best antidepressant for bipolar?

It's not good to mislead your doctor like that, why do you feel you need to hide it from him? Furthermore, low dose lithium is still significantly better then no lithium, how do you feel about going back on a lower dose?

Also, have you had your vitamin D3 level checked? One thing that can cause SAD is low vitamin D3 status. If you want to try vitamin D3 you need to remember it has a half-life of 21 days and also that it takes the body over 10 days to process it into its active metabolite calcitriol. This means it takes about 4 months before it reaches peak levels in the body. Therefore, if you want to try vitamin D3 supplementation you need to take a loading dose. The loading dose required to reach the serum 25-OHD3 target level of 75 nmol/l can be calculated as follows: dose (IU)=40×(75−serum 25-OHD3)×body weight in kilograms. If you don't know your current serum 25-OHD3 level use 25. Assuming you weight 70 kg (155 pounds) you would want to take 140,000 IU. I would spread this out over one week, i.e. 20,000 IU a day for 7 days. Without knowing more about you and your current serum levels I'm not sure what maintenance dose you should take, but a good starting point is 5,000 IU every other day. This is the brand that I take: Amazon.com: Doctor's Best Vitamin D3 5000iu Soft-gels, 360-Count

I have had every blood test known to man lol and everything was fine! I was on lithium 1200mg after my last hospitalization and once my mood evened out it left me intolerably flat. I cant deal with medication very long but im worried about swinging into depression

The reason i have to hide it from him is because he is going to me PISSED

Prozac was a treat from hell. Told its not ideal with bipolar. Helped with getting my diagnosis.. I dont take an antidepressent so to speak of as now. Mood stabilizer. Anti psychotic. Etc.

Everyone is different, and so reacts differently to every drug, but this is only my experience. Prozac works great for me, but trust me it can trigger mania even at a low dose like what I am on. I say this out of experience. It helps with the OCD and the Zyprexa helps keep me reasonably stable anyways so I think it is ok for a low dose, provided there is something to counteract it. Like some of the others have said some AP's (Zyprexa especially) have anti-depressant properties aswell, so that is one venue to consider. Hope you find something that works for you.

Seroquel was a great antidepressant for me but ap's have bad side effects and can cause major long term damage. But if it comes down to it ill go back to that

Prozac helps me relax and takes away my panic/anxiety attacks. Wellbutrin gives me energy and abilify takes the edge off my anger/irritability.

Why won't your pdoc Rx you Prozac?

I am bipolar I, and Sertraline caused the worst mixed state I've ever had, psychosis, and paranoia, so I would highly recommend that you avoid it just in case, though of course things work differently for everyone, as noted above. Nah, on Sertraline I literally lost the ability to read and understand spoken language. (It came back eventually, but it was terrifying).

Wellbutrin has been extremely helpful for getting me out of depression. However, if I stay on it when I'm back to normal, I become angry, aggressive, and irritable. But as a quick fix for depression, it's been invaluable. I would definitely recommend that, it works wonders.

I have BP2 and have had very bad experiences with antidepressants. The three times that we have tried them that I can recall, all three times I have ended up manic. I will not try them again. For now the Lamotrigine and Saphris is doing its job quite well, and although I still have difficulties staying out of depression, it is easier to stay stable while slightly depressed than slightly manic. It may be different for others, but that's how my body reacts. And I know I'm sane. I have the paperwork to prove it

strange your doc. refuses you. did he sat Y? I would if you could find a doc your comfortable with if that is even possible. for me nothing works. they all make me more depressed. all of them. I hope you have a better chance hun.

ohno99

Refuses ssris because thy lead to hypomania mania or mixed states in bipolar.
I wouldnt mind walking around in a state of hypo ..thats when i function the best!

I have only been on Prozac, 10 mg (smallest pill denomination), and I like it a lot. No side effects, just added energy, more upbeat, brighter thoughts and outlook upon waking up.

I only take it during super stressful times, but I certainly am thankful that this helper exists and is there for me when I need it.

I have not taken any other AD's.

I thought seroquel is an anti-psychotic not a AD?

When in hospital for a depressive episode in Sept/Oct I was placed on Pristiq (desvenalflaxine) an antidepressant - 100mg. After about two weeks hypomania hit and lasted two months. My doc suggested I lower the Pristiq dose to 50mg to prevent me going into full-blown mania. I was going to but my mood has stabilised so I don't want to drop the dose in case I get depressed again. It is hard to find the right chemical balance.

Prozac worked for me but gave me motion sickness. I currently take Lexapro alongside my Trileptal. The motion sickness is gone.

Many of you have mentioned Wellbutrin. My old pdoc prescribed it ~ four years ago when I was diagnosed with depression and not BP. It worked well initially, but my pdoc kept hiking up the dose. Eventually I spiralled into anxiety, mixed episodes, mania, etc. I can see Wellbutrin working as long as it is balanced by a mood stabilizer/antipsychotic/etc.

Seroquel is an antipsychotic but is approved to treat bipolar depression and even alone as a mood stabilizer
It worked well for me on all levels except nonstop hungry horrors

Agreed...first time I was on Wellbutrin, I was also on Seroquel for mood stabilization. Now I'm on Lithium. Even so, with the anger and irritability I got after taking Wellbutrin for a week, there's no doubt I would have progressed into hypomania then mania if I hadn't stopped taking it.

I'm just saying it's an excellent quick fix. It made me feel way better 1-2 hours after taking it. Faster and more effective at getting out of depression right away than Seroquel.

I didnt do well on wellbutrin. Im on cymbalta and abilify. Each person is different though.