Help me please

[apryl]

First off, some info about me:
-I'm 16
-I'm bipolar
-I cut myself(arms, legs, feet, hands, wherever I can)
-I'm on Citalopram for depression but it isn't helping me
I just don't know what to do anymore. I've been hearing voices in my head(I have been for awhile but I used to be able to ignore them). They laugh at me and tell me I'm not good enough and that I don't deserve shit. I want them to go away, I want to be normal. I can't date, guys just don't get what I'm going through. I feel like I'm bugging my friends when I talk about this stuff. My parents try to understand but I'm not sure they do. I can't even trust myself anymore. Please help me. I just need someone to talk to. I'm so lonely.
If you want to talk, my AIM is dalmatiangirl2
Please help me.

[nick]

Are you getting any professional help / counselling? Have you told your doctor all of that stuff?

[apryl]

Are you getting any professional help / counselling? Have you told your doctor all of that stuff?


I've told a psychiatrist some of it(the person who also put me on antidepressants), but I haven't seen him in a couple months, and it's been getting worse

[Lily of the Valley]

Here, I'll just copy and paste from another thread like this.If you want help, don't go to a forum with a bunch of teenagers. See a professional - a doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist, etc. If your medication isn't working, try a different one or a different dose. If you want someone to talk to, don't go to random teenagers that probably don't even know how to keep their own shit in order, let alone someone else's. Talk to a counselor or someone at your school you can trust or whatever.

Shit happens, but the way you choose to deal with it and fix it is what determines how it turns out.Also, why are you on antidepressants if you're bipolar? A psychiatrist wouldn't do that. Not only that, but if you are bipolar, then you know this state of depression is merely a phase that will pass.

~Maggot

[apryl]

Here, I'll just copy and paste from another thread like this.Also, why are you on antidepressants if you're bipolar? A psychiatrist wouldn't do that. Not only that, but if you are bipolar, then you know this state of depression is merely a phase that will pass.

~Maggot

Honestly I don't know why he put me on antidepressants. U"cuz I even told him I'm bipolar and he acknowledged it. To be honest he was a horrible psychiatrist, my mom switched me to another one but he didn't change the meds. Next time I meet with the new psychiatrist I'm gonna tell him I need to change meds
and sometimes it's hard to remember that the depression will pass. It's just tough

[nick]

Maggot's point is correct, really you need professional help with these things. If its been a while since you saw your psychiatrist make another appointment and let them know whats going on.

[Sapphire]

Nick and Maggot have got this covered but I just want to add something here.
Your health and wellbeing is your responsibility. Do not blindly follow their instructions - ask them questions and consider things properly.

[Lily of the Valley]

Honestly I don't know why he put me on antidepressants. U"cuz I even told him I'm bipolar and he acknowledged it. To be honest he was a horrible psychiatrist, my mom switched me to another one but he didn't change the meds. Next time I meet with the new psychiatrist I'm gonna tell him I need to change meds
and sometimes it's hard to remember that the depression will pass. It's just toughHow do you know you're bipolar? Chances are he didn't actually believe you, since 95% of the teenage population claims to be bipolar.

~Maggot

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

Anti-depressants are actually commonly prescribed to patients with bipolar disorder. You can't just say, "It's a phase, it'll pass," because that would imply just living with it and not treating it. Proper treatment for bipolar disorder is a mix of medication and therapy. The meds help keep the chemicals which control your mood as balanced as possible. Therapy teaches you how to deal with your moods, how to avoid things which trigger cycles, etc. Please don't tell Apryl that her doctor is wrong for putting her on anti-depressants, because it's not true. Most often you see a combination of anti-depressants and mood stabilizers, but the anti-depressant is often what they start with particularly if depression is the main symptom (such as in Bipolar 2 versus Bipolar 1).

Apryl, talk to your doctor. These symptoms are bothering you, and you need to find a way to deal with them so that they don't continue to do so.

Although, I must say I'm also wondering what Laura is asking, here: Did your doctor actually diagnose you with Bipolar Disorder or did you just tell him, "I think I'm Bipolar" and he said, "Ok, let's put you on some pills for that"?

[Sapphire]

Anti-depressants are most definitely not given to bipolar patients as they are likely to send said patient into a manic episode. The medications of choice are mood stabilizers like lithium, depakote and carbemazepine.

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

Being bipolar, I can say that anti-depressants are often given to bipolar patients in conjunction with a mood stabilizer. For patients who have depression as a pretty major symptom, mood stabilizers alone aren't always enough. In that case, anti-depressants do more to help with the depression and mood stabilizers help to further keep things even and to prevent SSRI-induced mania.

Not all patients find themselves having manic episodes when on an anti-depressant though, especially since not all anti-depressants are SSRI's (the ones most likely to induce a manic episode). Thus, an anti-depressant may be started alone to see how it will treat the depression and to see how the patient will react. You never start more than one new drug at once, because if any side-effects occur you want to know which are from which drug. Whether a patient starts on a mood stabilizer and later may add an anti-depressant, or whether it goes the other way around, depends on the individual case and the doctor writing the prescriptions.

[Sapphire]

Sorry Jessi, I didn't know that some anti-d's were ok to be given to those with bipolar.

But the OP is on an SSRI and should get the prescription changed. Since there are anti-d's out there that don't include the risk of manic episodes then get your psychiatrist to take you off the Citalopram and onto one of those.

[apryl]

Anti-depressants are actually commonly prescribed to patients with bipolar disorder. You can't just say, "It's a phase, it'll pass," because that would imply just living with it and not treating it. Proper treatment for bipolar disorder is a mix of medication and therapy. The meds help keep the chemicals which control your mood as balanced as possible. Therapy teaches you how to deal with your moods, how to avoid things which trigger cycles, etc. Please don't tell Apryl that her doctor is wrong for putting her on anti-depressants, because it's not true. Most often you see a combination of anti-depressants and mood stabilizers, but the anti-depressant is often what they start with particularly if depression is the main symptom (such as in Bipolar 2 versus Bipolar 1).

Apryl, talk to your doctor. These symptoms are bothering you, and you need to find a way to deal with them so that they don't continue to do so.

Although, I must say I'm also wondering what Laura is asking, here: Did your doctor actually diagnose you with Bipolar Disorder or did you just tell him, "I think I'm Bipolar" and he said, "Ok, let's put you on some pills for that"?

He said I'm pretty sure you're bipolar, but we'll start with antidepressants to see how that works first, or something like that(it was awhile ago I don't remember too well)