Hi, everyone. I am hoping you will understand if I jump right in without reading the archives first--I'll be working through them as I go.

My daughter is 21 and in college. I know there's a "parents with bipolar children" subforum, but since my daughter's 21, I thought I should be here. Please redirect me if I'm wrong.

My daughter has been having symptoms for over two years which have recently finally been tentatively diagnosed as ultra-rapid-cycling bipolar. She cycles between euphoric episodes that escalate into anxiety and finally full-blown panic attacks, and episodes of what she calls "depression." The reason I put it in quotes is not that it's not severe--it's plenty severe--but that she tells me "I was depressed for 45 minutes today" or sometimes even "in small spurts of ten seconds." So it's not what most people mean by "depression." Or maybe it is, I don't know. She cycles through these states all within the same day.

She's on lithium. It seems to help a lot. She's had no panic attacks for over two weeks, which is wonderful, because before the lithium she was having them daily. She was on Celexa but just went off it cold-turkey because it seemed to be causing suicidal thoughts.

I am asking for suggestions to help her manage the Celexa withdrawal, which is causing her flu-like symptoms, and the condition itself (exercise seems to help most). I'm also asking whether what I describe is familiar to anyone here, or whether we should question the diagnosis.

Thanks, all. It is good to be in a place where I know everyone understands what we're going through.

Abby