Bipolar Type II Support Group

The medications I'm on, primarily Lamictal, have caused some irritating side effects. It has made my skin soooo sensitive and I have broken out awfully. My mom said she had the same problem when she was my age, so it may not be the medication, but I know that's not helping. There are treatments that I could do but because Lamictal has made my skin so sensitive, I can't do them. I'm on an antibiotic and Duac gel right now and it has helped but I'm still really broken out. I never had an acne problem when I was younger :-

I also have a bit of a facial hair problem (mustache). That's something I've had to deal with for awhile but only very, very mild. This summer it got really bad, though. For some reason, the hair grew back thicker and it just kept getting longer and longer and longer. Usually it would stop at a very reasonable length but this time it was ridiculous!!! I finally decided to get it waxed and afterward the hair grew back REALLY quickly and as whiskers!!!! Now I have whiskers on my lip and my chin (I used to get that waxed too and the same thing happened). I don't know if something has changed in my hormones or if the Lamictal has done something to the hair or what. It's gross I want to get it waxed but I'm nervous since my skin is SO sensitive. I also feel like it would grow back really, really quickly again so it'd be useless.

I just feel so ugly and gross with broken out skin and facial hair. Luckily the meds haven't caused any weight gain. In fact I've lost weight and I'm back to how much I weighed in high school. Because I feel so ugly AND I'm battling this bipolar stuff, my self-esteem is at an all-time low. It's even worse than when I was in middle school and I was picked on a lot. I don't know what to do to make myself feel better. I keep thinking that I'll miraculously feel great when my skin clears up and the facial hair situation is under control, but that may not be the case. I know it will help a lot, though

Sorry for this long, rambling, shallow, and self-indulgent post. It's just SO frustrating.

I keep trying to attach a picture to show what I used to look like (because I miss it so much) BUT I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO IT!!! why is this so hard?

Have you had your hormone levels checked? They could be affecting both facial hair and acne if the male hormones are too high. Ask your doctor. Meanwhile, I hope the antibiotics work well for you! I've heard of Tetracycline too; it's a broad-spectrum antibiotic they don't use much anymore. It might help; another question for the doc!

You're very pretty; and, yes, we all want to look nice! It's not shallow at all, and it's normal for your temporary blemishes to affect you deeply. Don't worry about your feelings being "wrong"; what you feel is what you feel. And remember that you're still beautiful, no matter what. Jeni

I hope you are feeling a little better lately. Hugs, Stacey

I felt ugly most of my life, adding all the labels didn't help so I felt now I'm ugly & crazy. I always looked at myself in a dark way, nobody cared, nobody wanted me, my so called friends just used me. I raised myself with a little help from my older siblings. My father was an alcoholic and never had anything nice to say to me, only talked about how us kids ruined his life. Nothing was ever good enough and we were bad kids. This did nothing for my self esteem, and at school I was in special classes so was an outcast, I remained in those classes until I was in 10th grade then I dropped out. The only people that wanted me were the around were the thugs & degenerates. I dated girls that used me & was cheated on by most of them. I don't know maybe I thought that's all I deserved. I still have some issues with self image, even more so now that I'm middle aged and gained a lot of weight. It's hard to stay positive when I don't like how I look and don't have the energy to change, some things I can't change and accepting those things I can't has been a real battle.