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  • TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | paranoid android

Bipolar Disorder and SSRI's

Sorry to hear you've been having such of a rough go of it :( . Hugz <3

A anti-histamine anti-nausea drug like dimenhydrinate could help the nausea and dizziness with valproate. It also doesn't carry the risk of EPS as it does not affect dopamine. Metoclopramide doesn't help my nausea at all in treating anything so sucks drug. Largactil aka good old Thorazine kills my nausea but carries about the same risk of causing movement disorders as Stemetil does so yeah not a good idea for you. Metoclopramide is actually one of the worst drugs out there for causing tardive dyskinesia and EPS. It causes tardive dyskinesia in about 20% of patients who take it longer then 3 months which is way too high odds for me to risk that. My doctor prescribed me 40mg's a day, told me to take it everyday and gave me a years worth of refills! That just shows how clueless doctors are and it's a damn good thing i knew better.

If the valproate doesn't work then i would highly suggest pushing to try lamotrigine. The worst thing about lamotrigine is that due to the risk of Stevens–Johnson syndrome you have to taper up the dose very slowly. It took about 3 months for it to fully kick in and get to 200mg's a day. That is when the mania really improved and the mixed states and rapid cycling stopped pretty much altogether. I had a mixed state earlier the summer but i don't think anything would have stopped that. Way too much stress :| . However it started working on the depression side of things after i hit 50mg's a day and you may not need to get to 200mg's a day since lamotrigine is very variable in how it affects people. That is assuming it works for you as no 2 people are the same. You can take it with lithium and that is actually a pretty common combo to control bipolar 1 disorder. Maybe you could take something else along with it to help control your moods. I think you've tried zyprexa and seroquel haven't you? I found zyprexa to be the bomb in treating mania and mixed states. The zyprexa zydis would stop my worst mixed states dead in it's tracks 20 minutes after taking it although i sometimes needed to take 20mg's if i was really bad off.

I know the med merry go round is really frustrating and a pain in the ass but it will be worth it when you find the right meds believe me.

Anyway keep in touch and let us know how your doing okay. And you know you can message me anytime you want if your feeling fucked up or just want to talk. Best of luck to your cute little self :)

<3 <3 <3
 
I'm on lamotrigine. 300 a day. It was a godsend. Shit works great no side effects.
I've had ssris combined at times. I'm not a fan of them.
I'm not a fan of going off your meds without putting some thought into it either though. None of us know you enough to tell if that's what you should do. I was on zyprexa for a minute. It really helped but it made me gain weight not a fan.
Its a shitty game we play with these fucking doctors on our way to finding what works. I know.

I don't even really have a handle on what's perfect for myself and I bounce on and off different anti depressants all the time. Sometimes I'm a lil better sometimes not. Bipolar tricks you into thinking you're good. Plus the shit we legitimately do go through tricks us even further into thinking we're better off. Its unpredictable as hell.
 
Everyone is different but for me(also bipolar). Wellbutrin has brought me into manic episodes. Seroquil has been a miracle drug works better than lithium for me. It's all trial and error until you find the right cocktail for yourself. Good luck.
 
Omg, I'm v nervous now after reading this thread again and having gone to my shrink yesterday. She has reduced my epilim from 1600mg to 1400mg once I have a week of 150mg of wellbrutin done and then she wants to increase to 300mg after 2 weeks. If that fails then she is going to put me on Prozac every 2nd day. Tbh I'm terrified because my mood has been very low for months but ive crashed in last few weeks and I've been trying to pull myself out of this hole and can't but I don't want to become dysphoric either. I suffer from full blown manic episodes so know how horrendous they can be and don't want to end up in hospital again. I'm so thankful for this website.:(
 
Furry mouth said:
Omg, I'm v nervous now after reading this thread again and having gone to my shrink yesterday. She has reduced my epilim from 1600mg to 1400mg once I have a week of 150mg of wellbrutin done and then she wants to increase to 300mg after 2 weeks. If that fails then she is going to put me on Prozac every 2nd day. Tbh I'm terrified because my mood has been very low for months but ive crashed in last few weeks and I've been trying to pull myself out of this hole and can't but I don't want to become dysphoric either. I suffer from full blown manic episodes so know how horrendous they can be and don't want to end up in hospital again. I'm so thankful for this website.:(
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I'm sure you may have heard this already, but just as a reminder: pills are not a "cure-all" or "instant miracle." Pills are something that are supposed to be prescribed in addition to many other facets in your life, such as going to sleep at the same time and waking at the same time every morning (very difficult to do, but it is a huge part of keeping bipolar and other mental issues at bay, your body's time clock gets thrown off and it can send you into an instant mania.) Eating very nutritious meals every day at the same time (protein, greens, etc etc). Exercise is extremely important, as it releases endorphins that make you happy and calm, while keeping your body healthy. Notice that two of the three things I listed have to do with regiminted scheduling...keeping things on schedule and the same keeps BP away. BP thrives on deviation from the norm, wants you to stay up all night or to sleep away your day. Force yourself to get on a schedule and keep it. Make a goal for 2 nights - "for the next two nights, I will go to bed at 10:30 pm and wake up at 6am. No matter if I am tired or not at 10:30, I'm going to lay in my bed and read a book and drift off, and even if I don't want to get out of bed at 6, I'm going to force myself anyways." Once you've done two days, try another two. Then maybe shoot for a week.

Motivation - as corny and lame as it may be, it seems to be one of those little tools that I looked forward to whenever I was placed in the hospital for long periods of time. They always have 'craft day' or craft hour or whatever, but they'd always have us making little signs for ourselves with motivational sayings. We'd put the little sayings on a ring and carry them around with us, we were supposed to look through them at least once a day or whenever we could. Drilling positive anecdotes in your head is good because it overwrites the bad 'tapes' playing in our heads. "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." "I am awesome." "Don't sweat the small shit" you know, that kinda stuff. Yep, as I said - corny as hell, and damn near embarasses me, but hey - ANYTHING that helps. Positive books, good reads...get a hold of some of it and read it over and over.
 
Hey little penguin, tx for advice. I'm in a bind at the moment cos there's what I suppose you could call 3 major life events going on at the moment which I have no control over. In addition we have neighbours from hell which makes it impossible to relax in our own home. I have a really healthy diet and totally agree about exercise helping, stress for me is the biggest killer this is why I am down in a hole. I'll shut up now cos I've high jacked this thread and that wasn't my intention. 8)
 
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