prozac.