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Originally Posted by HALLIEBETH87
Vraylar has change me life! I feel amazing and no psychosis or paranoia!
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I'm glad to hear it! Has it helped with any negative symptoms?
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Originally Posted by BirdDancer
I love Tegretol XR and have been on a large dose 1400 mg0 for almost 8 years. For the last 7.5 years I've had virtually no side effects at all. It definitely doesn't make me "stupid". In fact, my thinking is clear and fast. I have no cognitive impairement at all. It is weight friendly for me. The only side effect I might have is a bit of clumsiness, which is no big deal for me.
When I first started Tegretol XR, there was a bit of an adjustment period. I forget exactly my complaints, but maybe a bit of dizziness. I think. I know that I experienced some vision issues. Bouts (not all of the time) of blurry and double vision. That was disconcerting, but fleeting. I'm so extremely happy that I waited the adjustment period out!
I don't remember being tired on Tegretol XR.
I took Depakote for about 1.5 years. It worked at ending my mania, but maybe even worsened the resulting depression. I gained 30 lbs on the combo of Depakote and Invega. All of my blood work became worrisome. I ended up getting ECT (with Depakote temporarily stopped) and it helped. After the ECT I was put back on Depakote and became depressed again. Depakote was clearly also starting to cause me to have PSOV.
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Man I'm so glad to hear you had a great experience with Tegretol! Actually makes me excited to try it, and hey if it doesn't work out I guess I'll switch to Depakote again. I'm not sure if like you Depakote worsened my depressive symptoms or if it's just that it wasn't enough to stop it. I was on monotherapy Depakote though so maybe I just needed something to help with my lows. I'd like to try Lamictal again but last time it didn't work at all, even at 200mg. I guess I could've waited longer to try 300mg but I couldn't take it anymore, I was in such a bad mixed episode
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Originally Posted by MoodyMountain
Depakote worked kinda halfway for me, a great relief but still lots of angry mixed episodes. It had bad side effects too, gained 40 lbs., had the runs, slept too much, and messed up my ability to write.
It's still the backup if lithium goes bad on me, and Tegretol doesn't work.
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It definitely made me sleepy and hungry too, fortunately I'm really underweight so I could use the weight. I wish Lithium didn't go bad on me, besides the thyroid and acne it's an amazing drug.
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Originally Posted by Pookyl
I take Depakote (Epilim). I take a subtherapeutic dose to keep the side effects profile low.
Combined with the other stuff I’m on (see below), it seems to work quite well for me. I haven’t had a suicidal thought since commencing the drug last Nov.
I’ve put on weight and my thyroid is stuffed (although that may be genetics) but the pros still outweigh the cons for me.
Anywho, I consciously take Lithium despite my thyroid. Lithium is the only thing that’s controlled my manic episodes.
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Yeah Lithium has been the only med to help my bipolar depression, it's a shame it's not gonna work out