Question: Dear Dr,
I have been diagnosed with BiPolar, but I feel there was not sufficient investigation and analysis of my symptoms. I was made very sick by the medication that I was prescribed but the doctors will not listen to anything except the diagnosis they have made and that I must take the drugs. I had to take leave of the country I was in and go back to my home country for a break, where the rest and atmosphere had me feeling much better. My symptoms were after being put on medical leave from my job and I was having some issues with my husband who seemed very angry with me all the time. I was emailing and phoning my friends too much when I was upset, I also made a big mistake of dealing with my stress by drinking too much alcohol, and as a result I had very poor decision making and abnormal behaviour, additional to this I had some post chemo-therapy fatigue, some hormonal imbalances from early onset menopause from the chemotherapy, and I had extreme reactions to heat and when the temperatures were over 40 degrees (which this situation coincided with our summer) I became very sick, which I believe may also have been from the chemotherapy.
Please help me, I feel this was a temporary physical and emotional overload, and perhaps hormonal based. I do not feel I have excessive ups and downs, and although some symptoms were manic, can you please confirm for me if there could be manic symptoms caused by the physical and emotional issues, not bipolar. Additionally during the so called manic phase, I did not have excessive energy, on the contrary I was somewhat fatigues. Again now that I have had some perspective, rest, been drug free for some time,and temperatures are much lower, I am now feeling almost normal, just with some fatigued. I really appreciate your assistance if there is an alternative cause for these symptoms that is not BiPolar. With a possible explanation from psychiatric point of view that I can take to my treating psychiatrist to try to get help I need. The treatment I have had so far, i.e the drugs, Valporic Acid and Paliperidone, made me extremely sick. I appreciate your full consideration of all the possibilities in viewing my case.
Additionally I am a somewhat of a workaholic, if I am given a job I will strive to unreasonable means to get it done right, and I do not handle not working well. Also now post incidents I have a far more stable family relationship, and my husband and I realised we were both over reacting to situational stress which caused our issues. I enjoy spending time with my children and husband a great deal.