This is the first time I've posted in the Bipolar forum....I've spent some time in the Celexa and Effexor form though. After a year of pain/confusion and med trials for my diagnosis of severe depression/anxiety....I'm thinking I might have the wrong diagnosis and need a little insight from those of you who are bipolar. I would like to know if what I'm about to explain sounds like a year of mixed episodes brought on my the many different ad meds/dosages they have tried me on. I know that no one here is a psychiatrist but you are all much more familiar with the symtoms and quite frankly I have gone through a year of pure H*** and am desperate to be stable and start to figure out who the heck I am again. I've been going through this too long and my pschiatrist may be trying her best but could have missed something.

Age 24
• Insurance changed and was switched to Celexa 20mg from Lexapro 10mg that I had been on for 2 years with no problems.
• Slowly noticed I became more irritable and withdrawl.
• Took less pleasure in life and was sleeping more.
• Started to get anxious and overly concerned about my health, finally recognized I was depressed and my dosage was increased from 20mg to 40mg.
• Felt better almost instantly with the increase.
• Within about two weeks I had a ton of energy and was feeling really good.
• By the end of week 3 I crashed and started having panic attacks.
• Started to see psychiatrist.
• Was taken off of Celexa and put on Paxil.
• Took Paxil for 2 weeks and started to feel more stable and increased to 20mg.
• After I increased every time I took my medication I would spend the next 4 hours trying to catch my breath. I couldn’t take it anymore and felt much better after being off of it.
• Was prescribed Zoloft 50mg after coming off of the Paxil. Zoloft made me an emotional wreck. I was happy one minute anxious the next minute then I became suicidal I continued this dosage for 3 weeks.
• Took a leave of absence from work and started group therapy. My moods continued to fluctuate and my dosage was increased to 75 for 2 weeks then 100mg. I felt like a confused, crying, emotionally tired, and unstable walking crazy girl. I was unable to eat and felt horrible but stuck the Zoloft out way too long hoping it would get better. Everyone said just give it more time.
• Switched to Lexapro 10mg after the Zoloft. I thought this had to be the answer as it worked for me for 2 years. Felt somewhat more stable but extremely anxious. Stayed on the 10mg Lexapro for a month then was increased to 20mg. I became really confused and it was increasingly hard to concentrate. Severe neck stiffness and fatigue. I literally felt like I was dying from the inside out. I was extremely thirsty all the time and I couldn’t do much other than drag myself to work and sleep.
• Taken off of Lexapro. I just quite taking it (with my doctor’s knowledge) and two days later started 37.5mg of Effexor. The day I quit and the two days I didn’t take the Lexapro I had a TON of energy and I was talking a million miles an hour and felt great on the third day I woke up and felt like I had a horrible hang over and my body felt like I had just been in a terrible care accident. I was sick to my stomach and felt awful. I took the 37.5mg of Effexor and all my aches and nausea disappeared. I felt pretty okay other than not being able to sleep well at night. So I went up to 37.5mg twice a day on day 4 of Effexor. My moods seemed a little bizarre, I’d feel happy one min and sad the next had quite a bit of trouble sleeping. After 3 weeks on 75mg I started getting dizzy, disoriented, and really thirsty. Spoke to my pdoc and started taking 37.5 in the morning and 18mg in the afternoon. Was okay on that dosage for about 2 days. Then I got a splitting headache and became really irritable. All lights hurt my eyes and my head. Day 3 I was nauseas, horrible headache and really angry at the whole world. Day 4 I felt horrible all day came home and cried hysterically, was scared to death that I had gone absolutely mad and had thoughts of suicide. Day 5 I was tired from crying so hard the night before but my headache felt better and my nausea was better. I started to think that maybe I might still make it through all of this. Day 6 felt better I was anxious and irritable in the morning but by the afternoon I was laughing and had a lot of energy. Day 7 felt more calm than I had felt for a while and like things might just be looking up and had a good day. Day 8 was okay in the morning got really anxious mid afternoon took my second dose of Effexor and within about 20 mins of taking it I became extremely angry! I don’t ever remember being so angry in my life….and I had NO reason for the anger and irritability I felt but it scared the heck out of me. I have been doing a lot of research mostly franticly to try to come to some conclusion as to what is wrong with me and how to get better….I continued lowering my dosage while I know that I’ve been experiencing mood changes due to the decrease. My anxiety, confusion and pure panic have gotten better. Enough for me to comprehend and make sense of the research I have been doing. I have experienced states similar to this several years back….however I was drinking heavily and I honestly believe that without the alcohol at that time in my life I would not have made it through it. I honestly feel like I have lost my mind! It has been so bad at times that I have truly considered ECT. My research has lead me to think that possibly what I have been experiencing for the last 8 months are mixed episodes of bipolar disorder brought on by the anti-depressants. While there isn't any times that I can remember being “manic” the mixed episodes describe what I’ve been going through to a T. But also describe severe anxiety and depression. Anyway-- I know this is a lot about me so thank you to anyone that reads this and can give their opinions of my experience.

Thank you so much for your support!
Heather

This post has been edited by heatherdn: Nov 8 2008, 03:37 PM

None of are professionals and we cannot give you a diagnosis.

Anxiety can give you the feeling of a possible hypomanic episode, not necessarily indicative of BP. It's possible you need a med to help with your anxiety as not all AD's have anti-anxiety qualities.

If you have read some of my other posts in here, Bipolar contains many componenents of other MI's. It takes a long MH history for a pdoc to give a correct DX of BP and which catagory a patient falls under.

If the Effexor is causing you problems (sounds like it is) you need to talk to your pdoc. There are many pmeds available she could try. Med merry-go-round is something we've all experienced. The key is patience and giving the med(s) a chance to work or not. Have you heard of mood stabilizers? If not, ask your pdoc if one of them would be worth a try.

Hope this helps you some.
Sheepwoman