[chrysalis22]

what meds are you on and do they help? how and w/ what symptoms? i'd especially like to know about depression anxiety and agitation relief...

[Travelinglady]

Hello to you, too! I've been on many things in the eleven years since I was diagnosed. Right now: Tegretol, Wellbutrin, and Trazodone, plus Klonopin for anxiety.

[Trippin2.0]

Hello and welcome to our family I'm unmedicated by choice, so sorry I can't answer your questions. At present I ride out my depressions which last anything from a few hours to 3 days. For anxiety, I scrub myself red in a hot bubble bath! Agitation, ah well, apparently I'm known for being agro, so I've just (barely) learned to bite my tongue. Have to remind myself tho, that my daughter is not singing,laughing,talking to irritate me, I'M THE PROBLEM, lol. Sorry I'm of no use, just wanted to welcome you! Sure you'll make great friends here

[chrysalis22]

Originally Posted by PAYNE1

Hello to you, too! I've been on many things in the eleven years since I was diagnosed. Right now: Tegretol, Wellbutrin, and Trazodone, plus Klonopin for anxiety.

do these help? do you feel you've found your happy med cocktail so to speak? i've never tried tegretol or klonopin. i think i took tradodone back in 2001 w/ something-celexa, maybe, to counteract the insomnia but not sure.

i also have never had a big mix as i've never hung in there long enough w/ meds. just thought ah, this one's not workin'...went off it. (tapered either via dr or on my own) my last was lamictal 250 mg and prozac 40 mg. didn't help w/ the agitation at all. i suppose i could have added meds to that mix..........i think it somewhat helped w/ depression. ugh i just don't know.

thanks for replying.

[xp1155]

I take Trileptal, Cymbalta, and Xanax (as needed). I am still waiting to adjust to the higher dose of Cymbalta to see if it counters the depression I've been having as of late. The Trileptal almost completely has taken away the mania. However, I really need to shake this depression.

[Secretum]

Here! Kind of...I have "double bipolar"-co-occuring cyclothymia (which causes daily mood changes from depression to hypomania to various mixed states) and bipolar II (which we all know about. For me, it causes longer periods of severe depression, hypomania, and possibly mixed hypomania). It took me forever to figure out my cycling pattern, because I did notice the ultradian shifts, but I knew that I also had week-month long times when those daily swings were superimposed on a single mood. Double bipolar is the bipolar analogue of "double depression"-co-occuring dysthymia and major depression.

Now that I'm done rambling about my cycling pattern, I'll start rambling about my meds. First medication I tried was lamictal; I can't tell you how effective it was, because I had to stop after 10 days due to a hypersensitivity reaction. Then came tegretol, which I hate. It wiped out my cyclothymic hypomanias and worsened the bipolar depression I was already entering. It gave me a mild tremor and slowed me down cognitively, not what you want when you are trying to learn organic chemistry! Everyone reacts differently to these drugs, however, so don't be scared away from tegretol. It might be exactly what you need; many ultradian cyclers have found it to be one of the only drugs that can slow down or stop their cycling.

Wellbutrin was next. I like it, and I am still on it. It didn't "cure" my depression, but it made it bearable. Took it forever to do so, I might add. Since you are bipolar, you will not be allowed to take wellbutrin, an antidepressant, without a mood-stabilizer.

Then, abilify entered my life. You commented on my other post, so you know that it has helped me a little. Well, now I can report that it has helped me a lot. I don't feel depressed any more. I can feel hope.I'm calm. It's amazing. Unfortunately, it doesn't do anything for the ultradian shifts, at least not for me. I also am experiencing an increase in psychotic symptoms on it, but that is not too much of a problem because I know my hallucinations are not real. I owe a lot to abilify, and if you struggle with anxiety and serious depression, I suggest that you talk to your pdoc about it.

Remember that these are just my experiences, and that your mind and body will react differently. Especially remember that about tegretol. I had a horrible experience, but I wouldn't want you to stay away from it because of that, when it could be the drug that ends up helping you the most!

[AniManiac]

Originally Posted by Secretum

Here! Kind of...I have "double bipolar"-co-occuring cyclothymia (which causes daily mood changes from depression to hypomania to various mixed states) and bipolar II (which we all know about. For me, it causes longer periods of severe depression, hypomania, and possibly mixed hypomania). It took me forever to figure out my cycling pattern, because I did notice the ultradian shifts, but I knew that I also had week-month long times when those daily swings were superimposed on a single mood. Double bipolar is the bipolar analogue of "double depression"-co-occuring dysthymia and major depression.

Thanks for sharing this - I had never heard of double bipolar. I was under the impression that cyclothymia was one point on the bipolar spectrum (sometimes referred to as "bipolar lite") rather than something that could be a comorbid condition.

[Secretum]

Thanks for sharing this - I had never heard of double bipolar. I was under the impression that cyclothymia was one point on the bipolar spectrum (sometimes referred to as "bipolar lite") rather than something that could be a comorbid condition.

Cylcothymia is DSM-defined as a mild version of bp, but a lot of people also consider cyclothymic cycling to be faster than bipolar cycling. That is the sense in which I meant it in my earlier post. You are right though that, technically, cyclothymia is "bipolar lite" in how acute the symptoms are. (Less severe? Cyclothymia's chronic nature makes it a nasty illness. Who are we to say that shorter periods of intense suffering are worse than longer periods of mild-moderate suffering?) It is just like dysthymia. It can occur alone, as a "minor" mood disorder, or with co-morbid major depression.