So, I’m three questions away from the £1m and I have all 3 lifelines left. I’m asking the audience (that’s you beautiful people who take time out of their day to read my blogs 🙏) on this question. Unfortunately it’s not as straight forward as A, B, C or D with a 25%, 1 in 4, quarter whatever the odds are for guessing correctly. Simply, there’s no right or wrong answer, but I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions 🙌
Zinc in supplements (denture adhesive), used while patient receives lithium therapy, can raise the thyroid level? (Blood Tests shows slight raised level of thyroid. Psychiatrist advised it’s minuscule and not issue but my GP scheduled appointment for 5 June. Is it something as simple as Zinc I’m the fixodent? Is it something that a GP should worry a patient about for nearly a month?
I’m going to have to phone a friend for this next one. Does anyone want to be my friend? 🥺
Bipolar Mania visited me just before Christmas and I really wasn’t looking forward to seeing the present it had brought me. Fast forward 6 months and the absolute pest of a mindset has overstayed its welcome now (6 seconds would have been too long tbh). Fortunately I didn’t have to be admitted but it was considered. Luckily my Quetiapine and Lithium kept me from going full throttle and then dealing with the consequences of that. Yesterday my Quetiapine was increased by 100mg (250mg Morning and 400mg Noche). I’m also taking 5mg Valium am and pm for 7 days and then 2mg Valium am and pm for 7 days. This is while the Quetiapine increase takes effect. My major issue is sleeping. Previously I have been prescribed Zopiclone, Lorazepam, Temazepam, and a couple other sleeping pills and they were not as effective on myself as they are on other people. I know it’s going to be difficult for me to fit my Bipolar life in to the routine of a person who doesn’t live with the same condition as me. I’m trying to get to bed at 9pm and I take my medication too at 9 with the proviso to be asleep by 11pm. I’m hoping to wake up at 9am the following day. I’m just going to bed and staring at the ceiling Midnight, 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am 5am or 6am I have sometimes nodded off at this time but sometimes I don’t sleep at all and it’s 9am and my alarm goes off. I’m being disciplined and getting myself up at 9am, taking my medication for the morning and then going about the day. I’m just not feeling tired either when I’m having 1 or 2 hours of sleep or none what so ever. So I have been prescribed medication for helping promote sleep and my understanding of the mechanics is that it focuses on the histamine receptors and the H1 receptor predominately? I have a friend who has said that they were struggling with sleeping so I suggested that they get some antihistamines and take on before bed. They were dubious about it but they gave it a go. They couldn’t thank me enough the next time we saw each other and they had a great couple nights sleep. At least I can help others with my four years of study at university 🤗. So I’m wondering if you have any suggestions regarding the manic phase of bipolar and if it’s something that causes a disruption in the brain chemistry and alters or impact on histamine production or reuptake? Do the other monoamines have transportation hijacked? I have Stahls Psychopharmacology for reference if you could reference the chapter in there for me to look at?
Finally, the final question. I’m left with the 50/50 lifeline. Any chance you share your thoughts with me on this? I have found researching this absolutely fascinating as I haven’t found anything conclusive. Now I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel and I’m just a post grad, who never continued in the field and it was nearly twenty years ago when I graduated. I’m just simply looking at my text books (recommended by Pharmacist or Psychiatrist or Doctor), then reading the relevant background and process for what I have in my mind, then off I go and work on what I know and understand. So I looked at this with pure naivety and simple rules for Chemistry. Lithium & Sodium Interactions. As they’re both next to each other on the period table and they display similar behaviour in regards their chemistry, is it plausible to consider that receiving Lithium therapy and the increased level of Lithium in the body, could potentially have an impact on the many chemical reactions that Sodium is involved in within the human body? This is just a thought of mine and has no justification other than what I have thought about when seeing them next to each other on periodic table and knowing that other elements that are side by side can interfere with the normal reactions of a neighbour? I’m not making any groundbreaking revelations yet but I’m learning so much about what doesn’t happen because of X, Y or Z. Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry is truly the most fascinating area of scientific study for me.
My Bipolar Perspectives of a Unipolar World 