What is "normal"?

I thought I was doing well on my meds, but over the past few weeks I have been struggling with the lows again. I had my psychiatrist increase my Lamictal to 100 mg, and at first it seemed like it helped, but now I'm wondering if it was all in my head. I get out of bed in the morning, take a shower, but then I flop back into bed before getting dressed because I feel like a don't have the energy to face the day. I struggle with simple tasks, like finding the motivation to cook simple, relatively healthy dinners. I am only productive at work a few hours out of the day. I just don't know if I can expect to feel better than this, or if this is my new baseline. I should add that I had to put my cat to sleep a few weeks ago and have cried every day since. Any outside perspective would be helpful. Thanks.

Hello blue_eyed_siamese: Well... I'm afraid I don't really know what one might consider to be normal. I read a lot of posts here on PC. And my impression is that what you are experiencing is pretty common. When a person first goes on med's, or goes on a new med, they do well for a while. But then, over time, the med's just seem to lose their effectiveness to one degree or another.

I'm no longer on med's. Most of the med's I've tried in the past didn't really do much of anything for me at all. The last one I was on was Cymbalta & it was the best of the lot for me. But even there, it didn't keep me "up". My moods would fluctuate noticeably. What I felt it did do was to keep a floor under me, so to speak, so that I would only sink so low; at which point it would sort-of kick my butt back up to within a tolerable range. But I still had to work at keeping myself going day-to-day. Pretty-much all of the med's I have tried in the past tended to make me feel kind-of "spacey" or maybe "groggy"... kind-of detached from reality if that makes any sense. It's part of the reason I simply no longer take them.

P.S. My condolences on the loss of your kitty...

Grieving over a pet can be as powerful as grieving over a family member, especially if you were close to them. Take gentle care of yourself during this time. I'm sorry for your loss.

It's pretty normal to struggle with finding a point between under medication, over medication, motivation and stability when you first start. Just because you feel like this now doesn't mean it will always be like this, especially since you just had a huge loss. Hang in there.

I'm so sorry for your loss!! Hugs

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I'm so sorry for your loss. Give yourself some time to see how you feel. The loss of a pet can really shake you up.

My new baseline is mild depression. I'm hoping that it will go away or I will find a med to fix the situation. I hope you find what you need for increased happiness.