Seroquel to help with vicodin withdrawl

Not sure what flair fits this best. Bipolar 1 with comorbidities.
Went into a behavioral clinic (despite having an appointment for a psychiatrist the following Monday) because I wasn’t sleeping; manic for over a month and suffering insomnia. I just desperately needed help and SLEEP. I was prescribed Seroquel. I’d not been medicated for two years.
Well, I did sleep for sure, but also couldn’t function well the following day on the full dose. Was sleepwalking and SHOUTING at my kids to get ready for school the first two nights of taking it. That was probably terrifying at the time, but now it’s become something funny to them. 😑 I, however, am unamused.
Dose was then halved to help with next-day functioning. I was able to rest, but I was also painfully aware of what was on the TV while “sleeping”. My husband can not sleep without the background noise, so I can’t cut that out. I can best describe what was happening as my brain still processing everything around me instead of truly sleeping. Kinda like being in an 8-hour hell scape between sleeping and waking.
Had my psych appointment yesterday. She wasn’t super supportive of me taking Seroquel and suspected I was prescribed it to “kick” me out of mania. She told me to discontinue Seroquel by tapering off over the next few days, but prescribed trazadone and abilify. Start abilify asap, wait on trazadone until I am off Seroquel. I slept like garbage and was more mentally restless than before. I’m not convinced I’ve been “kicked out of mania”, due to the perceived activity while “sleeping”.
Uncertain of what there is to gain by posting this here, just trying to get through adjustments. Wondering if anyone else has dealt with anything similar.

I've been doing a lot of research over the past months band years and it didn't play out like I expected.
8 years ago. Flu causes her sodium levels to bottom out, causing a seizure. After the seizure came a few days of confusion an delirium, including a violent psychotic outburst, for which she was sedated. (She had no prior history of psychosis or mental illness of any kind). After waking up from the sedation, she was her normal self, but had no memory of the previous events.
6 years ago. Another series of seizures. Diagnosed with epilepsy, placed on medication for it.
Four years ago, another violent psychotic episode. Hospitalized. Placed on Seroquel. Diagnosed with dementia but doctor says it is very mild and she can continue doing anything she wants to. She returns to more or less normal although at this time she begins having memory issues and trouble with executive functioning.
Two years ago. Dementia has progressed. No longer drives but can still bo basic household tasks, although with difficulty. Begins sleeping up to 12 hours a day. Has intermittent periods of tremors and involuntary movements, sometimes accompanied by altered states of consciousness. Hallucinations and delusions begin.
Five months ago. Need help with dressing, bathing, etc. Physically very weak. Enters nursing home where she stabilizes for a while then enters a rapid decline. Stops eating and drinking, appears to be in pain. Becomes unresponsive and dies on May 4.
The thing is it seemed to profoundly affect parts of her brain and leave other parts intact. She always remembered family and friends right up to the end. Just a few weeks ago an old friend visited who she hadn't seen in a long time and she immediately recognized her. She only lost her ability to speak in the last week or so of her life. She could still read, and to some extent understand what she was reading, although she may not remember it a few minutes later. Most of all, she continued having occasional really good days until nearly the end, days in which she could carry on a relatively normal conversation. The last day of her life she could look in my eyes and clearly recognize me.
Based on what I had read and conversations with her doctors and nurses I expected she would go on for another several months at leastt. I didn't expect the sudden rapid decline.

I’ve not recovered from rebound insomnia since stopping Xanax 2mg for a couple nights in row (a few too many, this is such a fucking sensitive drug it’s annoying asf. A lifesaver but tricky) and I’m fucking EXHAUSTED. I look tired, I am tired, and even willing to give the CPAP another go. I’m waiting for it in the mail. I’m not that old and am usually on Ambien and have went through SO many sleep or sleep type medications. There’s like 5 I haven’t tried and that’s bc they are brand most likely. The only one that I feel really worked for ME, I capitalize the me because my personal peak trouble with my insomnia is ONSET. Maintaining sleep for me is second hardest. Dayvigo helped with sleep onset like no other… but it’s also a really weird ass drug that paralyzed me moments before going to sleep. It’s actually a really harmless side effect, so if you can get through that, you can get some good help there. Only problem is there is no generic so it’s 350+ a month and I just can’t do that. So now I’ve been able to make a return back to Seroquel, I forgot why I moved on from it years ago, wish me luck tonight on 25mg. I’ve been burned and exhausted and it’s getting dangerous. I’m in a rigorous PhD program and so I have a lot to lose. Afraid of dependence with benzo medication but it still has a place in my arsenal, so I’m trying to find something sustainable or at least something to get me through this sleep deprivation and not detrimental enough to really screw me when it comes to the books. As someone who has to go through dense ass material and expected to process it and know it?… it’s the not sleeping that has fucked me more than anything. I see sleep as an exchange.. good sleep = good work Bad sleep = fuck your future. I’ve seen for myself, it’s that fucking simple. Fill in the blank of what all that could mean, I think it adds up…
PS I’m overall healthy but have PMDD. I stay relatively active as I play rugby and go to the gym. I could eat more and I take vitamins. Ik ppl usually like to reference these details
TLDR; trying Seroquel for the first night in years tonight and crossing all crossables that it works :(

