After 5 years on Lithium 1200mg once daily, Risperdal 1mg once daily and Paxil 60mg once daily with 2 hospitalizations to stabilize me I am beginning to question my med. cocktail. There are several reasons for this.

First, and most worrying to me is the massive weight gain I've endured. I was about 170lbs when I was diagnosed overweight but not obese. Now I'm 286lbs! Definitely obese. Due to another COPD/Emphysema/Oxygen Dependency it's not as if I can really exercise other than walking. I'm concerned that taking Risperdal has caused this weight gain.

Second, also worrying is an overwhelming feeling of what's the point of bothering with keeping up on my personal hygiene, loss of interest in writing (I've written fanfiction for fun) feeling dull and listless all the time. Low energy, etc...

Thirdly, is a feeling like the meds have buried the "me" somewhere in my brain, that I'm not the same person I used to be. I used to be vivacious and fun and spirited and now I just feel flat.

I'm wondering if I need to try a different mood stabilizer and anti-depressant, ditch the AP and start fresh or ditch the meds altogether? Any thoughts? I know I need to talk to my Pdoc about this -I have an appt next Thursday -I just wondered if any of you have had similar epiphanies of sorts and what your experiences were.

Just so you know my symptoms are usually of the milder sort except one time before I was diagnosed when I overdosed on Klonipin, and one time when I was depressed and didn't leave my bedroom for 2 weeks.