Anyone Bipolar???

kburns0016 · Jun 29, 2008

I was just dx'd with Bipolar myself a few months ago back in April and also just accepted into the RN program at my local community college...so it is good to hear that there are nurses out there dealing successfully with this condition!I have not yet had a typical manic phase, hypomania is more my style:smokin:

I had a fairly minor depressive episode after having Gallbladder surgery on April Fools day, and then once my classes let out for summer and I was cooped up in the house all day every day with the kids I fell into a much deeper depressive state. My doc started my on meds including Remeron , Librax, Inderal and Ativan PRN for infrequent anxiety attacks. I have been pretty lucky only having to tweak my meds a little , trying Seroquel( woah I did not do well on that!) and finally adding a once daily dose of Zyprexa to the mix I seem to be on the right track now.we are also trying Ambien CR. for 10 nights to try and restore my sleep patterns.I have done a few things lately much more like my "normal" self, been getting up in the day (intsead of wanting to sleep 14/15 hours) doing my chores (stuff like dishes and laundry that I avoid like the plague when I am in a depressive state I just want to sit form sun up to sun down when I am that way but my anger is also phenomenal ...like a hurricaine sweeping through the house) I have also finally became concerned about my diet and how it may be affecting how I feel physically and mentally, started taking vitamins and B complex daily and trying to work out and eat healther ...while these may not sound like a lot of changes I can really feel a differnce in myself , in how ALIVE I feel from one day to the next.

I have noticed though if I don't sleep like I should it can all go to H*LL in a handbasket real FAST~ anyone else have this problem?

My hubby is trying to hard to be a help right now trying to learn how to spot the signs of a serious flucuation in my mood and bring that to my attention early on, but there is definintely a learning curve for loved ones and significant others in this game I think, as I am often in tears before he realizes anytihng is really wrong, I dont know what I would do without him and it seems like since I dx'd I am constantly apologizing to him for all I have put , continue to put and eventually will put him through~

I am so glad I found this board, my mind is at ease just being reminded I am not alone

hulahut · Jun 29, 2008

Hi. It sounds as if you're doing all the right things to get a handle on this "wonderful" illness. Sleep patterns can sure make a difference for bipolars. I worked 3rd shift for awhile & it nearly ruined me. I feel an important part of managing bipolar is to really get in tune to yourself and your emotional status. If you do, you can recognize "little" changes early & get to your Psychiatrist before the little things become BIG things. I have had an AWFUL year but think I have finally reached a point that is manageable. But in a positive spin on my forever relapse, I found even more signs that should hopefully decrease the severity &/or frequency of future relapses. Best of luck to you. It is possible to have a wonderful life with this illness.

ERNurseRN5316 · Jul 26, 2008

Hi! I also have BiPolar. I'm surprised to find this thread - I always feel like the only one! I'm about to start the nursing program next month. I've been taking prereq's for the past 1 1/2 years and have had 2 depressive episodes and 1 manic. I feel the mania is well controlled by the lithium, but I am most concerned re: the depression. The worst part is the CONFUSION. I can't think. I can't speak. I sit and stare or stand and stare. Very slow. Has anyone else had an episode while working and how did you deal with it. Did you call in "sick" or explain the situation. How were you received. I'm top of my class in grades, but I feel the next swing is waiting...

Liddle Noodnik · Jul 26, 2008

Hi! I also have BiPolar. I'm surprised to find this thread - I always feel like the only one! I'm about to start the nursing program next month. I've been taking prereq's for the past 1 1/2 years and have had 2 depressive episodes and 1 manic. I feel the mania is well controlled by the lithium, but I am most concerned re: the depression. The worst part is the CONFUSION. I can't think. I can't speak. I sit and stare or stand and stare. Very slow. Has anyone else had an episode while working and how did you deal with it. Did you call in "sick" or explain the situation. How were you received. I'm top of my class in grades, but I feel the next swing is waiting...

Yep I have those moments, this time it has lasted over 4 yrs!

Well not continuously but ... my mind doesn't work as well as it did.

Anyway - all you can do is the best you can do, one day at a time, one HOUR at a time if necessary!