Hi Fat Friends,
Using a burner account for obvious reasons. I am trying to get feedback on our budget to see if we are missing any big categories or oveunderestimating some things. I have tried to compare it to our actual expenses from the last two years and the numbers here are a little higher than our actual spending since this has estimated items like Health Insurance, home maintenance, new car, etc. that are either covered by work or annual portion of estimated spend that would only happen once every few years. We are a couple in 50’s who would like to get out of the rat race in 1-5 years based on how the numbers work for us. A little about us:
Two adults (50M and 49F) and 2 kids living in a VHCOL area – One kid has graduated and starting a job this year, and the other is in college and hopefully will be independent in 4 years. Their college expense is not included in this budget. I would like your feedback on a few items:
1. Feedback/Critique our budget – are we missing any major categories? Are we oveunder estimating any costs? Unfortunately with Mint shutting down, I only have access to the last 2 years of detailed actual spend so feedback from other fat friends will be super helpful. I have broken down the spending for a few categories into Base vs. discretionary spending. The idea is that in case of a market downturn, we would shift to Base spending only. I plan to use “Vanguard Dynamic Spending” as a withdrawal strategy when we FIRE
2. Target net Worth - Based on this spend, and given that the mortgage and property Tax does not need to be inflation-adjusted plus the mortgage rolls off in 22 years, how much do you think we need in investable net worth? I do not think we have enough invested NW right now to FIRE and I would like to get feedback from the community on what would be your comfortable number for someone to retire with this budget to see how far we are. I am intentionally not listing our NW to avoid influencing your candid response to this question.
Thanks in advance for your time and feedback!
Here is our projected budget:
Category - Cost (Base) - Cost (Disc)
Mortgage - $69,960.00
Property Tax - $33,000.00
Home Insurance - $4,156.00
Electric + gas - $3,000.00
Water - $2,400.00
Gardner - $2,400.00
Pool Cleaning- $2,000.00
Home Cleaning - $3,000.00(B) - $1,500.00(D)
Home Maintenance (estimate) - $23,000.00
Internet/Phone - $300.00
Groceries - $10,400.00
Dining Out - $10,400.00(B) - $10,000.00(D)
Car Payment (replace every 7 years) - $8,571.43(B) - $8,500.00(D)
Car Maintenance - $1,200.00
Fuel - $2,000.00(B) - $2,000.00(D)
Car Insurance - $4,000.00
Health Insurance - $24,000.00(B) - $10,000.00(D)
Medications - $600.00
Doctor and medical services - $3,000.00
Life Insurance - $2,000.00
Long Term Care Insurance - $2,000.00
Umbrella - $600.00
Clothing - $1,200.00
Other Shopping - $6,000.00
Personal Care (Salon/Hair Cut etc) - $6,000.00(B) - $3,000.00(D)
Travel/Vacation - $30,000.00(B) - $30,000.00(D)
Misc. - $6,000.00
Gifts - $6,000.00(B) - $6,000.00(D)
Entertainment/Parties - $5,000.00(B) - $10,000.00(D)
Hobbies - $6,000.00(B) - $6,000.00(D)
Person 1 Disc - $6,000.00(B) - $6,000.00(D)
Person 2 Disc - $6,000.00(B) - $6,000.00(D)
Total - $290,187.43(Base) - $99,000.00(Disc)
Total Withdrawl (20% Tax) - $348,224.92(Base) - $118,800.00**(Disc)**

