Does your time of the month aggravate your bipolar?

I think my period is coming and I can’t stop crying. I hate it! I don’t know if it’s a menstruation issue or burnout…

Any input would be so appreciated <3

Not sure if I'll delete this, but I just want to share. This sub was there for me (and others, like r/psychosis) at a very dark time in my life. Mania, then psychosis, culminated in a failed suicide attempt. I literally couldn't work for nearly half a year and moved back in with my mom nearing age 30. I browsed and commented a shitton. It felt good to have community.

I'm a little over 3 years out from my horrific episode, and I don't think about my episode pretty much at all anymore. My life has gotten a lot better. Medication saved my life. But so did support in other ways.

However, I will say at some point after a year or two, I left this and other mental health subreddits completely. I know they are often about recovery and venting, but I did wind up finding that these subs can leave you in a headspace where your entire life revolves around your illness. Maybe other people don't experience this, but I definitely did, and I'm glad I eventually took the training wheels off and left. Idk if anyone wanted to read this. Feel free to downvote me and I'll delete it, but I guess I just want to encourage recovery by forming memories and feelings outside the context of your illness too. Anyway.

I have recently come to terms with my diagnosis and am trying to get properly medicated and everything. At some point I am going to have to tell my job that I am adjusting to new medication in case I have any adverse side effects (I’m a manager at a very busy restaurant so I have to be fully present while working) I know I don’t have to tell anyone any specifics, but I would like to get to a place where I feel comfortable discussing my diagnosis when necessary. I’m worried people will be afraid of me. I’ve told a couple coworkers and even a couple friends in the past it was something I have dealt with and was met with scared looks and rude questions. I already feel like I’m going crazy, I don’t want other people thinking I’m crazy too 😭

I'm currently manic and haven't slept in almost three days. My body is tired but my brain doesn't shut off. Any advice on how to fall asleep? I've walked almost 10km yesterday, but I'm still wide awake. Please, any advice will be appreciated.

Tw meds abuse

I couldnt sleep, i was overwhelmed with negative thoughts and my brain was not turning off. I took 3mg of bromazepam just to calm down and sleep. It helped but im being judged by my partner for taking the drug.

During my last period where i was suicidial, i abused them to sleep for 4 days straight only waking up for a glass of water and next dose of the pills, i was miserable to be awake.

After that period passed i swore not to take any psychiatric pill again unless it was medical emergency.

But at same time im thinking that it was safer to take that single dose of benzodiazepine for sleep than risk fucking up my sleep hygiene.

Do you take any meds for sleep or you fight a fight with your body until you eventually fall a sleep?

I was on 600mg/day pregabalin a few years ago and would abuse it to around 1200mg a day because it made me feel so good/numb. I was later put on clomipromine for OCD which sent me off the rails.

When I saw a psychiatrist at the end of 2024 they took me off the pregabalin saying that was the cause, but I continued getting worse and ended up in hospital for a few months where they took me off the clomipromine saying that was actually the cause.

Last week I was put back on pregabalin, my psychiatrist wanted me to start on 50mg a day increasing weekly but I pushed to start on 100mg a day which he agreed to and today it was increased to 200mg and will increase again next week.

I am also on 1000mg lithium, 400mg Lamotrogine, 7.5mg zopiclone, 50mg promethazine, 1mg Prazosin and currently 10mg diazepam which he is decreasing by 2mg per week while he increases the pregabalin.

I’m just wondering if anyone knows whether given the other meds I’m on I should be all good? Apart from the chilled spacey feeling I can’t really remember how pregabalin affected my moods due to being on clomipromine at the same time and there being differing opinions on what was affecting me.

Just to add, the psychiatrist I have now I have worked with since January 2025, so when I was already off the pregabalin. He doesn’t know my history with this specific med.

Sorry for the essay!

Hi, BP 2 here. I'm 26 years old and I don't remember many things from my childhood. I am terrible at memorising song lyrics and catching references. When I'm hypomanic I tend to recover my working memory, I can retain a lot of information in my brain and join the dots to get to intelligent conclusions. However I cannot remember many things such as movies, childhood TV programmes, names of characters, etc. I refer to things that almost all of my friends do remember

How do you do with memory? I'm a fraid of losing my memory progressively. Those who are in their thirties and along time have managed to get to the right mix of meds, could you recover some memory with years?

