[Secretum]

How have meds altered the course of your bipolar illness? For me, they have nearly eliminated the highs (not always a good thing, in my opinion ) and have significantly decreased cycling speed. I used to be up and down several times a day, but now I cycle over months.

Unfortunately, they have not been very effective against depression.

[moremi]

Mostly since being treated with meds they just helped with the mania, but the abilify actually helped pull me out of one of the deepest depressions I have ever had. I was actually doing so good I went off my meds thinking I was cured or something. Big mistake. I just started my meds again a few days ago and praying it pulls me out of depression again. I can not take months of this again....

[~Christina]

Personally for me ... Im still looking for a decent cocktail of meds to help me..
Know your not alone ,,, I would advise you to talk to your pdoc and let he or she know your having issues with the depression .. maybe they can add or reduce another med and bring you some much needed relief ?

Be kind to yourself ((( Hugs )))

[Victoria'smom]

lamictal keeps me moving around while depressed but I don't think that's the best thing.

[bluemountains]

I just recently, within the last couple of weeks, had my med cocktail adjusted so it works. My depression is under control, also my hypomania is minimal. I haven't had any any anxiety attacks in a while. Also, I haven't thought of death/sui. for myself lately.
Last time my meds were working it lasted for about 3 years, so I am hoping I will be as lucky this time.
Bluemountains

[cocoabeans]

Well, I'm not on medication now but, all the meds I've been on that didn't work out, have either made things worse or distracted me with side effects long enough for the depression to give up and move it along. Also, don't know if it was the meds or if it just happened to be one of those years I'm free of depression but, I was only mildly depressed over the winter/spring and the autumn moodiness wasn't anything interesting at all...but again, this most recent fall/winter/spring may not have been "my year" to go crazy. For me, such hells are not every year, based on my unmedicated history I can go almost two years without depression

Perhaps this winter I'll be popping 'em pills again.

That's the thing about medication, who is to say it is really working? Maybe I'm just not going to have a mood swing anyway. I'd get it if I was already there or even if I cycled that frequently but, aside from a good six months a few years ago where I'd swap moods with menstration (unmedicated then too), I don't really. Well, I don't have a pattern really, aside from a somewhat seasonal one, moods are pretty random.

"How have meds altered the course of your bipolar illness?"

Waking up everyday is a big one.
I was very lucky to get the right dx and the right meds early on. Life fell apart at the same time dx. I would not have gotten through without meds. Lamictal does work for me and has some antidepressant qualities. Seroquel is a lifesaver. lorazepam slows everything down in "emergencies" Can cycle rapidly over a day, a few days, a week, but i think the dose I'd need to kill that would render me a vegetable. Whacky will do.

Hope everyone can get there. It's not perfect, but it will do.

[BipolaRNurse]

I have yet to find the exact fit, although I was getting pretty close before going off Celexa eight days ago. I had three lovely weeks of good productive days and peaceful nights, and then because the AD had thrown me into full-on mania when my Lamictal was titrated up to a therapeutic dose, I had to taper, then stop.

BAM! I slammed into a cinderblock wall, and have been repeatedly doing so for the past eight days. Nothing's been right---sleep is fitful and full of vivid, unpleasant dreams, I've had uncontrollable shivering at night sometimes, headaches, and my mood changes so many times in the course of the day that it makes me dizzy. If my pdoc hadn't been out of town I'd have called for help, because I've been wondering if this is it---if I really am going crazy and need to think about going inpatient.

This evening, I feel like I might......just might....be through the worst of this withdrawal thing. A particularly thorny family issue was resolved today, and I got both some exercise and some sunshine. After my snooze this afternoon, I woke up feeling slightly better, and tonight I'm a little better even than that.

I'm still going to call my pdoc Monday and let him know what I've been going through (after all, I did have to ramp up the Zyprexa instead of reducing it, like I'd hoped to). At this point I think I'd be better off tolerating whatever is left of the withdrawal phase, because it's already been over a week and it CAN'T get any worse than it's been. I'm afraid if I go back on the AD that I'll have to withdraw again, and if I have to go through this hell another time I may not make it, at least not without doing a stint in the psych unit. Either that, or my family might just throw me out on the street because I've been impossible to live with.

[Moose72]

When my meds stop working I hallucinate or get manic or get Sui... It isn't pretty.