Yes I do! I am currently on lamictal and I have been for about 2 1/2 years. I had a major depressive episode this summer so I had to increase from 200 to 300 mg. I definitely feel like it's balanced me out since I've been on it, with the most noticeable difference being the tone of my depression. When I would become depressed before, there was almost a frantic element that would develop over time- my thoughts would race and I would feel like I was becoming unhinged somehow. Now, they're much more mellow- terrible still, but almost more relaxed, if that makes sense? I have also experienced some fairly mild, transient paranoia, but my understanding is that that can happen with unipolar depression also.




I feel like that's why this never came up in a serious way until recently! I've had so much depression in my life ever since I was a child that anything that ISN'T depression has been seen as a good thing. I have been on antidepressants before- I took lexapro for awhile- but I don't really remember if I became extra hyped or not after starting it, it was years ago. It just completely stopped working after awhile and I probably experienced what could possible be hypomania while on it, but I'm really not sure. I don't really know what hypomania feels like and it seems like a lot of other people who have BP II have the same issue.

I also have ADHD (tested and unquestionably so- I was given an IQ test and the discrepancies were so large that the test couldn't be considered a valid assessment of my intelligence- three times as large to be considered invalid, actually) so the impulsivity and inability to complete tasks that naturally comes with that makes it even more confusing. I'm just tracking my behaviors and moods to see if a pattern emerges, and if these things distinctly increase at certain times. But it seems like my meds have been working pretty well, so it might take awhile to figure out if I have BPII or just recurring unipolar depression. Which is probably a good thing.