I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when I was 13 by a nurse practitioner and a separate psychiatrist. My parents knew I was struggling and wanted to do their due diligence, so took me to a few different doctors/therapists before taking action. I don't blame them at all because they were just trying to help and how were they supposed to know that it was just normal teenage mood fluctuations that caused temporary anger issues? They simply saw me suffering and did what they thought would help. After explaining about 1 intense mood episode I had to all these doctors, and the fact that both my uncle and grandfather suffered from psychotic/detached from reality episodes, I was put on a low dose of seroquel. I don't know how to feel because I know the way I described it was very stark and I can logically see how they would come to the conclusion they did. But I was 13 and didn't know anything about bipolar, I just knew that something was wrong with me for feeling how I was feeling and I wanted help. I didn't really notice any difference with my moods on seroquel so each time I visited the NP I asked her to increase the dose, hoping it would do something. Eventually I got to 600mg. And gave up with expecting it to do anything about the moods and stopped asking for the increases and just stayed on that dose. And I also feel like it's in the range of a "normal" dose so it's not like that in particular raised any red flags. The only reason I stayed on it was that it 1) it gave me apathy and numbed my emotions which, to be honest, was something I didn't mind when my normal emotions were just me suffering from sadness and loneliness. Feeling numb was better than feeling sad, 2) I'm pretty sure I have insomnia and seroquel was the only thing that let me sleep at night and 3) in low doses it acts as an antihistamine so it helped with my allergies. So I can't say that it was entirely unhelpful, but as I went to college and got away from my childhood I realized that when things started happening to me I just... didn't feel anything? People kept telling me I was so incredibly emotionally intelligent, but that was because I didn't have any emotion so relied 100% on logic to make my decisions. It wasn't like I had so much emotions I could detangle them to figure out what they were, I just didn't have any emotions to begin with and you can't detangle something that doesn't exist. I'm now finally weaning myself off seroquel after reading the DSM criteria and doing extensive research and realizing that although some symptoms match up, I don't have nearly enough to actually align with that disease. I'm currently down to 200mg and i'm starting to smell more things, i'm not longer constipated to the point of going #2 hurts, I don't sleep for 10 hours every day, and I can start feeling some emotions again. How do I make peace with the fact that I spent 11 years unnecessarily on this medication, and the only reason the dose got so high was because I, being naive, asked for it? Because I don't expect my health care professionals to say "no, I think I know your body better than yourself and i'm going to dictate what dose you'll be on". To be fair, the anxiety medication they prescribed genuinely did help, and i'm not so much against meds as I think that doctors need to do a better job at explaining how exactly they work, what side effects can happen, and then ask the patient if they would like to try it and what their boundaries/comfortability surrounding it are and follow that lead instead of acting superior and a "let's get as many patients in as possible" sort of deal. Basically being a lot better at informed consent and respecting patients wishes and not treating them like a number. So how do I get past the anger I feel about how much this medication robbed me of normal experiences when I was the person who asked for the increase??? How do you make peace with something like that when it's your fault???

…after a rough weekend. A combination of doing too much too soon and being constipated and in pain had me doing pretty much nothing this past weekend. But thank goodness, all things eventually pass and I’m feeling pretty good today. Went back on the Vicodin Friday through yesterday, but none since yesterday morning. Had a follow up appointment with my surgeon today and she squealed with delight “Your incision looks fantastic!!” and commended me for taking it easy over the weekend. She took out my left drain, the right drain comes out next Monday.
I want to go to the supermarket tomorrow - I plan on using one of those motorized carts, there’s no way I could shop and push a cart, but I seriously think this may be too much even with my husband with me to help,but I want to get out and about if even riding around in an electric cart. We have a concert on Sunday, I want to build up stamina so I can walk into the venue and stay through the whole show. A little bit more each day.
I hope all you May people are doing well! Keep me/us updated!

Hi everyone. I have had auditory and visual hallucinations most my life since I was kid. Nothing scary tbh. Kinda recently, I was medicated with Seroquel 8 months from May 2023 to December, I believe. I left them fully early January this year.
Since then, I believe my persecutory delusions are worse. Tbh, I am not sure if I had them before? If they got worse? Anyways, they are here.
At times I feel xyz person is out there to tell on me, others that the gov is out there to get me for no real reason, other that strangers will use the little information they know about me to threaten me. I don't know why they affect me so much when I can reason that it is not likely, but I still can't get out of bed or I feel like deleting every message I write and disappearing for safety.
Anybody got this symptom too? How do you deal with it? I cannot go back to medications right now because I have another disease doctors are trying to look after. Thank you for any help.

Have been on antidepressants for about 4 years, the first of which was Zoloft (SSRI). Was on it for about 3 years where I finally ended up with a relatively high dose. I asked my doctor to try an SNRI instead due to my cognitive challenges. We landed on Effexor in the end. Now I'm up to 225mg every morning. Still following that it does not alleviate my depression, and must say that I once again feel cognitive ailments. Also struggles with sleep and takes 50mg Seroquel and 5mg melatonin for that. Taking antihistamine for allergies, including atarax (can also reduce anxiety).
Really want to try benzodiazepine as the next option, but I doubt my doctor will agree to this because of my age (young adult). Has previously been in therapy and has completed treatment with TF-CBT.
Does anyone have any experience that could help? Aka EVERYTHING!
Thanks in advance my fellow survivors! Remember that there is always light at the end of the tunnel!

