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MuddyBoots
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Default Jul 13, 2024 at 04:07 PM
 
From my experience and based on what other docs/NPs have insinuated, hydroxyzine isn't going to do jack for mania. It might be alright in early stages of elevation before it's even hypomania if it helps you sleep and decreases anxiety (if that's a problem), but personally I'll say it's never done anything for me especially after feeling what benzos (and other sedating medications and downers) do.

Is the lamotrigine a new med or something just increased because of this? Titrating to a therapeutic dose of lamictal takes a loooong time and increasing takes a bit to kick in too, and for a significant amount of people it's not effective at treating mania. You probably need something like a more hardcore mood stabilizer (think lithium, depakote, tegretol) or one of the APs that treat mania. Also (I'm sure you know this by now, but just as a friendly reminder), if you're on antidepressants or stimulants, those are going to fuel mania/mixed episodes/rapid cycling.

Don't be sorry about the long tangent lol. I get the pressured writing and speech too. My aunt loves it, most other people not so much :P

But keep calling pdoc until he gets back. How frequently for each of you I'm not exactly sure--with my old providers I'd call once a day and if they don't get back within two days I call the crisis line and tell them to get a hold of them so they know it's important.

Just as a suggestion that slows my mania progression, in the meantime you cand your days for harm reduction purposes. Schedule times to eat and drink water, making a list of self-care things you can't skip (showering, brushing teeth, taking meds, etc), find a way to rest that's tolerable for you and set a time you at least go through a bedtime routine even if you don't fall asleep and come up with some things you can do if you can't sleep that won't rev you up more, and whatever else you or others here can come up with just. If laying low doesn't really calm the storm, it at least doesn't fuel the mania like some other choices we tend to make/not make when flying high.

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TL;DR I'm sorry this turned out a lot and probably is a bit much for a racing brain, but basically keep calling the pdoc and stress you need something with a stronger sedating effect than hydroxyzine and think about planning your days out in a way that keeps you from making less than great decisions or fuel the mania.

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