Bi-Polar in Nursing School

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I have recently been diagnosed as being bi-polar, placed on Carbamazapime (200 mg, qid) and Lithium (300 mg, bid), prozac 30 mg one time a day and clonazapam prn. Ever since I started my meds, I have had no short term memory. Now that I am taking Anatomy & Physiology II, my final course before being accepted into Charity Hospital School of Nursing, it worries me that I won't do well in this class with my memory. It also causes me to not think clearly and write concise thoughts? Should I have inform the instructor, the college or have my physician change my meds? Any thoughts? Help.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

Obviously, you're aware you need to be able to think clearly and write concise thoughts to become a nurse. Those skills are crtical for the safety of the patients. The most important thing is that you get well. I don't think a bipolar disorder is a contraindication to being a nursing student. I agree, it's not really the school's business.

Continue to talk to your MDs and perhaps you'll need a little time to level out first before persuing nursing. My spouse is a group therapist for nurses and has several functioning bipolar nurses in his group.

Hang in there and good luck.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

Obviously, you're aware you need to be able to think clearly and write concise thoughts to become a nurse. Those skills are crtical for the safety of the patients. The most important thing is that you get well. I don't think a bipolar disorder is a contraindication to being a nursing student. I agree, it's not really the school's business.

Continue to talk to your MDs and perhaps you'll need a little time to level out first before persuing nursing. My spouse is a group therapist for nurses and has several functioning bipolar nurses in his group.

Hang in there and good luck.

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Specializes in MS Home Health.

I agree with hypnotic. To early to add so many meds. See someone else.

renerian

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Specializes in MS Home Health.

I agree with hypnotic. To early to add so many meds. See someone else.

renerian

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Having worked in the mental health field, and having a couple of family members w/ bipolar disorder...

I agree w/ the previous posters. Also, allow time for your meds to get adjusted, become stable in your mood before attempting to add stress into your life (school, new job, etc.) Have your family/friends become educated about your disorder so you have the support when you start to show signs of needed meds adjusted - those w/ bipolar disorders often lack the judgement to do their own assessment, esp if feeling the hypomanic phase.

All my sibs w/ bipolar have made it through college, some have their masters degrees and all have done well professionally.

Most employers are not sympathetic to MH disorders. You are not obligated to share this info w/ them. I do have one sibling that had a "break" after several years of exceptional work performance w/ an employer and in spite of their verbal assurance of support, they have been manipulating to get him to leave ever since. Granted, he did some crazy things while manic, but once stable he explained to his customers, they understood and stood by him; didn't lose one! (I think it is the ins. premium issue.)

So, good luck, hang in there and continue to build a good support system.

SJ

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Having worked in the mental health field, and having a couple of family members w/ bipolar disorder...

I agree w/ the previous posters. Also, allow time for your meds to get adjusted, become stable in your mood before attempting to add stress into your life (school, new job, etc.) Have your family/friends become educated about your disorder so you have the support when you start to show signs of needed meds adjusted - those w/ bipolar disorders often lack the judgement to do their own assessment, esp if feeling the hypomanic phase.

All my sibs w/ bipolar have made it through college, some have their masters degrees and all have done well professionally.

Most employers are not sympathetic to MH disorders. You are not obligated to share this info w/ them. I do have one sibling that had a "break" after several years of exceptional work performance w/ an employer and in spite of their verbal assurance of support, they have been manipulating to get him to leave ever since. Granted, he did some crazy things while manic, but once stable he explained to his customers, they understood and stood by him; didn't lose one! (I think it is the ins. premium issue.)

So, good luck, hang in there and continue to build a good support system.

SJ

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I just looked at the Texas RN application because I remembered it asking about MH disorders and sure enough Bipolar is listed. I hate to say it but before you spend the time and effort to graduate from a nursing program you need to contact your state board and see what they say. We have a Declaratory Orders process that takes 3 months to 1 year to decide if any past issues in your life will effect their decision to give your license. I would hate to see you overcome your obstacles and then find the gates closed to you. It sucks but I had to tell the you the truth the way it is here in Texas.

