brain and correct meds question

[Tad R Fitzsimmions]

well i'm not sure if this is the right forum but this is the home of the brightest of bl. my girlfriend suffers from sever bi-polar disorder and ADHD. adn she was on adderal XR and wellbutrin xl. they recently took her off those every med they've used since she was 12 has made the situation worse the mood swings worse and everything in general. the doctors are at a lose of words and i've pretty sure they're Inadequate. and just fuckin-about. i'd like a educated opinion from people who i know are not Inadequate. she's also got a lot of Anxiety. i suggested a benzo. but then again i recommend benzo's like it's the fuckin cure for cancer. i'd like some feed back thank you. if this is the wrong for im sorry. move if needed.

 

[Dr. Beat]

My ex-girl friend of 7 years had the same mental illness, and was in mental agony, and had chronic depression for many years (over 10 years) - she finnally sees a really good drug GP doctor (who specialises in drug addiction), and a really good psychiatrist who speciallizes in bi-polar, and she is now taking SODIUM VALPROATE which has done amazing wonders for her brain, and also taking olanzapine (Zyprexa) an atypical anti-psychotic and it has made her really calm, happy and normal, and stopped 99% of obsessive behaviours, and totally stopped the chronic depression.

try them both out - she has tried almost every other drug ever invented and most of them did very little to help her mental illness, infact some of them made it worse (eg. prozac).

the sodium valproate will stop the anxiety very easily - it is a very strong drug (and a pro-GABA like benzo's)

 

[BilZ0r]

Id deal with the bipolar before the ADHD... There are a variety of options, lithium to anti-epileptics... but I'd just get a new psychiatrist who has a lot of experience dealing with bi-polar.

 

[fastandbulbous]

Well that's my my malfunction (but not severe at all) and I've read up a fair bit about them in case my doctor ever decided that I needed something to treat the mood swings.

Lithium - it works, but it doesn't take much of an increase in dosage to get into toxic effects. Long term use of lithium isn't too good for your kidneys (the Li+ ion is in the same group as Na+ and K+, but really fucks with the ion exchange that takes place in the kidneys)

Carbamazepine - an anti-epileptic sort of related to the tricyclics that's also used to treat neuropathic pain. Can work quite well, but is incredibly toxic in overdose (also makes patient violent in cases of overdose)

Sodium valproate - another anti-epileptic; probably one of the best. Can cause quite bad 'zombie' type feelings due to daytime sedation

Gabapentin - another anti-epileptic; much like sodium valproate - also can cause severe daytime drowsyness.

Other than that, various antidepressants and antipsychotics are sometimes used (I only get antidepressants for the depressive phase. The up phase is characterized by mild hypomania that while irritating for other people, doesn't cause me to be a threat to myself or others).


If she suffers from anxiety as well, then sodium valproate or gabapentin had chance to be the best bet.

 

[Riemann Zeta]

I take a small dose of lithium for so-called "Bipolar II" disorder. There aren't really any toxic side effects at such a small dose (150mg BID).