Searching for a cure

[looksgood]

I felt the need to post this. Please read on and tell me your thoughts. This is important since I work with doctors who I believe have a strong desire to find a cure for illnesses like bipolar. I plan to take my findings to them.

My wife is bipolar with schitso thrown in there. Daily she hears voices and goes into fits where she wants to die. So I can tell you I know a little bit about what goes on. To a point I can even help her to come out of her episodes.

I want to ask (and please respond to this) how many of you suffer from headaches? Do these headaches normaly come before an episode or during?

My wife was speaking to me tonight and asked if I wanted to know what she feels like. She told me the order of what happens is she feels pain radiate from her neck to her head like a migrane. Then her heart rate goes up and then she hears voices as the pain increases. Finaly she gets to a point where the pain and voices are so strong she wants to end it.

Is this common with others here (please respond)? I would like to tell you what we did tonight. She told me she was feeling the pain. She also let me know it would not be long before she was in another episode. I had her take a muscle relaxer (not trying to say to you to do this I am only telling of our night).

In 10 minutes she was grabing her head as normal when she is in an episode. She normaly does this and tries to hit her head or hurt herself to make the pain and accompaning voices stop. Once she has gotten to this stage (within 15 minutes of the start of pain) this goes on for a couple of hours to like 5 hours.

Tonight however after taking the muscle relaxer her pain was gone and so were the voices 30 minutes after she took the relaxer. Her episode never went into the full blown one.

Please tell me your thoughts and expiriances with pain related to bipolar. I plan to take this info to the group of doctors I work with.

 

[wonderwaleye]

Dear Looksgood

MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR ENDEVOR!!!

HAVE FAITH AND REMEMBER:



“ Believe “ in Greek is a verb and has three components which are: hearing, accepting, and then acting ( COMMITING ) upon that which you have accepted.

X Even though you can't see him, GOD is there!!! O
( click on the x and drag to the O ) ( then see who is with you ) steven

 

[looksgood]

Thank you. I believe Jesus asked us to heal the sick. Sometimes I think He meant for us to not just pray over the sick but to minister to them physicaly. It's why he said "I was sick and you visited me."

My wife has a passion for those with mental illness. It is amazing that she herself suffers from the same things. It is also amazing that God can use her to find answers for others. I pray one day soon we will have healing waiting for those who are affected by mental illness.

 

[berry2000]

I suffer from extreme migraines and bipolar. The onset of both was at the same time age 12. My parents were afraid of the depression but were eager to treat the headaches. I was diagnosed and medicated for the migraines at 13.

Hope this helps. And just FYI in my inquires and talks with other suffers there are many people who have both. So I think you may be on to something. I also suffer from neck pain and have often though maybe a pinched nerve or poor oxygen circulation may be the cause of my mental health issues. Also I have noticed there are some people who do not suffer any of these symptoms with their bipolar. But i still believe there is a link for some.

 

[SaraB]

.................... I want to ask (and please respond to this) how many of you suffer from headaches? Do these headaches normaly come before an episode or during?........

Please tell me your thoughts and expiriances with pain related to bipolar. I plan to take this info to the group of doctors I work with.

Hi. First off, you and your wife are in my prayers. As well as the doctors the doctors you work with.

I get vertigo spells that come and go as they please. I have had mri's done and seen a neurologist, yet they found nothing.

I have a headache almost daily. Migraines come and go. When they hit, a low usually follows. I just assumed it was because they make my sick at my stomach and feel like crap. You guys may be on to something. They could very well be related.

Physically, pain comes and goes. I couldn't begin to list all the aches and pains I get. When I feel low, I usually get sinus problems and have aches and pains. On days I am level or manic, I seem to physically be able to do anything.

May God bless you,

Sara

 

[looksgood]

After some reasearch I have found that almost all people who suffer from not just bipolar but also many forms of mental illness suffer in this way.

Pain is something telling your mind there is something wrong. Many doctors have assumed migrains to be a missfire of the pain nerves. I believe this is wrong since in these cases at least migrains are linked to mental illness. These pains are telling us something is wrong. If we can treat what causes the pain we may take care of the illness as well.

Just my thoughts (the doctor I work closest with believes the same).

 

[Crystal~Rose]

I was DX: Bipolar late this summer. I suffered daily headaches, and atleast 4 migraines a week for over a year before I saw a doctor for my sleep issues, severe depression and headaches. The medication I was placed on nearly stopped the headaches all together. Praise God!!

Praying for you and your wife. God bless you

 

[firechild]

I have been suffering from migraines since age 8, which was also the first time i saw a psychologist. I wasn't diagnosed bipolar until 18, but looking back, my parents and I agree that i showed symptoms from a very early age, and certainly by the time the migraines set in.

I'd been thinking about the link for a while myself. It seems odd that the two would be sympotmatically linked as well as linked in that some medications are indicated for the treatment of both conditions if there were not some real link.

For me, I tend to get bad migraines before i become severely depressed. The headaches continue through the first part of the depressive episode but don't necessarily continue through the whole thing. I also have bodily aches and pains that occur at the pain points used to diagnose fibromyalgia, although i've never been diagnosed with that. The worst is my shoulder-blade area up through my shoulder and neck, which i believed to be a pinched nerve for a while. It started when i was 15 and sometimes extends down my arm into my hand or to other places on my body.

I've been on a number of migraine medications that are also psychiatric drugs, such as calcium channel blockers, tricyclic anti-depressents and anti-epileptic medications.

Are there any research studies going on out there trying to link migraine/pain in general to bipolar/mental illness in general? i hope so.

thanks for starting this topic,

FC

 

[looksgood]

Are there any research studies going on out there trying to link migraine/pain in general to bipolar/mental illness in general? i hope so.

thanks for starting this topic,

FC

There are studies. All of them have shown a link. The problem is that people still do not know what causes either. I believe the reason is assumption. We assume there is a chemical imbalance and thus we try to treat it with chemicals.

I am finding that something as simple as a massage helps my wife. The doctors I work with are meeting tuesday to talk about the formation of a non profit group and we would like to use this group to test alternate ways of treatment.

 

[Darrell2006]

I agree that it's not soley a chemical imbalance, and although the meds may help, I think things like massage and physical therapy should be offered along with meds,
It's good to know there are people like you, who are investigating other treatment options.

Daryl

 

[Alive again]

My migraines since teen years are directly related to odors such as smoke and perfumes. For some reason esp Avon perfumes. My son had migraines as a child and is now bp. My Dad is bp and never had a headache or migraine that I know of. My husband had migraines as a child and is not bp but is now battling depression who knows how much of that is due to having a wife and son with bp.

I have wonder about mood changes that occur after head injury. I had depression in my teens, but the manias did not develop until after a concussion. My dad illness worsened after a concussion, my son had a concussion as a child and his moods were volatile during his teen years.

All interesting thoughts!