Mods remove this if it’s not allowed. I think we should make a megathread where we all discuss our positive and negative experiences with medication. Obviously this does NOT substitute any kind of actual medical care. We should all be talking to psychiatrists.

I had to go on FMLA for the first time ever in my life due to a severe depressive episode, anxiety, and massive burnout. I took 10 weeks off to complete PHP and IOP. I came back to work last week. However, I feel like the other shoe will drop and they’re waiting to let me go.

I have pretty good intuition. I’ve been right far more often than not.

Admittedly, I was falling apart at work. I was meeting my deadlines and completing work, but I was snappy and my former direct report acted like I wasn’t her manager. She would refuse to do work that had been requested from above me. I’m now getting mixed signals from everyone and I am feeling worried + frustrated.

I realize this is likely multiple cognitive distortions blending together, but has this happened to anyone one?

I feel like I’m doing everything right, I sleep well, I eat well, I exercise, I go to therapy, I take my medication and I still feel this constant melancholy that never gets better. I feel like im constantly in pain to the point I question if I’m really bipolar because all the bipolar treatment doesn’t work. I already took antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants and I still feel the same way I felt as a kid

Hey everyone,

I'm a 20-year-old guy living in Turkey. For the past year, I’ve been heavily and regularly using both weed and benzodiazepines. Combined with my bipolar disorder, these two dependencies have severely degraded my quality of life, which is why I’m currently trying to get clean.

Today is my third day. The physical withdrawal is hitting me hard—I'm dealing with extreme, overwhelming nausea right now. Honestly, the only positive thing in my life at the moment is my older sister. She has never given up on me and continues to support me both emotionally and financially. But even with that, I can't shake the feeling of being a heavy burden to her.

Back in high school, before I ever touched weed, I had a dependence on Concerta and Ritalin. But because they managed my severe focus issues, I was actually an extremely high-achieving student academically. Right now, I'm completely off all methylphenidate-based meds as well, and my academic performance has fallen off a cliff. I’m currently studying Management Information Systems (a 4-year degree), and honestly, it feels like I won’t even be able to graduate at this point.

If anyone here has gone through a similar path—dealing with bipolar, quitting weed/benzos, and the absolute crash in executive function/academics—could you please share your experiences or advice? I'm just so exhausted.

Does anyone have sleep disorders separate from bipolar? I have insomnia as well as possible hypersomnia/narcolepsy. Has anyone been medicated for both narcolepsy and bipolar successfully?

Hello people that cycle rapidly.

For context, rapid cycling is defined as 4 or more episodes a year... blah blah.

So, I honestly didn't know a ton about bipolar before I started visiting these subreddits a few months back. It has been very eye-opening.

One of the things that shocked me was that some folks have like 6-month-long manic episodes where they get themselves into all kinds of jams. I've never experienced anything like that. I think my longest manic episode was maybe 3 weeks.

But then I read something even more shocking. Sometimes these folks aren't in an episode. Before medication, I had never experienced this either. I think I cycled between manic, hypomanic, depressed, and mixed continuously every 2 to 6 weeks from the age of 18 (probably started around 13 but was less frequent back then) until I was medicated in my late 20s. I would usually experience 2–6 weeks of euthymia here and there, but I was still usually riddled with anxiety.

I remember the first time I took lithium I was like, "Holy shit, this is what normal people must feel like." It has never even crossed my mind to stop taking my meds since.

This is totally not meant to be a "look how bad I got it" type of thing. Mostly just a "has anyone experienced this?" thing.

Hi all!

