[irritable4life]

Fairly new on here.. Anywhos..can y'all recommend some meds that help with stabilizing rapid cycle bipolar? I don't want to get low and suicidal again..but that was yesterday..also have problems with irritability..ppl bother me..self isolation..turning things around that ppl say..low energy(just taking a bath is exhausting)..my Dr sucks but I live n the boonies so its my only option..I need to find a way to be around my son without wanting to go to my room and lay on my bed miserable..I can't seem to function without all these negative evil thoughts going thru my head..and I don't want to be mean to anyone verbally..no more..please help..I tried seroquel..lithium.Zoloft.celexa.wellbutrin.effexor.lamotrigine.nuerontin.depekote. Invega.abilify.geodon.topiramate.xxanax. and ativan..

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Ok, I wrote this and it deleted it. So trying again.

I had my insurance book out beside me trying to figure things out for myself. It's missing part of the page where my cat tore it but here's what I can come up with that you've not tried: trileptal, tegretol, zyprexa, Fanapt, Fazaclo (never heard of this but it's in the book), Latuda, Orap, risperdal. You've not been on the older APs, some of which are really effective. My list includes haldol, perphenazine, loxapine, fluphenazine, chlorpromazine. There's also, to quote my pdoc "Always Clozaril". It's very effective but a last resort b/c it requires a ton of bloodwork because it can make your white blood cell count drop. I've also tried keppra (but haven't heard of that being used) years ago and know someone who benefits from zonegran.

I'm not going through all the ADs because you need more than that. However, I highly recommend MAOIs when depression isn't responding to other stuff. You have to follow a diet that is low in tyramine which isn't that hard to follow and there are meds that interact so you have to wear a medic alert. But they are very, very effective. I'm on Emsam which is actually a patch. On the lowest dose you don't even have dietary restrictions.It doesn't burn out like so many ADs do and it worked fast and incredibly well. You aren't on an AD so going on would be easy (if you're on an AD you have to come off that first and it is horrible). I didn't respond to meds all that much for 6 years and then I responded some to Seroquel combined with high dose Depakote. In the 7th year I went on the MAOI and increased my Seroquel dose to counter the stimulation from the MAOI (you might have to have something sedating with it because they are stimulating, related somehow to amphetamines). And I was stable from then until physical health issues destroyed everything.

I understand that you don't trust meds to work and that you are so frustrated. Just to let you know that there is hope, here is my list of what I tried before becoming stable. Monday I'll probably start a new drug which will be cocktail 65. Since 1997 I have taken: paxil, zoloft, remeron, trazodone, xanax, ativan, klonopin, valium, ambien, ambien CR, sonata, lunesta, rozerman, elavil, wellbutrin, effexor, celexa, prozac, depakote, lithium, lamictal, keppra, geodon, abilify, risperdal, provigil, nuvigil, imirpmaine, trileptal, hydroxyzine, seroquel, seroquel XR, fish oil, emsam, zyprexa, gabapentin, topirimate, Latuda. And a placebo in a clinical trial. Most of those were tried in multiple combinations as well so have been tried a few times and nearly all were tried at numerous doses. And after all that I did finally find the right meds. Even though I'm no longer stable and doing well since getting the right meds I've had 2 bad episodes and one that responded immediately to a med change in the last 4 years. It used to be that I had 3-4 bad episodes per year and since my episodes are long it was pretty constant. I never had little episodes or good mania/hypomania.

So you can be on a lot of meds and still get stable. It takes patience I didn't have but it can happen. I live in the middle of nowhere too and while it didn't start this way (there have been several moves) I drive to a city to see a good psychiatrist. It's totally worth it. I know that's not always an option but if you can I highly recommend seeing the best person you can find. When you are hard to treat you need someone who sees lots of hard to treat patients.

Hope this works this time!

[irritable4life]

Thank you..I am going to write down all you have listed and research them. I really don't have another option on a Dr. So I trying to help myself before it all goes haywire again..Thank you again!!

[irritable4life]

And I am sorry you are hurting as well.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Early on I had to be my own doctor. At first I was seeing a GP because I didn't have mental health benefits. He kept trying more and more ADs and then changing when I burned out. Classic sign of bipolar but he apparently didn't know. Then I had a very, very bad psychiatrist. She thought that because I was a healthcare professional and had a master's degree that I couldn't be very sick. So every month she saw me for 8 minutes and documented that I was functioning normally. Every day I was coming home and crawling into bed in dirty scrubs and eating nothing but chef-boy-ar-dee. Even when I told her I was suicidal she marked high functioning. She had no clue and when I discovered by reading online that I was CLEARLY bipolar I dumped her immediately. I wound up in a clinical trial with 6 months of free care which was great and then I changed jobs to have insurance for psychiatric care and to get away from people taking advantage of me and leaving me on call 7 days per week for 3 weeks plus I worked full-time and never got my comp time from being on-call. (Which finally explains what I was trying to figure out the other day, which is why I don't remember paying hundreds of dollars per visit for my psychiatrist at the beginning; she coincided with my new insurance).

I've learned that if you go in and ask specifically for a med and say exactly why you want it you are most likely to get it. Your dr isn't making sense with your meds right now; you're on 2 weak mood stabilizers so no wonder you don't feel good. He's left out some of the most common and fastest meds, like zyprexa. It plain didn't work for me but I haven't heard that too often, usually it is a side effect that stops that one because it is quite effective. A lot of people find Latuda to be great. I was in a group after it came out and 2 different people got much better on it. I tried it but didn't give it a chance b/c I was in a dark place and didn't care so I'm really hoping it helps me this week, if my dr has samples. Otherwise it will be something else, probably something older.

And I forgot Saphris. It was in the part the cat tore off. Gotta request a new book.

[Crazy Hitch]

I've just changed back to Epilim (weaning off my lamatrogine).

I was on epilim manyyyyyyy years ago when I was first diagnosed and had hypermania back then as opposed to a full blown manic episode.

Which ever one you decide to use, may it all work out for you.