My fiancé and I have been dating 6 years and engaged for one. From the beginning he was open about having a previous drug addiction to heroin but he had been recovered for years and was on suboxone for 5 years prior to meeting me. I was okay with him being on subs knowing that it was helping him to avoid hard drugs.
Recently he quit his job and my mom helped him get a better job in her field. It quickly came out that he wasn’t performing well in the role and his boss thought he was drinking too much. Side note he did drink a lot, usually a bottle of wine or more a night. He got fired from the job and then started going to AA and immediately withdrawling from suboxone. I was of course elated to see him scrapping all of the bad habits.
Then it comes out a few nights ago that the last month on his job he started taking Percocet recreationally. I thought he was done with pills a long time ago . I’m absolutely shocked he’d choose to take them again given things were going well and were engaged. He was also on suboxone which is supposed to prevent that.
Now he is a month sober but since I’ve discovered this news I feel like I have to leave him. I really don’t want to because I Iove him more than anything and he is clean now and swears he will never ever go back. I have a hard time trusting that statement even though this is the first time he’s been completely sober since we’ve been dating. I have no idea if this is worth staying and waiting to see how his sobriety goes or if I’m setting my life up to be in jeopardy putting my trust in someone who is an addict. Is it stupid to stay in this relationship? He is the most amazing human he just has this terrible addiction.

Hey everyone, I don't even know where to begin. This is going to be highly disorganized but I will try nonetheless.
I am 33 and my mom is 68. Yes, I know very young...everyone seems baffled when I tell them she has dementia. My mom was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when I was around 10 years old. I am the youngest of three daughters. My mom and I have had an extremely tumultuous relationship. I love her and she loves me too, but growing up wasn't easy ...for either of us.
My mom has been on a LOT and I do mean a lot of medications. Three years ago she was hospitalized because the amount of Seroquel/lithium/ assortment of benzos she was prescribed. They made her not only forgetful but she couldn't walk and struggled to even talk. They initially thought parkinsons. It wasnt. Well, they took her off lithium and benzos and she got a pacemaker, and they realized she had two strokes in which we were oblivious to. I thought the entire time it was more...yes all that is an issue but I knew my mom was losing her memory.
This year, maybe six months ago she received the official diagnosis. She won't allow my dad nor my sisters, me , anyone to come into her neurology appointments with her. Yes I know, this is obviously not ok. She is quite stubborn and I'm trying to be understanding. But at the same time this is taking a toll on me. I worry so much and my depression is becoming insurmountable.
I have now moved home to care for her, but holy shit sometimes I go into my childhood room and just cry. My mom is still lucid, can carry on conversation, but I don't know how to gauge this. Because I've seen my mom, up and down to alllll the degrees...this is hard. When my mom went to the hospital three years ago she thought I was my oldest sister and kept calling me by her name. Since being off lithium and benzos it's helped A LOT but yes, her memory is still faulty. Problem solving and writing are rapidly declining, first and foremost. These two are obvious.
Bipolar individuals have 5-10 less of a lifespan than others without the disorder. The correlation to memory loss and bipolar is astounding and frightening. Oh man Im just breaking down typing this because ohhhhhh idk. Idk even know why I'm posting but I've been looking at this sub for days...wanting a sense of clarity. I am just unsure because with my mom's bipolar...it is a bit more challenging to grasp her mental state in relation to the dementia. And sadly, I desperately want to know a time frame she has. I don't know if I'll get that at this point though.
Does anyone have a family member who has both?

Confusion : How the blockchain.com DeFi wallet can receive the Bitcoin instant payment
Last week, I happened to deal with one buyer and he agreed to pay me in Bitcoin. He asked me to create DeFi wallet on Blockchain.com because he said, he will be sending the instant payment as it takes times to execute the BTC transactions on BTC network.
We agreed, he paid me in my Blockchain.com DeFi wallet. I received the BTC instantly in fraction of second. I transferred it to one of centralised exchange on SegWet BTC address. I exchanged those BTC into USDT. Everything went smooth, case closed.
But this sequence of transaction made me confused and wonder on the same time.
How someone can send the instant payment to non custodial DeFi wallet which I made on Blockchain Mobile app. You cannot send the instant payment until both the receiving ends belongs to the centralised entity like the binance Pay works. If someone has a proper explanation about it.
Additional confusion is, now I am just trying to explore the transaction of my DeFi wallet, I tried using multiple explorers, even Blockchain.com own explorer. I do not see any record against my wallet and it says 0 deposit, 0 withdrawl. How can this be possible, when I received the funds in this wallet and transferred them to the centralised exchange even.
But there is just one place, I can see all the transaction which is block chair explorer. I can see all the incoming and outgoing but all the transaction shows the status "Pending Confirmation".
I am not sure, whats going on here. How one confusing is leading to another confusion.
If someone expert in Crypto and Blockchain technology can help me to understand.
u/crypto u/blockchain u/cryptocurrency u/bitcoin

