View Single Post
 
Old Jan 25, 2014, 01:53 AM
BipolaRNurse's Avatar
BipolaRNurse BipolaRNurse is offline
Neurodivergent
 
Member Since: Mar 2012
Location: Western US
Posts: 4,831
Not being a doctor, I cannot recommend a medication for you, but I can share what I've learned from my own experience.

I'm on a sub-subtherapeutic dose of Celexa because I apparently can't do without at least a little bit of SSRI. Unfortunately, even a 10 mg dose probably contributed to mania in the past. I didn't think Celexa did anything for me until it was stopped during my last manic episode; once that had resolved, I crashed into an evil depression and was put back on an even lower dose than I'd been on before. That seems to have corrected the problem, although with this illness, who KNOWS how long one can go between mood swings.

Wellbutrin, OTOH, made me completely nuts. I wasn't anxious, I was merely a raging, psychotic bytch from Hell who threatened to kill people and thundered around my workplace shouting and slamming doors. Needless to say, that's when the WB went away and my primary care provider sent me to a psychiatrist to get me "straightened out", as he put it.

I've been on Paxil and Prozac in the past, as well. I liked Paxil for its anti-anxiety properties, but it made me hypomanic. Prozac merely put 35 pounds on me and then I was REALLY depressed.

Bottom line: it's probably best if a bipolar person can do without antidepressants entirely, but if you're like me and really have to have SOMETHING along with the Lamictal, the trade-off might mean having to go on an antipsychotic. Some of those are actually recommended for bipolar depression, such as Latuda and Abilify.

Just a few thoughts, use them as you think best.
__________________
DX: Bipolar 1
Anxiety
Tardive dyskinesia
Mild cognitive impairment

RX:
Celexa 20 mg
Gabapentin 1200 mg
Geodon 40 mg AM, 60 mg PM
Klonopin 0.5 mg PRN
Lamictal 500 mg
Levothyroxine 125 mcg (rx'd for depression)
Trazodone 150 mg
Zyprexa 7.5 mg

Please come visit me @ http://bpnurse.com