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I just looked at the Texas RN application because I remembered it asking about MH disorders and sure enough Bipolar is listed. I hate to say it but before you spend the time and effort to graduate from a nursing program you need to contact your state board and see what they say. We have a Declaratory Orders process that takes 3 months to 1 year to decide if any past issues in your life will effect their decision to give your license. I would hate to see you overcome your obstacles and then find the gates closed to you. It sucks but I had to tell the you the truth the way it is here in Texas.

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I just looked at the Texas RN application because I remembered it asking about MH disorders and sure enough Bipolar is listed. I hate to say it but before you spend the time and effort to graduate from a nursing program you need to contact your state board and see what they say. We have a Declaratory Orders process that takes 3 months to 1 year to decide if any past issues in your life will effect their decision to give your license. I would hate to see you overcome your obstacles and then find the gates closed to you. It sucks but I had to tell the you the truth the way it is here in Texas.

Thanks for the heads up. I will have to check with the Louisiana State Board of Nursing. I was also to able to get a few strings pulled and will be seeing anothr psychiologist on Thursday. I have decided to drop my A & P II Lecure and Lab class at least until I am in a clear mind to understand what I am reading.

Irgy

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I'm not a nursing student yet but I have been suffering the same problems that you have been. I was seeing this psychiatrist for a long time and first diagnosed me as having depression then after several life changing events diagnosed me as bipolar. But never really told me what specific kind of bipolarism I suffered from. But long story short he put me on several medications which all had different side affects. After awhile I began to suspect that I was not bipolar since my life was beginning to be better and I repeatedly asked him to change my meds since I was suffering so many side effects. However he refused so I went to another doctor this time a female one. She immediately took me off all medications and put me on Wellburtin since I have experienced tremendous weight gain with my other meds. She was much more understanding about my weight fears since I have a family who tends to be on the overweight side genetically. Then after a few months of seeing her, she released me from her care saying that I no longer needed medications and that if I started having syptoms again to come back and she would put me back on what she put me on. I am the happiest I have been in a long time. I am still struggling to lose the weight since I went from 125 pounds to 215 in less than two years. Sorry this post is so long but long story short get another opinion!

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I was diagnosed as Bipolar back in 1991. After an intial period of difficulty, which lasted about four years, I settled down and am now very stable. I was able to start a company, employ 185 people, and to operate and maintain a business for many years (and to get a MPA degree) before I decided to become a nurse.

My point is that once you have become stable on your medications, you will be ready for the next part of your life. You can do many things and do them well when you're ready. However, if you add stress to your life before you are stable then you may find it very difficult to stabilize on your medications. Your symptoms are so recent and your doctor has not yet found the right combination of drugs and the right dosage levels for you. It can take several months to know what the effect of each drug is on your system.

I think you might need to ask yourself whether you should take a year or two off before progressing any further. Give yourself time to get strong again before you go further with your education. Your priority is to be a healthy happy person who can function without problems. Once you have acheived that you can go on to become a nurse. If you do not acheive health and stability, nursing school and then nursing will elude your grasp.

Being bipolar means making some changes in your life and these take time to show results. Most of all, be careful to sleep at the same time every night and for as long as you need every night. Bipolar folks are very susceptible to changes in sleep (quantity or quality) and these changes can bring on manic depressive cycles. Try and unload activities that cause stress. Eliminate drugs (including caffeine) and alcohol. Once you have had a good amount of time without symptoms then you are ready to go again. Just think, if you broke your legs, you wouldn't expect to run a marathon, and it seems to me that nursing is a marathon! Furthermore, you are not thinking just of your own health but of your future patients' health as well.

You mention memory problems. When I was on lithium I also had memory problems. Lithium was just horrible for me and I'm not suprised that you're not faring well on it either. Maybe Depakote would work better (Valproic Acid) but this has at least as many side effects and drug interactions as lithium. Has your doctor discussed Risperdal, an anti-psychotic, with you? This can be very useful when you are still in the early stages of your diagnosis. It really helps calm the mania and remove those odd behaviors that you wonder about later. It's not something you want to be on for too long but it works wonders when you need it. Many meds interfere with the formation of memories in some way or other. I am on a maintenance dose of Tegretol, one of the drugs you are also on, and this interferes with memory somewhat. I find that it is worse at some times of the day than others (probably a peak/trough effect) so those are the times of the day in which to study.

Good luck! Give your self some time! You'll get there...

Nurse Mac

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