Quote:
Originally Posted by Secretum
Medstudent, I am currently a sophomore in college, so I'm not in med school yet. Thanks for offering advice re med school and application; I might take you up on it! Lamictal was the first mood stabilizer I tried; unfortunately I had a reaction to it and had to discontinue. Then I tried tegretol, which didn't help. Wellbutrin was added to the tegretol, and eventually abilify was added to replace the tegretol. I'm not on a stimulant because I have a history of absence seizures. Abilify is supposed to help with the mood swings and mild psychosis.
Venus, I agree that obsessiveness about goals can be a part of bipolar. Once you've been hypo/manic, it's hard to settle for just mediocre goals.
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I see. Well, you could try lithium. Lithium augments anti-depressants, so it should help with your depression. It also reduces suicidality. It does have some serious side effects/risks (weight gain, risk of hypothyroidism and kidney failure), but if you want to try a different drug, that's what I would try. You could also try adding an SSRI or SNRI to your wellbutrin to see if that helps your depression.
As for the absence seizures -- are you on any anti-seizure meds for that??
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age: 23
dx: bipolar I, ADHD-C, tourette's syndrome, OCD, trichotillomania, GAD, Social Phobia, BPD, RLS
current meds: depakote (divalproex sodium) 1000mg, abilify (aripiprazole) 4mg, cymbalta (duloxetine) 60mg, dexedrine (dexamphetamine) 35mg, ativan (lorazepam) 1mg prn, iron supplements
past meds: ritalin, adderall, risperdal, geodon, paxil, celexa, zoloft
other: individual talk therapy, CBT, group therapy, couple's therapy, hypnosis
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