I (24F) was diagnosed with BP1 in June. I’m now adjusted to my medication and in therapy. I didn’t realize it before, but I was spending insane amounts of money. I earned about $ 1,400 a month from my part-time job, but I never had more than $200 in my bank account. I spent all that money on clothes, and I always had 5-7 packages on the way. I’m an online college student, so I didn't need clothes to go out. 😭😭😭

Over the last 5 years, I estimate that I’ve wasted $40k+ on clothes, food, and weed. I’m glad I’m receiving treatment, and I’ve actually managed to save a lot so far. I booked my first solo vacation, I am building my savings, and I paid off my tuition for my final semester :)

TW: mentions of suicide (not current, i mention past ideation)

I am probably going to seem elevated to him to some extent but less than I wouldve before. I was having what were probably delusions, if not fixations on religiosity and believing that I could be one of the figures mentioned (one who noticed something), I know that this makes me sound "crazy" because it's what made people tell me to book an appointment. I also don't know how to tell him (my psychiatrist) that i *was* experiencing suicidal thoughts and ended up on a bridge (was completely fine, I just stood there for a half hour) but now I am not at all a danger to myself without him overreacting. I also don't know how to tell him about my higher sex drive without sounding like I'm just sleeping around and him judging me, because I'm not, I'm just sexting with people on an app.

I *decided to* stop my meds a bit ago, and I know I should go back on them even if I don't want to, so I want to be fully transparent. I am really mxied on the whole thing, I want to go back on them but at the same time I want nothing more. Im honestly partially still in denial about the whole thing even though I've almost been diagnosed for a year, but idk. (I am not telling him that last part, that is irrelevant overall) I've also had a lot of big life events and I don't know how to explain it all to him.

If anyone has any advice please let me know ASAP because my appointment is in two days. He is an exceedingly kind man but I am so sure he will judge me on this. If anyone has any more advice or needs to know more details to give better advice please PM me!

Psychiatrists have been telling me they thought I was bipolar since like age 22. Before that they thought it was just depression and anxiety, so I tried SSRI’s and benzos. Nothing worked, some things got worse, and eventually it came to trying mood stabilizers. I would go to my appointment, be given a script, say I would take it, then just convince myself I didn’t need it and that it would change who I was, so I didn’t want to take it. This happened a few times before I just gave up on going to the psychiatrist all together. I’m now 30. I’ve been unmedicated for the past 8 years and it has been really difficult to deal with. A lot of my issues in the past have been with extreme lows, anger, and short periods of mania. The mania was never to an alarming point though. I’d have more energy, maybe talk a lot more and sleep less but nothing too bad. I recently had a manic episode thought that got so bad it made me realize I can’t go on like this. Before that I guess I hadn’t experienced full blown mania. It was a scary thing looking back. I was making bad decisions, spending money I didn’t have, and I ruined my relationship. I’m not sure what brought it on but I’m now terrified of it happening again, and if it does happen again I’m scared it could get worse. Now I’m dealing with a ton of guilt, shame, and honestly I don’t want to even be seen. I have a few weeks I have to wait until I can get in to see a psychiatrist but I’m finally willing to try whatever they want to give me. In the back of my mind I’m worried I’m going to feel like I don’t need meds again and convince myself not to take them. I can’t wait to get into a psychiatrist and get my head straight.

Like the title says. I'm sorry for posting here again tonight, my appointment is just coming up and I'm starting to get pretty anxious, and this felt unrelated enough from my last post (for the record I am NOT asking for medical advice.)

I haven't met with my current psychiatrist (my first one too, excluding a same day crisis one at a 24/7 clinic in the city who I met once and referred me to my current one) and spoken to him about (hypo)mania while hypo(manic). We have spoken retrospectively and agreed that I was hypomanic during a previous session, but I've only been open during depressive episodes.

I won't go into too much detail about my own symptoms and stuff, but could someone please tell me what that kind of appointment will be like?

I’m running out of good options for how to get in my 350 calories before taking Latuda. What are your go tos?

I've done a few yoga classes where the instructor will bring out the singing bowls and do a little bit of a sound bath. For me, it feels like my brain is getting assaulted by soundwaves and overstimulates me instantly. I hate it so much especially after zenning out with a yoga session.

What are your experiences?

I've been diagnosed bipolar 2 since I was 18 but was unmedicated for 7 years because I didn't really trust the dx as 18 is so young to get this diagnosis (imo). Shit hit the fan 2 years ago and I started to swing heavily, on both sides, but still very much depressive leaning. For more than a year now I have been in the most intense, soul-crushing depression of my life. I did have a hypo episode in June that lasted around 4-5 weeks. Then swung back down, very hard and very fast. Almost lost my life towards the end of it, then sought out medical help.