God bless you!

linda215 · Aug 17, 2008

Hi,

Im Bi polar, wella actually my name is Linda... haha I am so grateful to know that their are actual nurses living the way I do Im considering going to Lincoln Tech for a LPN program... this is somewhat scary for me because I was enrolled in a Paramedic program and for various reasons, I couldnt keep up. I had to leave to smoke or walk around because I was "bored", then the director of the program asked me to sit out for a bit. Not being able to stay home ( idle hands) and for fear of my credit ( for shopping) and not being able to afford the stuff, and writing bad checks, I looked in to an RN program which in my area there's a high demand so the waiting list are like ah... ah.... Football feilds long (2-3 years) and even then they only take the highest NET or TEAS scores, I spoke to a gal who suggested LPN first then RN. Well to cut this story short I applied for SSI I couldnt work I was a supervisor for a mental health joint ( go figure) and began yelling at people and sleeping on the job, funny thing is when asked why I was so tired I'd lie and say I was expeccting ( that only lasted for so long)..... None the less..... I applied and was granted SSD, and I am taking Seroquel 400mg, Lexapro 20mg, Ive tried Prozac which didnt work I jump off the Bridge literally, many bouts with death, and suicide on PROZAC...If it works for you run with it, but I hated it.

AGAIN lon story short, Im gonna try and run with this LPN thing, and see how that works, I feel like GOD has provided me another door, to be able to go to school and not have the headache of working how cool. and I plan to make the best of it

I still have my quirks,CANT and I am not even entertaining the idea of a realtionship,

Im focusing on school my kids and school and myself.

Hope I helped someone.

Good luck everyone. :yeah:

linda215 · Aug 17, 2008

Hulahut IS RIGHT ON THE DARN MOney...The biggest thing is being able to recongnize youre manic or depressed, I find that before I feel like I have a grand idea ( like once) I woke up and decided that very same day I was moving to LOng Beach ( granted I dont know a soul their) I judt wanted to go, I ran it by my parents who quickly told me I was being Manicky as my daddy calls it. But I can no longer think on my own sometimes I cant think let alone concentrate. But I write in a journal everyday about how I feel to keep track of my life, and sometimes go back and laugh at my silly ideas. ( implants for my butt, how dumb) I really thought about it. LOL....

Liddle Noodnik · Aug 18, 2008

Hulahut IS RIGHT ON THE DARN MOney...The biggest thing is being able to recongnize youre manic or depressed, I find that before I feel like I have a grand idea ( like once) I woke up and decided that very same day I was moving to LOng Beach ( granted I dont know a soul their) I judt wanted to go, I ran it by my parents who quickly told me I was being Manicky as my daddy calls it. But I can no longer think on my own sometimes I cant think let alone concentrate. But I write in a journal everyday about how I feel to keep track of my life, and sometimes go back and laugh at my silly ideas. ( implants for my butt, how dumb) I really thought about it. LOL....

Hi Linda it is nice to meet you! Hope all is well. Yeah I can relate to the grandiose ideas - I mean, I take one simply lofty inspirational thought and suddenly it becomes this great big national humanitarian project! At times it becomes so big in my mind that I have to write everything down - oh my goodness - I mean, by themselves, maybe great ideas. But my mind just runs away with them sometimes.

Fortunately when I get that grandiose I am usually too unwell to carry them out. I will have that "creation stage" for a very short time until my thinking becomes so scrambled and sped up there is no way I could act on it. This stage of illness hasn't happened to me in a long time. Boy it is fun to have all these grand plans and delusions - at the time!

Unfortunately the reverse is true too - I can also go thru periods where I have NO ideas and I act on NOTHING - very cautious!

There has to be a middle ground. I feel like I have found that middle ground and have been staying there for quite a while. Thank God!

As to you and your studies, gee, it sounds like you are still pretty labile? Or are you talking about a period of time that is less recent? I would be nervous having you for my nurse if this is how you are right now, where you say "I can no longer think on my own sometimes I cant think let alone concentrate". As a nurse you need to be able to do this! Our patients often aren't able to think or act for themselves, and they count on US to be their protector, their advocate, and be able to think FOR them.

But I would go ahead anyway and pursue the core courses you would need towards your LPN. Who knows what will happen? Just enjoy what you are doing and studying right NOW - one day at a time - and see where God leads you.

Good luck!

jakaden · Aug 25, 2008

hi everyone my name is nicole i am 30 years old i have two girls ages 6 and 3.i am also a single mother, and i am recently diagnosed bipolar (although i always knew i was) major denial on my part. for the past 6 years i hid it well and used just anti-depressant's (my choice) my therapist wanted me medicated a long time ago. i refused, in my eyes i was fine.

well now i am on 10mg's Abilify for mood and 1mg Klonopin to help with my anxiety. i am very nervous about school this semester( still doin pre reqs) finally being on proper meds, i have let my grades suffer in the past two semesters because i was so unstable at those times, and i'm really scared of not getting into Nursing School:nurse: since my grades aren't perfect! :banghead:

i need advice from those of you medicated and making it in school what has worked for you and those who are nurses already working how do u do it ? any advice ?

