[bp1985]

Please let me know your opinion on the best combination medication for bipolar 1 mania/mixed episodes/rapid cycling.

Thanks

[AnxietyGirl916]

I think it really depends on the person. Everyone responds differently to medications. What works well for one may not work well for you.

[wildflowerchild25]

I agree with anxiety girl. No one can really say. For me trileptal keeps mania at bay and Seroquel pulls me out of depression when necessary. But that's just me. Unfortunately no one can say what will work for you.

[jesusplay]

lithium will take any form of mania away from you, never to be seen again.

[bp1985]

Thanks for the comments. I know everyone is different but I just want to see what combo everyone is on. I used to be fine on monotherapy lithium but I changed to lamictal with little zyprexa bcoz doc said it has no side effects. It somehow affected my speech so I changed back lithium. One night I woke up and freaked out. I took zyprexa to calm me down and the next day I started getting really bad startle response (noise sensitivity) so ive changed meds and ive tried epilim, lamictal, tegretol without success. Its not getting rid of the manic symptoms and im getting an abnormal pressure feeling in my brain. Not good. So trying combination therapy and im running out of options. Im currently on a small dose of lithium, high dose of epilim and seroquel xr. Still not getting rid of the brain pressure/spasm feeling... so im kinda desperate to see what medicqtions have worked for u... it could just work for me. Normally I wouldnt go on a forum for someone's advice bcoz I should on listen to my pschiatrist...but im losing hope and getting desperate. Anyway thanks again guys

My last mania was in Sept/Oct '13, my dr switched me from lamictal to depakote and increased my saphris and that put ABS brakes on the mania. We're talking screeching halt. However it was still followed by a depression, I've had a few med subtractions and additions in these past few months and finally am feeling better.
BUT like others have said, everyone's chemistry is different and what works for one person may not work for another.

[wildflowerchild25]

Originally Posted by jesusplay

lithium will take any form of mania away from you, never to be seen again.

Yeah along with any form if human emotion at all.

[bp1985]

Thanks EmoMom, my doc mention Saphris to me just yesterday. New AP. Have you taken other AP's before? If so, how does Saphris compare to them? There isn't much research on Saphris out there...

Wildflower - Is Trileptal another name for Tegretol?

[BipolaRNurse]

I had an experience similar to emomom's last fall with a manic episode that was brought to a screeching halt by a combination of Geodon and Zyprexa. Unfortunately I hit baseline for about five minutes and then promptly went down the tubes. It happens.

I took abilify a couple of times before 2010, for me it was activating. I took seroquel from Oct 2010 til Jan 2012 when I was switched to saphris. I liked saphris, it put me to sleep at night very quickly (I took 10mg all at once, then after a while was lowered to 5, I've always had sleep problems) and didnt have the all day sleepiness that seroquel caused me. As far as how they worked moodwise I would say similar. I tried a newer AP in Nov 2013 called latuda for a few weeks but I kept throwing up even though I was taking it with my dinner. It was working to pull me out of my depression but I just couldnt always keep it and my other meds down. So...now I take amoxepine, a tricyclic AD with AP characteristics and that seems to be working. I am doing better mood wise these days.

[wildflowerchild25]

No, trileptal is different from tegretol. I didn't want to take tegretol because you have to get blood tests with it.