Bipolar Type II Support Group

It's not the label bipolar I'm embarrassed about. I have no trouble telling people that's what I have. What I DO have trouble with is my brain turning to some piece of hamburger substance that has no neurons in it with no functioning synapses or neurotransmitters. I swear, they are gone and I fear, never to return. I can't remember CRAP! It's a wonder I remember my own children's names for heaven's sake. I'm a NURSE and I'm supposed to remember many things, I can't remember lots of them. Simple things, I don't remember them. What the heck am I supposed to do???? I would blame it all on all these meds, but it started becoming a problem before I started taking them, though I'm sure they are making it much worse.

I feel so much less a person. Being a nurse and being sharp was one of the things that made me, ME! And not to get too personal, well, it IS personal, another thing that made me ME is the great close relationship me and my husband had including sexual, and my sex drive is GONE, GONE, GONE!! It high tailed and left at the beginning of my depression over 2 years ago along with my menopause. sigh.. Tell me, what the heck is left?

Love. Your love for your family and their love for you will always be, even if you do feel like your brain is turning to mush.

A lot of drugs do make us forgetful. I keep forgetting to roll my car windows up and it's driving me nuts. Everytime I forget, it rains and I have to sit on a wet car seat. Grrr. Just one example of many.

Drugs also have an impact on our sex drive, as does menopause. Have you talked to your pdoc about your symptoms? Maybe there are other drugs you can try?

We're all in the same boat, trading side effects for stability. We can all hope to minimize the side effects, though.

I wonder if the Topomax has something to do with what is going on as it totally wiped out any cognitive functions I had while on it!

I have been frustrated with my memory too... for quite a while. It is very frustrating. Like you, I used to be really sharp, always on my game. As soon as the depression set in and I started trying out different meds, all of a sudden my mind starting failing me. I couldn't remember anything. I would walk into a room and not remember why I was there. I couldn't remember what I told who and when. It has gotten as little better now that I'm on some different meds, but I'm still not on my game. It is very frustrating.

Topamax made me dopey, too. I don't know if it's effects are lasting or if they clear up once we stop taking the drug. You're not still on it are you?

my pdoc called Topomax dopomax because of the things you mentioned, and would not even consider putting me on it.

I'm a computer tech and need to remember alot of information and retrieve it fast to solve the problems. I've had similar issues with other meds in the past.

Catbaloo, I am still on Topamax.

You might want to talk to your pdoc about a med change. They call it Dopamax for a reason. It can really mess up your cognition. Of course, it also causes weight loss, so it's a trade off.

I know this might not mean much coming from my sleep deprived brain. But I was having serious mental issues, short term memory problems and word retrieval, BEFORE I was losing sleep and BEFORE I started Topamax, I attributed it to my hypomania, because that's when it started and became worse as the hypomania wore on. Naturally since I stopped sleeping that has compounded things. But I had issues before that happened. When I googled Bipolar II and memory problems it said yes biplolar does cause memory problems. So our illesss causes problems aside from the meds we take. Prior to the hypomania I was always very sharp and had an excellent memory.

Post edited by: blj713, at: 06/28/2011 07:58 PM

I had the same problem when I took Topomax.