Mania from the DBSA conference! (DBSA stands for the Depression, Bipolar Support Association- the conference was this weekend in Virginia)
I just received the following comment from Denise, a DBSA participant.
I too was at the conference, and found your workshop on Relationships to be an excellent workshop.
Don’t know about others who have BiPolar Disorder who were at the conference, but by the end, I was beginning to feel the mania coming on. Too much auditory stimulation I suppose. As I write this, I am waiting on my dr to return my call, as I also started getting visual ‘distortions’ toward the end of the conference.
Julie, it was a pleasure to meet you at the conference.
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Oh, yes. I experienced the same thing. I often feel there should be a class on how to stay stable when you go to a conference on bipolar disorder! My worries are more that I will get depressed when I get home. The conference was so wonderful, it’s often hard not to go down when you get back to your regular life.
I made sure I was booked today. The depression tried to come in last night, but I said no!
Today is good. I think the secret is to have something to look forward to the days you get back. I am watching closely for mania as I have never felt ‘good’ when I get home from an event.
I had a lot of paranoia during and after my first presentation. At one point, I actually had the thought that all of my evaluations were faked! I had to laugh at that one. It’s so important that we know our own symptoms.
It’s great that Denise knows her signs of mania and then called her doctor!
Julie
My doctor called yesterday. The visual distortions were caused by withdrawel of Effexor! I had run out of one of my doses before the conference and knew I would not be able to get the rx before the conference. My doctor said visual distortions are quite common for those withdrawing from Effexor.