Stay away from RobingHood

Robinhood is just a Front end created for the Crypto Cartel/Market Makers.
In Crypto, Market Makers pool their network of exchanges liquidity. They move this pool around from exchange to exchange, covering liquidity as needed. Pooling all the inbound customer assets from exchanges allows this Network to offload much of it, in whatever ways they choose. They only need "X"% of it to keep withdrawls whole across their network of Blockchains.
They create Robinhood, Paypal, Venmo, Crypto side to offer a product with a front end, to get consumers to buy the Market Makers crypto holdings being pushed. The Market Makers KPI farm, by creating thousand and thousands of fake users via new wallet address'. They send in minimal crypto, often <.01 eth. They create promos like a "SHIB giveaway for all new customers". It helps the MM offload their sht tokens they created out of thin air, like SBI Holdings did when they created $SHIB. Then, to help drive inerest in the Exchange, and a rise in Stock Price, they In turn promote these "new" users, which their Market Maker created for the Public facing exchange, and talk about the new deposits seen, which is just the market makers moving funds from other exchanges temporarily. This allows a rise in token price, and gain in liquidity. For Crypto companies setup by the Crypto Cartel, this means they can now sell shares in these companies, convert the capital to their holdings, and cover any losses they had, take profits, or use it to inflate the price of where the Market Makers have a vested interest. They pump stock, sell shares, and in turn buy Crypto to cover where they are short.
This is a core part of the game. Every dollar that comes in, they can take out, as long as they can cover the Rate of Withdrawals. They can use this game to market, offload the Public shares they own, and extend their runway and Crypto's pricing.

Source: https://x.com/BoringSleuth/status/1789899650977223044
Author: u/kirtash93
Link

I understand that this title seems a bit silly, but every. single. week. I find myself googling why I can't get out of bed and where this fatigue comes from. It is really puzzling, and very frustrating.
So, basically, every weekend I (29F, 182 cm tall, 150 kg heavy) struggle to do anything at all. I am in my bed, my head feels foggy, I am in pain, sometimes I have low grade fevers (around 38-39 degrees celcius). I am so tired that even getting up to go to the bathroom is hard. Usually it is better at the start of the day, but during the afternoons I am either so out of it I feel concerned (what I mentioned earlier + headaches, dizzy, nauseous, heart racing but not in an anxiety way, more in a like a the body is so overworked kinda way - they feel a little different to me) - or I actually fall asleep, which is the worst case scenario, because then I sleep in short bursts and wake up again after a bit, not having any other choice than to keep sleeping and waking up because I feel so bad.
I want to and need to do things during my weekends, and this frustrates me so much, and makes my life feel so small, and it has been like this for a long time. A while back I thought it was diabetes, because of my weight and the fact that I usually got extra tired after meals, but I even got a blood sugar monitor to check and I was fine, and it has never been a problem in any of my blood tests.
I started feeling this way back in 2014 when I was in uni, and checked with doctors then who thought I was stressed and didn't sleep enough due to insomnia, and I figured ok sounds fair. It got worse between 2017 - 2019 where I would have really bad pain and episodes with fevers every week, I would have reoccuring dizzy spells and such bad brain fog. Around sunmer 2019 I went on sick leave for depression, and around spring 2020 I was fine, worked for a bit, and it didn't stop but it definitely wasn't as much of a problem. When I was home on sick leave between autumn 2021 - autumn 2023 because of a depressive episode, this was worse, pretty much a problem daily, and it had been escalating for about a year prior. Once it got a little better again I thought it might just disappear, and sure, my weekdays I am doing okay. I usually feel this kick in around the time that I am about to leave for work, and I don't need to get much done then so it is okay, but my weekends are still so bad.
I've seen doctors about this, but I am not being taken seriously - I think the combination of my mental health and being fat makes them suspicious of me. It sucks though, because every single time I go my blood tests look pretty bad. I am always higher than normal on the sedative rate and the CRP, I have an excess of leukocytes and thrombocytes, sometimes erytrocytes, I have low MCH, my iron is typically really bad and my transferrin saturation was like five percent last time. My homocysteine is constantly high, and my folate is low. My doctor gives me iron + b12 + folate supplements, which do not help me feel better, and then when the levels go back to normal she takes me back off, only for my levels to be bad again a few months later, and we do the same thing over again.
I was sent to a physiotherapist for my pain and a popping sensation I feel in my muscles whenever I do something that requires even just a little physical work (like walking for more than 20 min, carrying grocery bags home, taking the stairs for more than one floor, you get it). She said the popping was probably just stress, but the other pain she said could be due to me being hypermobile. She did the beighton scale and I scored six points on there, and she said that some of my joints moved way more than they should. I got soft hand and feet supports for the daytime and some specially constucted hand braces for sleep, which I guess have helped a little, and some exercises which honestly truly just have created more pain.
So my current health situation: I am obviously obese, I also took a DNA test that my parents gave me for christmas, and that said I had a homozygote MTHFR mutation. I have autism (lvl 2, so moderate support needs), post traumatic stress (i was in a trafficking situation for a few years - no longer in it and I've done all the tests for that and I am good, apart from hpv, I was also physically abused a lot during that time, which I didn't go see anyone for, so not sure if that has created any long term issues). Depression, dissociation, anxiety. Insomnia (I sleep maybe between 4-6 hours a night, sometimes waking up during the night but usally just struggle getting to sleep and staying asleep for long enough). I take Concerta 54 mg in the morning and Zopiclone 7,5 mg + Seroquel 25x3 mg at night, and I have the nexplanon implant (currently supplemented with some birth control pills as well as the implant isn't working as well as it should). I've tried basically every antidepressive med out there and none have worked, even trying some mood stabilizers and anti-psychotics, as well as rTMS.
My mother has a neurological condition, they haven't been able to discern what it is apart from poly neuropathy, but she has been sick for a little more than ten years now. Her main symptom are brain fog, fatigue, loss of muscle function (trouble swallowing, trouble talking clearly, drop foot that she uses foot supports for, hands randomly stop working, no longer being able to urinate (she has a cath that she can use on herself)), arrythmias, eye problems (pressure + some issues with the optimal nerve apparently). They've checked her for MS but they can't find any plaques on her brain. My sister has hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos. Otherwise no significant history in the family, apart from maybe cancer (prostate, breast) in my grandparents.
I want to figure out what is going on with me, or if it just is my weight and my mental issues that are making life really tricky I would like to know that too. I am doing what I can to lose weight (the autism + joint pain + antipsychotics combo is making that kind of tricky, but I am working with a dietician and I am actually doing the work) and I have an occupational therapist to help with the mental issues that make me inactive. Is there anything else I can do? I would switch doctors in a heartbeat, but I would like to have more to present to them if I do, because it sucks getting dismissed over and over even though something actually does seem off. Maybe it would help if I knew what to ask them to look into.
Thank you!!

