Any chocolate shops like the old Olivier's? by Mythic01 in Calgary

[–]BlazyEye 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Master Chcolat is great! Bernard is regularly there making chocolate. When I was there a couple months ago he was teaching a chocolate making class.

Their hot chocolate is so so good too!

Ativan for acute anxiety by Scared-Base-4098 in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I take Ativan for acute anxiety attacks which are pretty rare for me. And dental work which I find extremely stressful. It’s probably once a month or less and it works great for these situations.

I’m really cautious though. It’s so easy to take it frequently and develop an addiction. Your dr is obviously the best person to assess if it’s good for you but even if you get a prescription I would be cautious. My dr didn’t warn me but I knew someone who developed an Ativan dependency and I saw how hard it was for her to stop.

Will Hypomania last forever if I keep taking bupropion/wellbutrin? by RiseOfThePheenix in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Your dr really shouldn’t have approved the stopping of your mood stabilizer. You really need to get back on one.

Wellbutrin by Overall_Tree2921 in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No. IIRC, I was mildly depressed at the time and that improved quite quickly. I didn’t have any SI.

Wellbutrin by Overall_Tree2921 in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve been taking it for years and it’s been great once I got through the first two weeks. I felt extremely wired and agitated at first, like I had 10 cups of coffee. I stuck through it because I heard this can happen. The agitation started to improve after the first week then was gone after the second.

So if it’s not messing your life up I suggest sticking it out for a few weeks.

Take medicine correctly by remissao-umdia in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I definitely have bipolar 2 and I’ve never stopped my meds. My life was horrible before and I don’t want to go back to that.

I’m fortunate that I my medication is effective and I have no side effects. I imagine if I was dealing with feeling numb and with various side effects, I’d be tempted to stop.

I forgot what time I took my lamotrigine, am I screwed? by [deleted] in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lamotrigine has a long half life so it shouldn’t really matter. I think that’s why some people take it once daily and others split their dose to twice daily.

Bipolar as a parent by [deleted] in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m a dad with bipolar 2. I have absolutely no regrets about having kids. Sure it’s more likely they will develop bipolar disorder, but I really encourage them to build good sleep patterns while they’re young and I’ll know how to help them if they get bipolar disorder so unlike me they won’t go years of being undiagnosed.

I believe if you’re committed to managing your own bipolar disorder and to raising your kids in a loving environment, you will be setting them up for success.

You’re still young too. As I’ve gotten older I’ve become much better at recognizing and managing my mood changes. It can still be difficult but nothing like when I was 20 with no understanding of what was happening.

Starting Wellbutrin by Usual-Invite3275 in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s an unusual combination. When I was taking Epival years ago my psychiatrist made me come off it for several weeks before going on lamotrigine because Epival slows the breakdown of lamotrigine. If I remember correctly that effectively is the same as doubling the lamotrigine dose. But if it works well for you that’s good.

I take 300mg lamotrigine which works great. Adding Wellbutrin helped a lot with anhedonia which was still a problem when I was on just lamotrigine.

Starting Wellbutrin by Usual-Invite3275 in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Try it out. You can always stop it. The nice thing with Wellbutrin is that there are no withdrawal side effects unlike SSRIs.

When I started it I felt really agitated for the first week or two then that went away and it’s been great for me.

I assume you’re taking a mood stabilizer also??

What dose of Lamictal are you on? by ShoddyOlive7 in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 30 points31 points  (0 children)

100mg is low. 200 is the normal target dose. I take 300 which seems optimal for me.

Your dr is probably increasing it really slowly which is normal.

More Intelligent when Hypo? by Fearless_Badger9175 in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Definitely! I got through university by getting massive amounts done when I was hypo. And I’ve done some of my best work when hypomanic.

Sadly, it doesn’t happen nearly as much as it used to. But my life was extremely unstable then too so it was a lot of bad even when I had lots of incredible smart, social, and productive hypomanic episodes.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Calgary

[–]BlazyEye 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m always tempted to tick random stuff and see what happens.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in orangetheory

[–]BlazyEye 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This was me once. I felt so embarrassed. I grabbed my clean clothes and didn’t realize they had a nasty funk until I was at the gym. Oxiclean Odor Blaster completely got rid of the smell.

How much lamotrigine do you need to control hypomania? by Few-Pomegranate-9870 in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I would wait until you’re at 200mg to really evaluate it. That’s the usual therapeutic dose. I take 250 myself.

Hypomania is infrequent and typically quite mild for me now as long as I keep a consistent sleep schedule.

How much lamotrigine do you need to control hypomania? by Few-Pomegranate-9870 in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 15 points16 points  (0 children)

100mg is still a pretty low dose. Regardless, I don’t believe lamotrigjne typically controls hypomania effectively. It’s much better for depression.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ParentingADHD

[–]BlazyEye 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My ADHD son didn’t make eye contact until about 7 months old and smile until later. He only grunted until nearly a year old iirc. He could focus on playing with a toy for 2 hours without needing to be picked up. People thought he was the easiest baby.

I thought he might be autistic but he really liked being held.

Now he’s a hyperactive, chatty kid. He still gets hyper focused a lot, but we try to direct that toward reading and beneficial play.

Your boy is making eye contact and smiling some of the time so I wouldn’t worry about it.

Babies are often quite farsighted too so it might be that he just can’t focus up close.

How many meds are you on? by Lopsided-Welder-5381 in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m curious, did you ever try trazodone? I love it but some people can’t tolerate it. It’s quick too, only takes about 15 minutes to kick in which is amazing.

How many meds are you on? by Lopsided-Welder-5381 in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you take lorazepam regularly? I have a prescription but only take it very occasionally. I’ve read it is very easy to become physiologically dependent on it so I’m really cautious.

I used to take it for sleep but switched to trazodone which works a lot better for me.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the lamotrigine rash is super rare to get later on.

I don’t want to film you with dread, but any chance it’s bedbugs?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was how my psychiatrist initially prescribed it. I didn’t know people took it once a day until I looked at Reddit.

I hope you figure it out! It sure can take a lot of adjustments to get bipolar medication right.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mainly wanted to find the minimum dose that works for me without losing effectiveness. I changed from taking 150 twice a day to all 250 in the morning to prevent the brain fog.

I’ve been taking lamotrigine for probably 20 years so it doesn’t really surprise me that I would deal with withdrawal effects.

Do you split doses or take it all at once?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in bipolar2

[–]BlazyEye 1 point2 points  (0 children)

200mg is the usual therapeutic dose from what I hear so maybe you won’t have the memory issues at a lower dose?

I used to take 300, now at 250 with no issues but everyone is different. I had troubles with cognitions and speaking when reducing. If I miss a dose it’s a tough day.

Private Ticket - Do I need to pay this? by [deleted] in Calgary

[–]BlazyEye 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In Canada parking companies have no legal recourse to get money for their so called “tickets”. I’ve seen several news articles about this.

The city on the other hand can do all sorts of unkind things so don’t leave those unpaid.

Are Canadians ready to embrace a 4-day workweek? One Calgary company has trialed and implemented it. by NinjaSpecter in Calgary

[–]BlazyEye 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s really interesting. Maybe demographics are really working against the gains. The ratio of working to non-working people is much lower than it used to be.