Bipolar Type II Support Group

Hi Everyone,

I have been reading posts for several days and thought it was time to stop lurking in the corners. I have been recently diagnosed and started lamicatal. I am up to 50mg per night thank God. The first two weeks were pure hell as I went hypomanic and couldn't sleep at all. It was so weird as I have been in a major depression for over two years. I have had numerous depressive episodes starting when I was in my late teens and continuing on through the years. I just turned 50 a few months ago so this diagnosis comes as a big surprise but it all makes perfect sense now.

The lamicatal has been difficult to describe so I will just dive in. I noticed a difference in the first few days. My sense of smell came back. I haven't had much of a sense of smell for years and now I can smell everything. How weird is that??? I need to add it is rather overwhelming too. I am dreaming again. I guess you don't know that you are not dreaming much until you start to dream a lot! That has been crazy too. Now that I am on 50mg I am sleeping better and not feeling so hypomanic. Funny...I didn't even know that word until a week ago. I was rather relieved to find this site and see that others had experienced a few weeks of hell as I had with lamicatal. Hope I am spelling that right. What a rush for my brain and body to go from a depressive state straight into a hypomanic state for two weeks.

Now that things have settled down I am starting to process the impact this illness has had on my life. If I have half the success on this drug as others have had I will be a new person in a little less than 6 weeks. It is hard to believe it has had such a huge impact already.

So here I am and I plan to lurk around a little and get better while reading as many posts as I can. I have found out about the mood tracker program for my phone. What a great idea and I have been using it for 3 days now. Wish I had that the day I started the new drug but I have it now. I will add stuff to my profile just as soon as I figure out how.

Hi Sophie,

Welcome you little lurker! I say you just lurk all around and see if you don't find even more answers for yourself.

You can creep out when your ready! I'll toss you a nice warm jacket.

Hi Sophie...welcome to the forum. I am taking lamictal too (300mg) and my moods are pretty stable. Mostly hypomanic...with little tiny bits od depression but nothing I can't deal with. I was diagnosed when I was 23 and did not accept the Dx till I was 47 years old.Thats when I went into a deep depression that lasted almost 3 years. I was drinking with my meds at the time and my life circumstances seemed very grim. I was raising a family and had lost my job because I did not return from a medical leave. I was to sick. I finally sued for my pension and got it along with SSI. I stopped drinking and took my meds and have a great Pdoc. I feel much better now.

Hello to you! I'm glad you got diagnosed so you can now treat this bipolar. It's a bear, I know. I've had no side effects from Lamictal. Some do get hypo-manic though as you have read. I think that's interesting that you can smell better. It didn't give me dreams, but since I started Viibryd I have them. I'm surprised that it has started working so quickly for you. We are all different with medications though. That mood tracker is neat. I've heard about it. I'm glad you have come out and introduced yourself. Feel free to post anywhere you like. I think you'll love it here with all the support you will get. Welcome to the group!

I can relate. I started out on the Lamictal starter pack. I noticed a difference within the first three days, then it leveled out. When the dosage in the pack went from 50mg to 100mg, I had a panic attack. I called my doctor and he said go back to 50mg, and that it may not be the right med for me. However, I decided to take 75mg, for two weeks, and then go back up to 100mg. I feel pretty good. I do sense a little hypomania in the background, but mostly I feel energetic. I take lamotrigine, which is the generic for Lamictal.

While I've always had dreams, it is only recently that I actually remember them upon waking. That is pretty cool!! Good luck on the Lamictal. I hope it works for you!!

Do I get to choose what color coat I get? You guys are pretty funny. Thanks for the warm welcome and encouragement. It feels good. I have spent so long being depressed that I think my sense of smell may have been affected. Depressed senses? You know you are depressed when _____ . I might have just lost my sense of smell because of complete mental and physical depression. Wild really...

Having energy again has been rather interesting. This entire process has been interesting. I have searched for so long for answers and it seems as if this fits and makes the most sense. I have read over and over about people seeing their psychiatrists but the person who started this ball rolling was a nurse practitioner. My regular doctor retired and this nurse has been with her for years. I have been seeing her for refills and the basics but she has known I have just accepted that my depression was always going to be with me and that life was "just like this and probably wouldn't change much". After she heard me say that she changed my medication from Wellbutrin and Zoloft to Cympalta. I have been on that for about 3 months and told her I am not as achy but the depression is still the same. After several questions and answers she sent me to see someone else and the diagnosis became much more clear but she was the one who suggested that it could be Bipolar 2. I love this woman. I don't have to accept my treatment-resistant depression, I can do something about it. The changes I have noticed in just the last few weeks have been dramatic.

After being hypomanic for a couple of weeks (and hating every second of it) I realized that this is a gift. It had to be a gift right? It gave me no shadow of a doubt that I am Bipolar 2. I wouldn't go hypomanic on this medication if I wasn't able to right? Does that thought process make sense to you? If you were not Bipolar and you took this medication it wouldn't cause you to be hypomanic unless you had the brain chemistry to go hypomanic. I believe this to be true (I hope it is true) because it is such a freeing thought. It explains everything and it also offers me hope/help/a brighter future/no more or much less depression.