Hi guys; I’m a 21f who was diagnosed bipolar 2 at 19. My main issue is bipolar depression; every once in a while I’ll have hypomania but not often. I have since tried so many different medications for the depression, such as: Vraylar, Lamotrigine, Lithium, Geodon, Abilify, and Seroquel. None have helped, and honestly I haven’t noticed a difference with most of them. Currently, I’m on Vraylar for the bipolar depression and Lexapro for my comorbid OCD and Anxiety. I’m still so sad and depressed and crying most days, wanting to self harm and being suicidal. Anyways, I was just wondering if you guys found a med combo that worked well for you for bipolar depression? I also want to mention I exercise and hang out with friends when I can and have made an effort to do it without meds too, but have just relapsed everytime I’ve tried to come off of them.

Hi, 19m here I've had problems sleeping ever since I was about 11-12 years old Over the past few years I've tried sleep meds and I'm so annoyed at none of them working enough.
First thing I tried was some weird herb combo with Valerian in it, didn't work at all so stopped after like two months.
I tried trazodone 25mg, didn't work, upped it to 50 which worked for like a week and then I went back to walking up in the middle of the night. Upped to 100mg, same story. They then added seroquel 50mg which also helped for like two weeks and then I went back to not even being able to sleep.
The psychiatrist then switched me to mirtazapine 15mg which helped a decent amount but still not enough, upped to 30mg and that was truly the best sleep I had in years, took that for like half a year until I had to stop because im not allowed to drive while on it.
I tried etumine 20mg and 40mg for a while which helped but made me very groggy during the day so stopped.
Also tried valium which also helped but is a benzo so was only for a short period of time.
I went a couple months without any sleep meds and had like an average of 3-4 hours of sleep with no sleep at all not being an exception anymore. Complained to my psychiatrist for months until he suddenly decided to just put me on melatonin 3mg. Melatonin just makes me groggy but not sleepy. I take it about an hour before bedtime, still have trouble falling asleep and wake up 1-2 times almost every night with often not being able to go back to sleep.
I'm just so done with trying meds, the only ones that work I'm not allowed to take for some reason.
I also tried other things, no screen time 2 hours before bed, sleeping with the sun rising and falling, meditation, yoga, doing easy and calm things before bed, no screen time at all, showers before bed.
At this point I feel like I've tried everything, my insomnia isn't bad enough to be so exhausted I can't function anymore but I swear it's like slowly killing me, it's worsening my depression and anxiety and it makes it way harder to focus on anything.
I'm just so done honestly

Have been taking Zoloft (50mg 2weeks,75 one week) now for three weeks after changing from Lexapro , as it didn't help me. The last few days I am struggling even more with Insomnia and low mood& intrusive thoughts. Taking it for Depression and anxiety, but the anxiety also could well be that its because I haven't really slept a full night for the last two months. I have used Lorazepam at the start, then changed to Seroquel (25mg) , which helped but have still be waking up around 3-4am, then no sleep and a big foggy hangover, where I need hours to be able to get some focus back.
Have you had good experiences with Zoloft after 4-5 weeks, as I am loosing the motivation to continue with this AD? I am in contact with my Psychiatrist,which suggested the increase to 75mg a week ago.
I have night sweats and pretty severe Insomnia due to intrusive thoughts and anxiousness at night. When I sleep I am very noise sensitive....