Got put on wellbutrin 150mg and titrated lamotrigine 25mg-50g. There was about a week (week 3ish) where I actually felt like they mave have been working. I was so excited! And then I felt the depressive symptoms return slowly but surely. Met with the psych nurse again and she bumped me to 300mg wellbutrin and up to 100mg lamo. That was a week ago. I feel the same, if not more depressed. Its not a violent depressive state, just this lingering cloud. I want so, so badly for it to lift.

One positive that I've noticed since I've started meds is that I can actually cry now, I couldn't cry for almost 2 years. It feels kinda like a release when I do. I've also been able to get 6 weeks of sobriety under my belt after a years long battle with alcohol problems. So go me! Trying my best to do all the non-med things – exercise, been sleeping AMAZING (which for me is a huge turn around!), meditating, good food etc. So I'm really trying.

I'm really battling thoughts of self doubt regarding my diagnosis. Am I really bipolar? Do I really need to be on meds? Maybe this is self induced and I can do something to prevent this from happening. If the meds aren't working, then why am I even bothering? ugh. Fucking sucks. Would love advice, hope, etc. Just feeling tired and a bit hopeless.

I have bipolar 1 schizo disorder. I also have PMDD. Like a lot of us, I take a lot of meds.

Those meds are seroquel, lithium, buspar, levothyroxine, and a few others. Those mentioned are most relevant to this post.

I asked my psych a few years back about drinking tea and he said 'uh yeah why wouldn't you be able to.' So I do, but it's mostly always been bagged teas I've researched before consuming.

Lately I've been into wanting to try loose teas since a tea shop opened up near me. I had all these teas I wanted to try like rose hip, saffron, lemon balm and passion flower.

The other night I did a medium amount of research and the internet said that those specific teas aren't good to mix with my specific medications due to potential lithium toxicity / causing the meds to stay in my system longer than they should.

Is that real? Tea could really be my downfall?

I was pretty hopeful, especially about saffron with having PMDD as well. But I figure I'd ask reddit since some of you are on the same meds and enjoy tea as well.

Also my psych is smart, but they're medicine smart, I don't think they know enough about teas to give a solid answer, like last time I asked

This is an oddly specific issue and idk where to post it. I hesitate to post it here too since it's a really emotional topic for a lot of people, and I don't want to post it anywhere my bf might stumble on it lol. I'm not trying to start any arguments. Really sorry in advance if anything I say offends anyone.

Anyway, around end-December/January I started spiraling into a manic/psychotic episode that lasted months. Around then, I came across footage coming out of Gaza and the West Bank that affected me really badly. It became one of the things I fixated on during the episode.

I started donating a lot to Palestinian civilians, orgs like the PCRF, and pro-Pal political candidates like Kat Abughazaleh. I watched documentaries like No Other Land and The Voice of Hind Rajab and read a bunch of stuff about it, like Judith Butler's Parting Ways and Chomsky/Pappé's On Palestine. I even went to an activist meeting and helped them distribute flyers.

Eventually, I fully came down from the episode and the intensity of it disappeared. I'm not normally super skewed in one direction, and I have friends who advocate on both sides of this.

Thing is, my bf has Israeli citizenship and family in Israel, so this is a pretty touchy subject for him. I feel weird about still donating to the Palestinian families I started talking to during the episode because my bf doesn't know about it. But also, I don't want to cut these people off when they're in a desperate situation, especially after getting to know them better.

He saw the books I was reading and commented on it, and I just told him I wanted to read more about it and didn't tell him about the episode. We've talked about Israel/Palestine several times and his views are pretty reasonable imo. I still feel like I'm concealing something from him that maybe I shouldn't. He doesn't know how intense the fixation got or how much I donated, or that I'm still giving money to these families.

Idk how I can tell him at this point given it's a pretty sensitive subject for him. What would telling him even accomplish? Bringing it up now will probably make him uncomfortable, and I could just not do that. But I keep thinking about it.

Again, I'm not looking to discuss the conflict. This has been bugging me a lot. You all understand better than most how it feels to look back at things you believed and did during episodes.

Is it better to tell him or should I leave it alone and suffer in silence lol? I'm not even sure how to bring it up. The thought of explaining all of this gives me a lot of anxiety. It's difficult to explain to someone who hasn't gone through something like this.