Bipolar Type II Support Group

i can't help but notice as one who suffers from bipolar and chronic pain with my chronic pain being endometriosi, that a lot of other bp suffers also have chronic pain. anyone know if there is a link btwn the 2?

I'm not sure about the physical side of things, but bp/bp depression can definitely accentuate the pain and make it appear worse than it is. It's all mental, but that doesn't make it hurt any less.

It's a vicious cycle, because the bp can cause the increase in pain, and then the increase in pain causes more trouble mentally. Sometimes it's very hard for me to discern the difference between my normal shoulder pain (torn) and what is mental making it seem worse.

Anyway, that's just my take on it. I could be wrong.

ugh i had a torn shoulder too....i have had so much physical issues the past 5 years. 7 different surgeries...6 for endo one being a hysterectomy and then shoulder sugery. it is all connected thats for sure. my mental and physical feed off of each other. and then i have borderline personality disorder too so that just adds to the mental aspect of it.

I had four shoulder surgeries on my right arm and a knee repair on the right, all between 2006 and 2009. I now need ANOTHER rt shoulder surgery. I just can't escape the blade.

I'm sorry you've had to go through all of that, as well. It's not something I would wish on anyone. Maybe we can both work towards escaping the OR for a while.

I don't believe there is a link at all, I know as far as my other medical conditions they are not linked/related to Bipolar in any way however like Patrick said anytime a person suffers from any type of chronic pain the number 1 trigger is stress and lack of sleep for pain and coincidentally those are the same triggers for Bipolar episodes. There are similarities in management of each to maintain them. My Bipolar has been fully stable for over a year but my other conditions are very unstable. I have heard that PMDD has been linked and other womenly conditions but not general pain conditions. Hope my rambling has made some sense. I wish you some relief.

There haven't been any causal relationships established that I know of, but there is a higher incidence of fibromyalgia patients having depression and bp. I can only speak for myself, genetically I know there was possibly something arthritic/rheumatoid in both grandmothers and both seemed to have depression/?. xxhedap

I believe there is a connection. I have had chronic pain for 4 years and also have had migraines since I was a child. I started pain management a while back and that dr suggested I was depressed and get treated for it. I knew I was depressed but figured it was bc I was in pain. I went to a psychiatrist and was diagnosed with MDD. I was prescribed several different SSRI's that made me nuts but realized right away my pain was cut in half. After many SSRI's that weren't helping but seemed to make me worse and out of control I went to a therapist. She diagnosed me right away with bipolar 2. I'm on only 25 milligrams of zoloft now and going to go back to phycatrist with the bipolar 2 diagnosis and see what he suggests. I am convinced there is definitely a connection between bipolar 2 and chronic pain though I'm not sure which causes which.

I don't believe there's a direct relationship. I had chronic pain long before any bipolar symptoms. If anything being in pain makes me depressed and act out. I heard someone say once "he's not in pain because he's depressed, he's depressed because he's in pain." I always related to that statement. Very few doctors believe that though. Since being diagnosed with bipolar I haven't been able to find a doctor to take my physical ailments seriously. I know stress causes a lot of physical symptoms, but I have yet to come across anything in my studies or research that suggests bipolar causes all the ailments I have.

Ive had chronic back pain since I was a teenager. My family had a vineyard and I was constantly lifting, pushing and tugging on very heavy things (grapes are heavy when its tons at a time). Then I became and CNA then nurse and lifted on patients all day long. I've had chronic thoracic area pain for years. An X ray showed that I have extensive bone spurs and degeneration. A breast reduction helped and then I've done PT. I still hurt almost every hour of every day. The cymbalta I was put on in March helped quite a bit. I don't think the pain is mental, its physical for me. Having BP just makes me feel more anxious about it.