I am very curious to understand more about your journey with Lamictal. What was your dosage titration like? Do you feel like it's the right dosage? Any side-effects both positive and negative? I could go on and on with questions but I imagine you understand.
Personally I was introduced to Lamictal after Seroquel was not handling the depressive episodes. I was told Lamictal would help fill that gap. It's been a very interesting journey. For example, I've never had a "psychotic" episode prior, but that isn't all bad. Mostly just auditory hallucinations and losing time. One of the tougher side effects is dreaming. Everything is so insanely vivid that I have to go back through my emails/texts/etc to have some idea what really happened and what was imagined. It has led to some awkward conversations. The most notable effect has been the ability to feel. I know I'm part zombie at this point and I don't care.
Just curious about your journey. Feel free to message me if you want to talk more specifically about meds and dosages.

Hello. I posted 5 months ago that I want to start keto again. I really failed at keeping any kindof diet the last months indulging in sweets and carbs all day. I had a month of fasting for my faith and ate mostly carbs. I am on 5 meds for bipolar and two are supposed to help depression but they do not work. I have no motivation to do much and I have debilitating fatigue. I admit that after eating carbs I am more tired. I am sure its all related to energy for the brain and brain metabolism. Maybe also meds make me tired. I also have suicidal ideation weekly. This is not the life that I want to have and I want to be better . I am not sure If one med seroquel will affect my keto diet because its affecting insulin.. but I Heard a herb called berberine helps with insulin problems from antipsychotics. I did a kind of keto diet some time ago no sweets and very low carbs and I hope now I can do it as it should. Seroquel makes me crave food not necessary carbs so I will try to have something for that other than carbs. I would really need true inspiring benefits of the diet from keto for bipolar. I just hope I will have the will to do it because I am so depressed and lack motivation.

Age - 21 Sex - M Height - 5’9” Weight - 285lbs Race - white Medications - 60mg prozac, 5mg seroquel
I’ve been trying, unsuccessfully, to lose weight since I was a teenager. After finally getting the help I needed for my mental health struggles after I turned 18 I had some success at first building healthy habits, but it really just always ends up as a case of yo yo dieting. My lowest weight was 220lbs, over the summer of 2022. Sadly back up to my peak weight of 285-290 (haven’t weighed in a few weeks).
I’ve seen a lot of hype around drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic, etc. I think I may be a good candidate, but I know there are shortages and they’re in high demand. I also have some medical anxiety with certain issues, mostly I’m worried of the “he’s lazy and cheating the gym” type of feeling so many have. On the other hand, I was able to maintain a caloric deficit and worked out 6x/week for over six months straight and lost over 60lbs before winter set in and my motivation went totally awol
Obviously, I know that it isn’t just take a pill and you’re skinny, and I entirely plan on putting in the work. Just wondering if yall think that it would be a good idea for me to ask my PCP about adding this to my “arsenal” per se. TIA!

Hi everyone,
Good to be here. I've dealt with anhedonic depression for the better part of a decade and I turned 22 last week.
Hopefully, this sad-but-true example helps everyone understand the depth of what I'm going through. Four years ago, I got a full scholarship to college and I didn't feel anything. I also got a fantastic job that gave me financial independence and freedom from my abusive household.
Again, I felt nothing and it scared me because I wondered if I was incapable of feeling excitement, joy, satisfaction or contentment.
That's when I realized that I had a severe chemical deficiency. I've also tried and failed 10+ medicines (four SSRIs, Strattera, Pristiq, Abilify, Buspirone, Gabapentin, Seroquel, Lithium, and most recently Wellbutrin) so I began taking Parnate the other day as a last resort.
I'm augmenting with 150 mg. bupropion XL and I dropped down from 300 mg. bupropion XL before starting the Parnate. I took 10 mg. the first day, 20 mg. today, and I will take 20 mg. tomorrow. I feel a bit calmer than I have in a while, and I feel like I'm able to concentrate a bit more easily (also a miracle because I've been using Modafinil on-and-off for months to get through work and school).
My goal is to not need the Modafinil anymore, and hopefully Parnate does a good enough job at modulating dopamine that I can be 100% stimulant-free aside from caffeine. I used to have a serious issue with amphetamines, but I haven't taken Adderall since Biden first got elected.
I plan to stay at 20 mg. for 10 days before increasing to 30 mg. and staying there for 2 weeks (or until I notice orthostatic hypotension upon standing). My other goal is to use as little Parnate as possible to minimize side effects.
Instead of boosting to 30 mg. in a week or so, I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to instead go back on 300 mg. bupropion XL and remain at 20 mg. Parnate for a while longer to see if the combination is more helpful.
Insomnia hasn't become an issue for me yet, but I'm also on Seroquel and Gabapentin, so YMMV. I'm treating myself as a guinea pig at the moment because I have truly reached the end of the line.
If Parnate doesn't work for me, ECT and ketamine are the only options left. I'm hoping for the best and would appreciate any advice/personal experiences you guys can share with me.

