It seems like not too long after my mother died my latest med combination began to fail me. Hard to know how much of what I am going thru is normal grief. For the 20+ years I have been taking meds, I have felt stable maybe 20% of the time. In other words most of the time I am not functioning or barely functional. I don't think I have gone much more than 3 mos of feeling well without relapsing. Most of the time I have been on an antidepressant and lithium, clonazepam, and most recently Focalin xr was added for my most recent diagnosis of ADD. I was doing pretty good I thought--although my therapist and others wondered if I wasn't hypomanic again after I started taking the focalin.

Recently I have been looking at the website of the psychologist who wrote "Why Am I Still Depressed?" which discusses how individuals with bipolar disorder should probably avoid Antidepressants of any kind because he feels there is a lot of evidence that antidepressants will likely cause more cycling up and down for bipolar people.

I most definitely feel I have been cycling up and down since I started taking meds so long ago.

I guess what I am thinking is I would like to talk to my pdoc on Tuesday about discontinuing the Paxil and only taking lithium and the other meds.

Really since I started on meds so long ago I have only felt "normal" maybe 20% of the time. Most of the rest of the time I am moderately to severely depressed, with a very small amount of time hypomanic.

Does anyone have any experience with no longer taking antidepressants for their bipolar disorder?

I am most definitely bipolar II or III. Although I think I had 2 hypomanic episodes before I ever took imipramine, and those hypomanic episodes were followed by severe depressions, it was the imipramine that set off the first unmistakeable hypomanic episode that last 2 or 3 months before I became severely depressed again.

I would appreciate any input. I know I haven't probably painted the clearest picture, but instead of sitting here forever trying to keep writing when my mind is not really clear, I am just going to go ahead and post
. I am sorry I haven't been more responsive to other people's postings. I have tried many times and then thought what I had written would not be a productive or helpful response to the person posting.

I really do appreciate the people here who are able to respond to myself and others in a good way. It is a great and valuable service you provide. Maybe someday I will be at the point where I can be of more help and assistance to others.

Thanks for listening.

Meta