MEDICINE BREAKTHROUGH

Being bipolar means always trying to be alert about your feelings and what is happening to you personally. One thing I have learned is that if you are on medicine there is such as medicine breakthrough. That means that at some times a medication which is working for you without any side effects will occasionally give you a completely different reaction.

I have been taking Effexor for three years and the drug does a wonderful job of helping me. But at times the depression or mania returns without any change in dosage. That is what is termed breakthrough. There are times when the brain chemical become somewhat unbalanced and for a few days you feel down or go into a manic stage. There's nothing wrong at all; it's normal but somewhat frustrating.

It usually happens around the time that we change our clocks. No matter what the government has made as the date for change, our body doesn't recognize it all the time. By mid September my body starts needing more rest because the days are getting shorter. My internal clock says it is time to slow down. In spring it may take a few weeks to adjust to daylight savings time since it now comes earlier than years ago. Also there are times of extreme stress or times when my schedule gets interrupted and I go through either manic or depressive stages. I may be "high" for three or four days and then all of a sudden feel depressed. It can happen.