best antidepressant for bipolar?

Looking for stories of goodluck with antidepressant in bipolar! My doctor refuses to prescribe me prozac or celexa but offered wellbutrin?

I've had excellent luck with Wellbutrin, in concert with lamotrigene and Abilify. Supposedly Wellbutrin works differently than SSRI's or SSNRI's and thus seems to work better on bipolar-- which affects a different area of the brain than unipolar depression. That's what I've read anyway. But for sure for me-- and obviously your mileage may vary-- Wellbutrin has been a blessing. It helped pull me out of the deepest depression I've ever been in.

welbutren then viibryd

As you probably know, different things work for different people. I've had good luck with Lexapro. It hasn't spurred any episodes for me & it really seems to take the edge off depression.

There isn't really any antidepressnt thats the "best" for treating any mental illness, it's all rather subjective and dependant on each individual case. As you'll see from the above replies, Wellbutrin is a favourite and a commonly prescribed antidepressant for patients with Bipolar Disorder. However, there's been a little debate and controversy surrounding Wellbutrin and Bipolar Disorder. Some psychiatrists will prescribe Wellbutrin along with an SSRI such as Sertraline in the treatment of depression.

As for me, one of my favourites was Sertraline. The biggest issue for me was the sexual dysfunction it caused me, though it was nowhere near as bad as Citalopram in that depdepartment. Wellbutrin wins there because sexual dysfunction is nowhere near as common a complaint with it as it is with the main "first line" SSRIs.

Don't even get me started on Tricyclics!

So as I said, there is no universal answer to your question. Mood stabilisation wise most psychiatrists will agree that Lithium is the general gold standard. But ask the same group of psychiatrists your question and most of them will disagree with each other, or repeat what I've said: it's different with every patient.

In my case -- and you'll see we all have different trials and errors -- after years of different antidepressants, I was on Wellbutrin for years and my anxiety was off the charts, so they kept increasing the klonopin to control it (barely). Finally, I got in to see a really good doctor at an actual mood disorder clinic. What a miracle. I'm not off the Wellbutrin and klonopin and on Lamictal. It, for me, is the best antidepressant I've ever been on and it has mood stabilizing properties as well. However, I have found that I can never take an antidepressant on it's own or I get really manic. I have to have an antipsychotic like Zyprexa on top of it. And Buspar for anxiety/worrying.

Thanks for the replies! Winter gets me every time with the bad depression and i dont want to face the cycle it brings again. I will be honest and say my pdoc still thinks im taking lithium but i stopped once my moods evened out and i became flat. One thing i just want to avoid is the depression part .my pdoc dosent seem to completely understand this

Seasonal depression kicks me in the arse, too, which is why I'm taking my AD now. Around spring it's generally not necessary & the anxiety that often accompanies AD use is no longer an issue. I hope you have a light box. I use one each morning & I think it has some restorative properties...I live in a place that's particularly cloudy in winter & the light box mimics sunlight. You can find models in various price ranges on Amazon.

I've tried my fair share without much luck. I'm wonder if the purpose is just to take the edge off or actually lift up out depression.

If seasonal changes are a big factor in your moods, Wellbutrin is a good route to go down. A common use of Wellbutrin is in the treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder.

try them all til one works, thats how psych meds work

I'm on a tiny dose of Celexa, which I take basically because I'm a hot mess without it. I've tried going off of it twice and ended up suffering horrible withdrawals. I don't know that it does a lot for me, seeing as how I was recently hospitalized for suicidal ideation, but to go without it is to make things even worse. Lamictal is more useful for the depression; mine was increased to 400 mg while I was inpatient, and it's kicked in now, relieving most of the remaining depression.

I tried Wellbutrin once and had such high hopes for it. Unfortunately it turned me into a manic, psychotic, raging b**** and is now on my allergies list. It's a great drug for those it works for, but terrible for a lot of other folks.

I was only on anti d's when my doctors thought i was just severely depressed, i was on a long list that reacted very badly with me & was very suicidal most the time or feeling like i had electric shocks in my brain & twitching in my body, the only one that actually did help with a balance for me was Valdoxan

Jan and Feb are so rough for me sending me once into psychotic depression but then when mood shifts towards april i go plain crazy
Lamictal sent me into an insane state of panic 24/7 but i seem to be the only one this
happened to!

Sounds like ECT!

Lamictal has never been a problem for me. I think it helps me stay pretty stable.

Yeah i had the electric shocks & twitching the worst with Aropax =\ it made me so angry all the time as well & my temperature was crazy! I was always sweating! Hot flushes & everything!

I really like my wellbutrin, and it has less chance of triggering a manic episode than the ssri's.

Lamotrigine seems to be the most stabilizing for me. Even latuda sent me into a manic state.

Also clonodine is wonderful, my nerves are shot, not just mentally but physically also. It takes the edge off and helps me sleep.

I've personally had venlafaxine and thought they were brilliant, two of my friends also have bipolar and take venlafaxine which seems to help them quite well.

Wellbutrin and Zoloft when approaching deep depression.

Actually I love Wellbutrin and zoloft together! I feel so Well-Oft then

I'm on prozac, Buspar and seroquel. It has helped with sleep but I'm still anxious

I took Wellbutrin for years but like all the others I've taken it quit working after that. I think it would be worth a try. I had virtually no side affects.

I'm now taking Fetzima and it is working very well, but since I'm med resistant I don't know how long it will work.

The best antidepressant for bipolar disorder is a mood stabilizer. That is to say, antidepressants should not be used to treat bipolar disorder, because they have a propensity to make the situation worse in patients with bipolar disorder. He offered you wellbutrin because it doesn't work the same way other antidepressants do. It sounds like you have a good doctor.

Antidepressants in Bipolar Disorder

I thought i had heard that somewhere! They always said i was just sensitive to antidepressants, i may have been but it also may have been that they had aggravated the situation, i had so many bad reactions to antidepressants! But never once i started on mood stabilizers...