Re: Bipolar

[Guest guest]

Hi Connie. Yes I am familiar. Our son became hypomanic on a high

dose of ssri. However, this is considered drug induced and is not

necessarily considered a criteria for diagnosis. There must be other

episodes besides. So our son was not diagnosed as bipolar.

I was told by another doctor you could not trigger something that was

not already there, but latent. This makes more sense to me.

Apparently some people can take an ssri with a mood stabilizer and be

ok, and others cannot. Heard lots of differing views on this too.

It is pretty hard to pin this down, unless you are dealing with

bipolar 1. At least that has been my experience within my own family

with multiple members affected to varying degrees. Think we are also

going through some changes in the field of psychiatry, different

views on diagnosis. The DSM is supposed to be revised in 2009, I

think. Maybe then there will be some new categories to fit our kids

that don't fit anywhere yet. Me thinks this may not occur in one

year, but one can hope!

Barb

>

> Barb,

> Yes, I had heard of the relationship with bipolar and OCD as

well.

> So, with having family history of bipolar, I asked our son's

> therapist about this. Here is what she told me. SSRIs are

> antidepressant/anti-anxiety medications. Antidepressants typically

> make bipolar worse. They generally will cause an increased manic

> state. So, even if our son was not yet showing any symptoms of

> bipolar, being on an SSRI would most likely bring out a manic

state.

> We have not seen this with him. So, I am pretty certain he is not

> bipolar. Also, after talking to my dad, he mentioned that that was

> how my mom was finally diagnosed with bipolar. As is typical with

> most people who are bipolar, she first saw the pdoc because of

> depression. With the exception of people who can get aggresive and

> very irritable during manic states, most people act like they are

on

> a constant high. Everything feels great, they have excess energy,

> don't need much sleep, life is awesome. So, they don't think

> anything is wrong. Then they crash and burn and become depressed.

> This is what usually prompts them to seek help. So, initially my

mom

> was diagnosed with depression. They put her on an antidepressant;

> which soon brought out a manic state. The pdoc was then able to

> diagnose her with bipolar disorder. She was hospitilized at this

> time until they could find the right medication and dosage and get

> her stabilized. She took Lithium for her bipolar. That was the

most

> common medication used for bipolar at the time. That worked well

for

> her, kept her moods fairly stable; and she took it up until she

> started having sypmtoms of Alzheimers.

> Hope this info helps those who aren't sure if their kids might

> also be bipolar. I know the sypmtoms of bipolar are a little

> different with adolescents than with adults; but if they are on an

> SSRI, if they are bipolar, it would bring out a manic state in them.

>

> Connie

>