I've had chronic insomnia for many years now, most of my life. Some things have worked temporarily in the past, but this past year has been hell and nothing is working. I've done sleep studies, practiced good sleep hygiene, sleep meditations, exercise, bath before bed, everything else that is usually recommended. I have pretty severe PTSD, and the past few years have been the most traumatic and I'm sure that's a big part of it. I recently did SGB and it the benefits only seemed to last about a week. I've tried EMDR also. Been in therapy 25+ years. It usually takes at least 5 hours for me to fall asleep, sometimes longer, and even after I've finally fallen asleep I usually wake up at least once an hour and then it takes a while to fall back asleep again. Here's some of the meds I've tried (with all of these I've tried up to the highest dose possible, even sometimes tried doubling and have also tried various combinations of many of these):
Seroquel: used to work years ago but now doesn't seem to have any effect
Benadryl (even up to 200mg): no effect
Unisom: no effect
Ambien: no effect
Lunesta: no effect
Melatonin: no effect
Ativan: no effect
Clonazepam: no effect
Vistaril: no effect
Doxepin, no effect
DSIP: no effect
Phenibut: no effect
Trazadone: no effect
Gabapentin: no effect
Promethazine: no effect
Belsomra: no effect
Remeron: no effect
Risperdal: no effect
Geodon: no effect
Sonata: no effect
Restoril: no effect
Clonidine: no effect
Propranolol: no effect
Selank: no effect
CBD and CBN: no effect
Many herbal supplements (ashwaghanda, magnesium, passionflower, 5-htp, etc.): no effect
There's probably more I just can't think of at the moment, but basically it seems like medications just don't work for me for some reason. The only combinations that have had minimal effect (I fall asleep within 2 hours instead of 5) are not sustainable because of tolerance build up or risk of addiction or things like that. Many of these aren't supposed to be taken together but when I'm super desperate for sleep I'll try anything. For example, when I take these all together it only takes about 2 hours to fall asleep instead of 5 or more: 300mg seroquel, 200mg trazadone, 12.5mg Ambien, 1mg klonopin, 250mg phenibut, 10mg melatonin and 20mg propranolol. When I take that combination I barely feel anything and it does take a while to fall asleep still, but I'll take anything I can get. I've been trying to function on an average of 2-3 hours of sleep a night, some nights I end up getting zero sleep, and I'm just not functional in the world.
I've literally gone to the emergency room a handful of times in tears begging for something that actually helps, but they usually just tell me to take melatonin or something and send me away.
oh also, cannabis, along with a few of the meds mentioned above is usually helpful, but I end up having horrible hangovers with cannabis and am barely functional the next day... although I'm barely functional as it is bc of my sleep issues.
Does anyone else suffer from insomnia to this high of a degree? Have you found anything sustainable that works for insomnia this severe?

I have a parent whose IRA is invested with a financial advisor. The advisor takes 1%. I checked and it's just a classic 3 fund boglehead investment that we could easily reproduce. I'd like to be able to share access with the account to help with the investment process. Right now my parent is 100% mentally capable, but I'd like to also plan for the long term to have some measure of control as they age, to help prevent scammers or elder abuse and so on. I've heard horror stories about people losing their entire retirement account to scammers these days. And even the first instance can be ruinous.
I'm wondering what the best brokerage would be that allows for such a situation of co-managed accounts? I'm imagining at the very least allowing myself access to the account to help invest. Having some delay on withdrawls above like $10k, allowing me a chance to review and cancel to help prevent fraud, would be ideal.
One potential issue is that I'm living in Canada, but we're both US citizens. My parent resides in the US.
I was thinking of checking out Schwab, since they seem to have a good track record of not kicking out clients who are living abroad, as long as they're US citizens. But I'm curious if others have been through this situation and have suggestions otherwise.
Any other advice for this situation? Clearly I need to be prepared for fallout in our relationship if the stock market drops 50% someday. I think my parent has a good emotional understanding of the realities of investing, and is prepared. Their pension and social security is also sufficient for a comfortable life, so fortunately temporarily loss in the IRA shouldnt' be a huge emotional toll.
Thank you!