manic sensitivity to AD's. Any suggestions?

Lamictal is not an AD, so it should not switch you into mania, unlike the others you mention. It is a medication specially for the depressive side of bipolar. To me, it did not do a thing, but many people find relief in it.

That's tricky with the thyroid. You'd really have to talk that one through with pdoc. Just to speak to the weight issue, I gained a lot on Effexor, but was okay on Lithium. Many people worry about weight with Lithium so they don't want to try it. I also wanted to add that you might be able to get by with a low dose since it isn't your only med.

I also have had a good experience with Lamictal so far. One caution about Lamictal is that it tends to be better at preventing depressive reoccurrence rather than pulling you out of a deep depression. The first time I tried it, I was in really bad shape and it didn't help much. The second time I was depressed, but not nearly as bad and I worked well.

Good luck!
EJ

Are you on Wellbutrin now? I would be interested to hear from others on this, but that is the only med that has ever triggered hypomania for me. People always talk about the SSRIs causing (hypo)mania, but I wondered if people had this experience with Wellbutrin too.

Best,
EJ

EJ,

I only started collecting info on Wellbutrin a couple of days ago when I learned that it can be used for weight loss, but it already starts to seem that WB more so than other AD's can cause a flip into mania.

I was on 100mg for years and did fine with it. But more than that and I get severely irritable and edgy. So I'm willing to try it again at the low dose. All I know is I need something to get me out of this. The fish oil, vit d, and full spectrum light aren't working.

So I saw my pdoc today and he decided to try the wellbutrin again. He said it's used for bipolar depression, but we will go slowly just to be cautious. Thanks everyone for your help. I really appreciate it.