thanx

nicole

Liddle Noodnik · Aug 25, 2008

hi everyone my name is nicole i am 30 years old i have two girls ages 6 and 3.i am also a single mother, and i am recently diagnosed bipolar (although i always knew i was) major denial on my part. for the past 6 years i hid it well and used just anti-depressant's (my choice) my therapist wanted me medicated a long time ago. i refused, in my eyes i was fine.
well now i am on 10mg's Abilify for mood and 1mg Klonopin to help with my anxiety. i am very nervous about school this semester( still doin pre reqs) finally being on proper meds, i have let my grades suffer in the past two semesters because i was so unstable at those times, and i'm really scared of not getting into Nursing School:nurse: since my grades aren't perfect!
i need advice from those of you medicated and making it in school what has worked for you and those who are nurses already working how do u do it ? any advice ?
thanx
nicole

Hi Nicole, just read this thread and also check out another one, below. Many are making it! Just gotta know yourself - and have someone that knows YOU - help you monitor yourself. Take care and Godbless - check this one out:

https://allnurses.com/forums/f296/nurses-struggling-mental-illness-94244.html

TopazLover, BSN, RN · Aug 26, 2008

I am bipolar and wish I had been diagnosed before 2 years ago. I went through most of my life being hypomanic. This alternated with severe depression. I got antidepressants and now know they probably made it worse. I got less ability to concentrate and short tempered.

I have been pretty stable for 9 months. I had to add an antidepressant but that is minor compared to the past.

Best of luck. :yeah:

guest1966930040 · Oct 24, 2008

Hi everyone :) If you'd like to skip the long version, my questions are at the bottom.

I have a couple of questions about being bipolar and a nurse or nursing student and was hoping maybe someone could share their experience.

I was diagnosed with bipolar II 8 years ago when I was only 18 years old. I was living with abusive parents and rebelling as a teen. My doctor said I was bipolar after treatment with an antidepressant caused some aggressive/irritable behaviors. I was on medication for a few years and felt the "cure" was worse than the "cause". I have been off meds for three years and am stable and going to school living a drama free life. However, I haven't seen a pdoc in three years. I stopped the meds after getting fed up with side effects and deciding to take control of my life and just kind of disappeared. I'm not interested in taking medication for symptoms I don't have. Understandably, my situation has changed now that I am an adult and have a family of my own.

Now, reading about the sxs of bipolar, I feel like I may have been incorrectly diagnosed. I don't think having a past diagnosis of bipolar disorder removed would be easy, does anyone know about that? How do you get certified as healthy?

I'm in Texas, and here the BON requires that you disclose treatment, diagnosis or hospitalization for certain mental illnesses, bipolar disorder included, in the past five years. It has been three years since I have been treated. If I finish the program I have applied to, it will be five years since treatment when I graduate and I don't think I would have to disclose it. I've read the BON rules handbook (here's a link to it), but it's in lawyer-ese (attorney speak) and is about as clear as mud to me.

I was wondering if anyone knows if I'll be required to disclose my past dx to be accepted into an ADN program (I have been conditionally accepted already), or if I'm only required to disclose at the time of application for a license? when do you do that anyway? at the end of your education? or must you apply for some kind of temporary license to be a student nurse and disclose mental health hx to the board while you are still in school?

I am leary of going to an adviser for fear they will deny my application into the program on basis of a past diagnosis. I'm also worried they'll just tell me to write to the BON for a declaratory order and I don't want to do that unless it is necessary. If I don't have to disclose it to them, then I prefer not to, but obviously if it is required I would not lie. I've wanted to be a nurse since I was a little girl, and had I known a past diagnosis of bipolar disorder might bar me from getting a license, I would have fought it, but at the time, I didn't know any better.

Whew! Sorry to write a novel. I hope someone will be able to share their experience. Thanks in advance

my questions in brief:

*Did you have to declare past mental illness while in school, or only after graduation to apply for your license

*When do you apply for a license? And how long do you have after graduation to take the nclex-rn?

*Has anyone been misdiagnosed as bipolar and had the misdiagnosis corrected?

Liddle Noodnik · Oct 27, 2008

Hi everyone :)

Hi I didn't mean to take so long to answer! I wanted to have time to think about your questions and just now came across the post again! Anyway - WELCOME to the thread - did you have a chance to read the other posts that came before this one? Also check out "nurses with disabilities" forum for other answers to your questions. There are lots and lots of threads on mental illness, PTSD, depression, bipolar, you name it! Go to: https://allnurses.com/forums/f296/

Hope all is well! Look forward to reading your future posts!