best med for bipolar

Hi imve got bipolar 1 dissiorder and medicatication seems not to be helping much. What does any 1 recomend?

Unfortunately, what works for one won't work for another. Your pdoc will probably start you on a mood stabilizer such as lithium or lamictal. Maybe an antidepressant. Maybe an antipsychotic. Maybe a combination. It is, unfortunately, a bit of a crap shoot to find the right meds in the right combinations. I hope you find what works best for you.

I agree with Chris, responses to different medications vary. The depression when I first was diagnosed with bipolar lasted about two years until we found the right combination of medications. Even now I occasionally have breakthrough episodes. Finding the right meds can be a long task but well worth the effort.

Its a bit of trial and error unfortunately, however with a bit of juggling and tweaking the meds you will definitely get the right combo that suits you and then you are on that great road to recovery ( in some cases it can take up to 18 months-thats only in some cases though)

it is a titration. you are going to have to see for yourself.

some of the first ones people try with bipolar are lithium, lamictal, depakote.... a lot of things. sometimes weird random meds will work better than the mainstream ones.

jsut talk to your psychiatrist.

I am on Seroquel, Xanax and Lexapro. But your medicine can and most likely will be different. It took me almost three years before I started to see any benefit and tried at least 15-20 different medicines and combination before I began to feel more balanced. Some are quicker and some take longer Bipolar is tricky and requires constant evaluation of meds. I, many times a year, will up one med and drop another a little and/or add remove some as my mood changes. As much as a pain in the butt it is, try to stay committed to the process.

I have found Lamictal and Geodon to be effective. But like the others said, it all depends on the person. While I may only require 100mg of Lamictal you may require 200mg. Each person is different and the bipolar is different in each person. Work closely with your pdoc to determine what works best for you.

I have been through the works!!! It has been a long road after 12 years and combination of meds I have finally found something to help but not cure. I have some ups and quite a few downs and they have me on 4 diff meds but I seem to be content. Hope you find your combo. Good Luck to You!!

12 years of tweaking & changes. And I am complaining about 2 years of med muddles. Well, you've given me hope that there is a happy medium somewhere in sight. I've had bipolar nearly all of my life and I didn't know it until 1 year ago.

I'm so happy for you.

It is completely trial, error, and maintenance. It's like writing a computer program without really understanding the programming language. And then you finally get something to work, but later on "bugs" will be revealed and you'll have to fix them.

For me, lamictal has been great, and I'm BP I. My pdoc is adding depakote to the mix because he thinks I'm on the brink of hypomania. Boo hoo!

Now after about 10 days on the depakote and reduction in lamictal, I'm feeling tired and a bit down. IMO depakote doesn't stabilize, it just completely prevents manic symptoms. At best, you'll be flat with depakote. Sounds fun, eh?

Hi dave. The meds work different on everyone. I'm bp2, dx'd in 2007. I've been on i think every antidepressant there is, seroquel, abilify, lithium. I'm now stable on lamictal at 400mg a day and geodon 120mg a day. I do have my ups and downs, but its not as dramatic as before.

You'll get there with your meds, just give it time. I never thought i'd ever be at this point. I wanted many times to just give up. So hold on.

chal

I have been suffering for many years. Finding the right meds can be very long and frustrating process. But the reward can be very positive as serious mood swings can be prevented. Stay focused and work with your psch doc. I have found being off the meds to be much worse than being on a combination that is not as effective as you might wish.

I was diagnosed in 2000 and tried a gazillion different meds until we found the right mix for me in 2007 of selegiline and clozapine plus some sleep meds.

I have bipolar 1 disorder and Zeldox 80 mg twice a day has been a life saver for me! No more manic episodes!

In general, you need a mood stabilizer, sometimes an antipsychotic and perhaps an antidepressant. Which ones depends on your history, current symptoms and your doctor's preferences.

I take Lamictal 200mg seems to work fine along with other stuff---Abilify 2mg and Buspar 50mg....There are many many more combos available though..........

It definitely takes a while to find the right medication or combo that works for you. Everyone is different. I've been through hell on that level. Finding the right doctor for me was also an immense challenge.

Like most people here have mentioned finding the right meds can take a while. But when you eventually find the right mix it can be very rewarding so there is light at the end of the tunnel. I find having good rapport with my psych doc works wonders too. Currently i'm on Olanzapine and Citalopram. But as you've probably seen there are heaps of combos that works well for others.

Seroquel, Welbutrin, Lexapro, xanax. I take xanax only as needed, to knock me down a notch or two. I have been backing off the welbutrin X from 450 down to 300, and may need to back it off a bit more.

This seems to be the best mix for me at this point. I am more stable than not, however meds are not perfect and do need to be adjusted at times. I have a feeling that this won't be the last combination I'm on.

Anyway we all have different needs, and side effects are not the same for everyone. Keep an open dialouge with your perscriber, the only way they know if something is working or not is by what you say. Every time I go to the doc, he askes what grade I give the combo, and then asks what I like and don't like. We then discuss copeing mechanism and the current stressors that I am under.

Keep at it you will find something to help it just takes time.

As everyone has said, it sometimes takes a while to find out what works best. For me, it is Lamictal, Geodon, Pristiq, and Xanax XR. It took about three years for me to find this combo, but once I waited it out and allowed the meds to work, it made Bipolar much more managable. Keep at it! You'll find the right one!

I feel for all of you who have had to endure the trials of combinations. I was much more fortunate. The side effects of some showed within 24-48 hours... so it made it a fairly quick process of determining what I could tolerate... (NOT Symbiax)

Eventually we settled in on Prozac, Geodon, and Depakote. It worked wonders as far as I could tell. My wife approved so that is also important. I hope that when I get BACK on these... they will still work for me.

Note to all: If you are paying out of pocket when you are trying to find a combination, See if your Pharmacy can partial fill the prescription. This will save you a TON of money for all of those drugs that didnt work.

i agree with everybody else: trial and error. you need to work with your psychiatrist to try different options. I have not found yet the right meds for me, but i keep trying.
keep us updated!
fernanda

I do recommend one thing that I wish I'd done...get a notebook and keep track of the meds you take, doses, side effects, dates, etc. I was diagnosed in 1992 and have been on lots of different combinations and now it's hard to remember what meds I've taken and what side effects I had, which makes it harder for a doctor to know what to try now when I need a med adjustment. Especially because you might switch doctors or move or something.

Grizmom, that is a good idea and one that I thought of too late. I do tape the copies of my pill bottle labels on my calendar so I know when I took a certain drug but never noted why one was dropped or decreased. Wish I had done it too.

I agree with those who say to keep track of what meds you were on, dosage, and when. Also, side effects and why each was discontinued. I have them mostly in my journals, but I really need to make an easy to access chart with dates. I've been on most of the SSRIs, one SNRI, all but one of the atypical antipsychotics, and many sleep aids.

My current mix: Wellbutrin, Geodon, Nuvigil, lamotrigine, and temazepam for sleep. They work pretty well at controlling my symptoms, but some of them make me drowsy during the day. It took me about 20 months to find this combo. Maybe it's not them that's totally doing the trick, but just more sunlight. Who knows? I'm also on a med for hypothyroidism, which of course can't be helping my depression. That was caused by lithium, but that's another story.

Happy dosing. Sorry, the whole process is terrible, but what's the alternative?