My doctor and I started talking about how to treat the manic depression. I explain to him that I had stopped taking the lithium a few years before because it made me feel lethargic and slow. We discussed the fact that they were starting to use new atypical antipsychotics along with antidepressants to treat manic depression. I was willing to try the combination of the antidepressant Prozac and the atypical Zyprexa. It just so happened that I work for Eli Lilly and Company who makes both Prozac and Zyprexa, so I got them at no charge.

Within three days of taking this combination, I could tell something was going on. It was as if a cloud had been lifted from me. However, I was not thrown into a manic episode as I had been a few years before when I started taking Prozac by itself. Over the next few weeks, I can remember thinking that this must be what it feels like to be normal. The physical conditions I had listed out for my doctor seem to have been cured or at a least minimized. Even with the list of physical problems I had generated I did not realize how bad I was feeling and how much of life I was missing until the medication started making me feel better.

My doctor and I had several follow up sessions to see how things were going and if we needed to adjust the medication. It still surprises me that drugs for treating the chemical imbalances in your brain can have such an effect on your physical health. During our conversations (sometimes almost an hour) my doctor would tell me stories about some of his patients over the years that he had treated for mental illness. Through these stories I started to realize why the connection between the physical and mental health were no surprise to him. In his years of family practice many times drugs for mental illness had major impact on a patients physical and mental health.

As I finish up this section of my web, it has been a couple of months since I have been taking my new medication combination and things are still going great. A couple of times, I could tell I was going through a cycle but it has not been impairing. All the physical problems that I had listed out for my doctor have not returned or at least to no significant level.

One thing I have learned through all this is to work with my doctor and to not give up because a certain treatment may not be working as I expect. One of the problems that those of us with manic depression have is thinking that we know it all. By working with my doctor, I have finally got things under control. I had a hard couple of years not being treated because I did not think doctors were smart enough to help me.

Doctors can be a great resource, don't give up on them. If you are manic depressive or think you are, educate yourself and then work with your doctor. If you feel your doctor is not headed down the right path or you are not making progress then find a doctor you can work with. But don't make the mistake I did and think that you can deal with it own your own. It may cost you years of not feeling well as it did with me.

I have one finally meeting with my doctor this next week as he is retiring at age 74. While his retirement is a bummer, he has been a great doctor and deserves it. I have another doctor in the same network that is supposed to be a younger version of him that I am switching to.

I will continue to keep this page up-to-date with my personal dealings with manic depression. I have have included my pages on manic depression within my family web so that people can see that you can have a "normal", productive and happy life while dealing with mental illness. Feel free to start at my home page and look through my entire web.

Mental illness is just that an illness. It is an illness that can be treated. Do not give up and do not put up with not feeling well.

I would love to hear how others are dealing with manic depression. Please e-mail me your story so I can include it in my web or if you have your own web send my your URL so I can add it to my web.