I don’t know - I have seen all the studies but have no knowledge of the methodology to say whether there’s anything causal going on here or whether they’re missing something. I even saw that people with bipolar disorder are more likely to die in car accidents (twice as likely as the general population).

I do think a lot of it has to do with the medications; the average lifespan has gone down significantly since all the new generation meds came out.

I really try not to dwell on this stuff too much though- it’s negative thinking- and I know I need to stay positive.

I have bipolar 2 and was just diagnosed with diverticulosis and a hiatal hernia. I have to wonder how much of a toll was taken on my body for all the years the bipolar 2 went undiagnosed. I was experiencing great daily anxiety which I did not even recognize, not knowing anything different.

I am taking Depakote and an SSRI now. The SSRI makes the heartburn worse, but also takes away my anxiety, so it’s a tradeoff.

I have to think that my medications help me live a quality life even if not a quanity life. The science of mental health care is so unprecise that right now, that may be all any of us can hope for. I’m 46 and my concern is mental deterioration as I get older. I’d rather not live through dementia so I can live to be 80.

I should probably start off saying that I think BP is 100% a physical illness, neurological, in fact. It’s not bad thinking or erratic behavior that make my brain malfunction; it’s a malfunction within the brain that causes a change in my behavior.

BP is not my only illness. I have cental pain syndrome, pelvic pain syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, migraines, post-herpetic neuralgia (from shingles) and a vestibular (inner ear) dysfunction that causes vertigo and balance problems. Of course, I’m also suffering from medication-induced fatness, and everything that comes with middle age.

Having BP made me more willing to go to a doctor when I’m sick. Now I can just take my “mental” issues off the table by saying, “I have BP, but it doesn’t make me stupid, hysterical, or a hypochondriac. Here’s what’s going on…”

Much of what troubles me has been linked either to my medications or to something going on in the central nervous system. I recently got a diagnosis for something that had been making me miserable for 20 years. I am also being treated quite successfully for this problem that so many doctors told me was in my head. Except for the one doctor who didn’t try to write me off, given my BP. In 1990 he said, “I want to be clear. I’m not saying there’s nothing wrong with you. There’s definitely a problem here, but medical science hasn’t caught up to where you are.” It turns out that one’s neurological, too.

I have been on medications and psychiatrist appts. for 31 years. Is their anyone out there that has been on treatment that long?

maire, 35 years of ect’s, hospitals, psyc. appt.s etc. write me.