Hi! I am new here and glad to have found these forums!

I am 42, and have had bipolar disorder 2 since I was in my late teens. I had been mostly symptom-free for over 12 years. I was also diagnosed with severe inflammatory spondyloarthropathy about 4 years ago and was on percoset and long-acting morphine for about two of them. When these medications no longer took care of the pain, I was switched to methadone.

At first it seemed a wonder-drug, as I felt better than I had I years. However, about 1 week into taking the methadone, I became hypomanic. This progressed into more severe mania which ended up landing me in jail for the first time in my life after a retail theft. Within hours of getting out of jail, I saw my psychiatrist, who immediately took me off methadone and put me on Latuda to stabilize my moods. As the methadone left my system I became depressed, but it was fortunately short-lived with the help of the latuda.

Perhaps the most important thing I took from this experience was the importance of a good pain doc. When I told mine about the symptoms I was experiencing, I was told there was no way they were caused by methadone. Found out later that this doctor has a poor reputation among his colleagues for prescribing without fully investigating the patient. Lesson learned. I will be trying Fentanly or OxyContin next most likely, as short-acting percoset and long-acting morphine is no longer doing the job. Unfortunately, until I'm psychiatrically stable, that is what I am back on again.