[gris212]

I've noticed that although my mom is on a mood stabilizer she still has episodes of mania and mixed episodes. Her mood stabilizer is a high dosage of 600 mgs does this mean the mood stabilizer is not the correct one and we should try to find a more affective one? Or is there still instances of mania with all mood stabilizers and it the overall number of occurences is just lessen?

Do any of you still experience mania even with your mood stabilizer?

Thanks

[ensconce]

What exactly is she taking if I may ask. Also its always possible to have episodes no matter what you are taking. Even when taking Latuda it doesn't help me much and I am on 80MG.

[Blue_Bird]

It's different for everybody. I'm personally on Depakote 750mg and it works wonderfully

[Daonnachd]

Is my mood stabilizer 100% effective? No.

Before switching off the current med and onto another, it may be easier to simply add something else. For some patients a single drug will never work,

[gina_re]

For the most part yes, but I still have my issues from time to time. I don't think any drug will make any and all symptoms vanish, but life is better with them than without them for me.
From my experience, finding the right drug is tricky and not easy. Sometimes it's the dosage that needs to be adjusted or the drug may just simply not be the right one. It's trial and error and you gotta stick it out.

I've only had a handful of manic episodes in my life. I mainly deal with depression. I've never had a full blown manic episode while taking medications, but I've had breakthrough hypomania. And depression, always breaks through.

If your mom is manic, her symptoms are not being controlled by her current medication. She may need a different med, a different dose, or could be treatment resistant.

Best of luck to you and your mom.

[Crazy Hitch]

For me it pends on the type of mood stabiliser.

Some haven't worked as effectively in the past; regardless of dosage.

I'm currently on Epilim and it's actually working out okay.

[gayleggg]

I've had really good luck on Saphris. Now if they just could fix my depression

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[SillyKitty]

I've been taking Lamictal for years. Sometimes my pdoc and I have to adjust the mgs. I was recently able to cut it in half, but no, it doesn't always work. The mgs don't really matter without knowing what med she's on.

[BadWolfC]

It depends on the person, and it won't work 100% of the time. Mood stabilizers don't actually help me at all and tend to make me sick, so I can't even take them. I happened to be put on a medication that treats my mania and my depression, but for some people just a mood stabilizer will work well enough. However, I have heard that it seems to be more common for people to be on a mood stabilizer as well as a different medication.

[touched by fire]

I've been tapering down on Lamictal from 400mg and stopped at 50mg. Trying to find a compromise with stability and memory. 200 seemed to have a tiny bit of clarity and I wasn't so tired everyday. Dropped to 100 and more clarity, but more mood problems. At 50 my moods took a 180 in a very bad direction. I'm back at 200. Lamictal definitely works for me.

[Standup2me]

LithMax 900mg daily
No, stabilizers do not always work, and often need to be changed over time.
It all depends on the person
I was on Lamictal for years, and did well. Then I had several manic episodes one after another
So, I am trying a different stabilizer