[Wanderlust90]

I don't like to say something & jinx it but I've been feeling somewhat better recently, I'm not even sure how long, between a week or 2. I haven't been sleeping as much, I don't need daytime naps, I've been functioning at work better & I haven't been getting agitated about going, I look forward to seeing work friends, I can have a good conversation with pretty much anyone I work one on one with (groups are harder lol), I'm not constantly bored all of a sudden. I have found a tentative contentedness for now, it's a welcome feeling.

I'm not sure if it's the sertraline? Fluoxetine improved my mood but added to existing agitation, especially at 40mg! 50mg of sertraline seems to have improved my mood at about the 6 week mark without any significant side effects. I'm barely using the clonazepam atm. I'm not sure that stelazine (trifluoperazine) is actually a mood stabilising antipsychotic at the doses I take (2-4mg daily), it's more for anxiety & agitation.

So yeh in short im happy with the results so far but I'm hoping it's not temporary.

It also makes me question my "bipolarity," or the standard treatment approach of SSRIs only with mood stabilisers.

[pirilin]

Very glad to know you're doing much better.
I have always had this feeling of never being able to reach out to you at your worse.
I'm glad I can do it at your better. Or I could almost say your best. But I'm supersticious too. No jinx.
The best proof you're doing better, is doubting your bipolarism. We all do.
I'm very glad for you!!!. May it lasts for ten generations to come.

[hopeless2015]

Very good news, so happy for you!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Wanderlust90]

Thanks so much pirilin. I haven't been reaching out much just lurking but I will be signing in more frequently now. I've been following your posts & im glad to hear your doing so much better on lithium, awesome to hear.

[NoIdeaWhatToDo]

I've been feeling the same; it's so hard to not be able to trust your mood, huh? For now, I'm just enjoying how it feels and accepting when I have a setback here or there that it doesn't have to mean I'm sinking again. I ran into a snafu in the last couple of days that have me bound up, but even with that, I can tell it's limited to that particular issue and not bleeding over into everything else (well, sort of; the perseveration is a little harder today, but I was able to power through it and get some work done just now - so at least it's better than where I've been for the last several years!).

Happy to hear you're getting the glimpses of where you want to be; I hope you get to sit in that and make yourself comfortable for a good, long time!

[Daonnachd]

Excellent. Such good news to see someone doing well.

[Icare dixit]

What problems did you have at work or emotions caused by having to go to work before now?

It's good to hear how things are looking up for you.

No instability may still mean fragility. I don't want to rain on your parade, but it could be that you are just less aware of mild problems, being effectively numbed by serotonin, but when you do notice (a change in mood and) anxiety, things may have started to change too quickly to do anything about it.

Call me old-fashioned , but I really don't believe in anxiolytics/antidepressants. But I may just be a pessimist or overly sceptical.

So happy for you that you're doing better. Hope it lasts. I think it will.

[cincidak]

I'm glad to hear you are feeling stable! Me too for the last four months. It feels weird,but good.

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

[Wanderlust90]

Originally Posted by NoIdeaWhatToDo

I've been feeling the same; it's so hard to not be able to trust your mood, huh?!

It's something I'm yet to learn how to deal with well.

[Wanderlust90]

Originally Posted by Icare dixit

What problems did you have at work or emotions caused by having to go to work before now?

No instability may still mean fragility. I don't want to rain on your parade, but it could be that you are just less aware of mild problems, being effectively numbed by serotonin, but when you do notice (a change in mood and) anxiety, things may have started to change too quickly to do anything about it.

Call me old-fashioned , but I really don't believe in anxiolytics/antidepressants. But I may just be a pessimist or overly sceptical.

It may be because I've altered my schedule by lowering contracted work hours to a minimum to avoid as many shift rotations (I have to work days, afternoon/evenings & nights), now I pick up day shifts as they become available which is often enough to sustain an adequate income atm. That & ive settled back into work. I used to become incredibly agitated, I'm not even sure why, work was overwhelming & I was on edge alot, I felt inadequate, I was doing long stretches of days at work & lots of afternoon/evenings & nights. I didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But it's not only an improvement in my work life but generally in my mood, I'm far less angry & irritable. Much more positive affect. Still physically restless but without the intense agitated boredom & dysphoria I was feeling all the time.

I was suspicious & apprehensive to try another SSRI but I'm thankful for what it's done if it is indeed the sertraline or sertraline/trifluoperazine combo that's helped me get to here. No doubt it's a combination of more suitable meds(?), continuing therapy, & general adjustment to my current situation over time.

[Icare dixit]

Originally Posted by Wanderlust90

It may be because I've altered my schedule by lowering contracted work hours to a minimum to avoid as many shift rotations (I have to work days, afternoon/evenings & nights), now I pick up day shifts as they become available which is often enough to sustain an adequate income atm. That & ive settled back into work. I used to become incredibly agitated, I'm not even sure why, work was overwhelming & I was on edge alot, I felt inadequate, I was doing long stretches of days at work & lots of afternoon/evenings & nights. I didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But it's not only an improvement in my work life but generally in my mood, I'm far less angry & irritable. Much more positive affect. Still physically restless but without the intense agitated boredom & dysphoria I was feeling all the time.

I was suspicious & apprehensive to try another SSRI but I'm thankful for what it's done if it is indeed the sertraline or sertraline/trifluoperazine combo that's helped me get to here. No doubt it's a combination of more suitable meds(?), continuing therapy, & general adjustment to my current situation over time.

More routine is of course great. Good to hear that that is possible.

Sertraline and trifluoperazine together are a bit like an atypical antipsychotic. It's good you can vary the doses, which gives you more control than if you were to use an actual atypical antipsychotic. But trifluoperazine itself isn't a mood stabilising antipsychotic, since it's typical, not atypical. It may be indirectly because your perception changes less with changes in mood, which makes you have less anxiety probably, and therefore fewer or less extreme, mood changes.

A higher dosage of trifluoperazine may result in a better balance (indeed). I'd suggest you be very careful increasing one dose and not the other. But that's all.

[Wanderlust90]

Icare, I like your take on the sertraline/trifluoperazine combo being abit like a AAP with its typical antipsychotic properties & the SSRI acting somewhat like the partial agonist of 5HT1A component of AAPs?