[TheatreKid]

I rarely rapid cycle, especially ultradian. 2 days ago my pdoc discontinued Saphris and Lithium (both tapered first), and increased my Abilify to 6 mg. I'm also on 400 mg of Seroquel and 1 mg of Risperidone. Originally it was just going to be Abilify and Seroquel but I was having anxiety and the Risperidone helped.

I've been taking it all, consistently. The biggest symptom I've noticed since all this med tweaking started a month or so ago is constant fatigue. I'm exhausted and am going to bed at 9:30 or 10 at night, which is unusual - I like to go to bed around midnight.

For the past few days I've been increasingly creative, I write music and I've got three songs on the go right now - two solo and one choral. I haven't been able to write like this in years. Maybe not since my diagnosis.

And then about an hour after I took today's dose of Abilify, I started feeling hypomanic. Racing thoughts, markedly increased self esteem, hypersexuality, grandiosity. When I start getting thoughts that the music I'm listening to was written just for me, that's a warning sign. Also the thought that the music was as good as sex.

But it only lasted 2 hours. Crazily enough, I went to school, wrote my final exam, came home, and shortly after, I was fine again. I know some people here ultradian cycle, but I never have. I hope it's just a blip from the med changes. I'm kind of interested to see if it happens after I take my Abilify tomorrow, but at the same time, I'd really like to be functional just for a bit. Once again it's 10 and I'm about ready to go to bed. Sigh.

[Lobster Hands]

Any chance you were just all hyped up on adrenaline because you were about to take finals? I don't know that much about meds...but I've felt sort of the same way this last week after getting on depakote. Two days ago I was suicidal, yesterday I was bouncing of the walls with energy, today I'm suicidal again. But, kind of like you, this past week, no matter how much energy I have throughout the day, I'll go to bed early and sleep for 12-13 hours.

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[Trippin2.0]

Well you're on 3 Atypical Anti-Psychotics, which are also known as tranquilizers, so no wonder you're going to bed early. I'm impressed you stay awake at all really, Risperidone kept me in a coma for 3 months, I had to build up a tolerance to the sedating effects and so I lived on energy drinks because sleeping at work is a nono

Med changes have been known to initially throw bipolar out of wack, but things usually settle down once our brains adjust to the new chemicals we're feeding it.

[r010159]

Originally Posted by Trippin2.0

Well you're on 3 Atypical Anti-Psychotics, which are also known as tranquilizers, so no wonder you're going to bed early. I'm impressed you stay awake at all really, Risperidone kept me in a coma for 3 months, I had to build up a tolerance to the sedating effects and so I lived on energy drinks because sleeping at work is a nono

Med changes have been known to initially throw bipolar out of wack, but things usually settle down once our brains adjust to the new chemicals we're feeding it.

I hope this is the case with me. In the past few weeks I have been rapid cycling which is not normal. I do not see these episodes as BP rapid cycling. Perhaps this is in response to events or thoughts that I overreact to in extreme ways over little things. These moods always level out to baseline by the end of the day, and sometimes to mild depression or positive mood, but a stable condition.

The last several week has seen an increase in Lamictal, from 200mg to 300mg, and Zyprexa, from 5mg to 10mg. I wonder if this new med combination does not work well with 60mg of Prozac? Or maybe it is related to an adjustment to meds that my brain needs to deal with. Either way, I think this is med related for the most part. I need to give this a chance for a month. I am in new ground with this being my first mood stabilizer that appears to be working, for the most part.

Anyways, I think the OP may find my situation illuminating. I hope this helps.

[TheatreKid]

Thanks, all of you.

Trippin, I've been on 6 mg of Risperidone before and barely felt it, so I wasn't expecting to be so sleepy on just 1 mg. I've been on a Seroquel/Risperidone cocktail since diagnosis (6 years), except for these past 5 months, where the Risperidone was replaced with Saphris but it didn't work. Since Abilify is activating, and the Risperidone dose is tiny compared to my usual, I was expecting to feel more energized, not less.

And it could also be the lithium withdrawal, I guess. The lithium started tapering down the same time the Abilify started tapering up.

I hope things settle down. The one thing I'm thankful for is the music writing, though. That is so important to me and I haven't been able to do it this prolifically for a long time.

Exam definitely wasn't the trigger, I couldn't care less about that exam. I just took my dose of Abilify so I guess I'll see what happens.