not bipolar

Those that know me realize I will never accept my Dx.,
however I do have a question for you in the know..

1) ad's did send me inpatient with what my pdoc said was mania,,

2) lamotrigine has lifted my depression,,

Would I have to be bp for these drugs to have had these effects or could they happen to anyone ???

Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to this. Hopefully there are some other members, here on PC, who will be more familiar with lamotrigine.

I've never received anything in the way of a diagnosis & I've been on all sorts of psych med's over the years. It's just been a trial-&-error, hunt-&-peck process. As a result, my perspective is that there is very little, if any, direct relationship between a person's psychiatric diagnosis & the psych med's that are prescribed. But, then, that is just my opinion.

I am bipolar, and lamictal hasn't even remotely lifted my depression so I'm not necessarily convinced there's a direct relation between how well a drug works and diagnosis. It's more a personal thing.

Re: 1) I believe only people with the potential for Bipolar Disorder can become manic through the use of antidepressants. That's how I understand it.

However, to make it more confusing, from what I have noticed on this site, it is evident that not everyone with Bipolar Disorder is intolerant of antidepressants (i.e. antidepressants will not cause mania in everyone with Bipolar Disorder; same goes for amphetamines, which, if you look at my signature, you'll understand why I'm confused as **** about my own issues).

Re: 2) Lamotrigine can be used off-label to treat clinical depression. It is mainly used, however, to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder (that's straight from Wikipedia).

But yeah, ultimately how drugs affect you are really based on your personal chemistry. What works for one person may not work for you, and vice-versa.

For me, for example, SSRI meds didn't do ****. But SNRIs do. They don't do enough, though...

Lamotrigine is a Godsend for me. I first got AD for depression, but I went nutz for the next 2 years. It made me ultra rapid cycle /switching. The depression got worst so the GP kept giving me more Welbutrin which made things worse.
I finally got me a pdoc. Lamictal settled me, but I stabilize on the depressed side. We added a little prozac to come up to base.

That's what I am afraid of......

Not only people with bp can be sent manic by antidepressants. Its only bp if you have a manic ep off medication. Not all bp people are sent manic by meds or stimulants.

So to you, this is hard evidence for your DX?

Oh and lamictal is useful for depression also it is not an indication of diagnosis.

I have read that anti-depressant induced mania is this: if your symptoms end when the anti-depressant leaves your system, it is a side effect of the medication. If the symptoms persist when the anti-depressant leaves your system, it is mania and you are diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder.

I'm with always. I was on an ad for 2 years and was a nut job the whole time. Then went off and was semi ok (albeit the daily drinking to calm me down or lift me up haha). After a few fine years a trauma happened and it sent me pretty crazy so I sort of had to accept there is something going on up there.

I would get a few professional opinions if you don't agree with your diagnoses. Then I would work on accepting your diagnoses. One thing I found out from these forums is you won't 100% identify with everyone here so the answers won't always be there. My point is your answers about diagnoses won't be found here.

Really? My doctor said exactly the opposite, that if I didn't have bipolar it wouldn't help. I think I've seen others mention being on it for stuff besides bipolar but... Now I don't know what to think.

But OP, I've had a lot of doubt over my diagnosis too, because I just don't have a lot of the issues. So while I can't really help, you're not alone and it's okay to be unsure about it. As long as the meds help and you're doing okay then you have time to work things out.

I was on Lamictal for a short time. (I had to be taken off because I got the Lamictal rash.) I don't have any diagnosis at all that I'm aware of...

BP can be all over the map and totally different for everyone. And since we are all different, every med will be different for everyone. For some it will work, for others no. There is no litmus test to confirm or deny a diag based on your response to any med and if a pdoc tells you otherwise I would recommend u find another pdoc

no, I totally disagree with my Dx, but rather than Doc shop for one that agrees with me I want to learn enough to convince the Doc I have that he is wrong.....or he convinces me ..

thank you very much for this,, this is what I feel happened to me..