[csmams]

Hi all,
My wife has been diagnoized with BP since last May 2016. She has Fibromyaligia since 2008 and the doctors started to treat her from depression since 2013 but since 2016 after being hospitalized the Pdoc informed she has BP.
Since this time, they told us the medication will take from 6 to 8 months to settle. She started with Latuda, then moved to Serquel..
Start of November the Pdoc decided to change her from Serquel as she had some comlications like an ulcer and she developed a weight gain that started to hit her depression. However once she started getting back to Latuda as an experiment she cannot handle and broke and had suicidal thoughts and since start of November she has been in hospital to moderate the medication change.

The Pdoc returned her to serequel while trying at the same time changing her to Abilify...
The experiment is now three weeks and she is not yet ok with a lot of restless and irriatation and no sleep and switching to more depression than being in hi mode...

We have a meeting with pdoc after tomorrow and I am not sure what to be done .. Should I inform him that the treatment plan completely not working.. they say he is knowledgable doc but why since May we cannot settle her on a medication that would put her into stable point...

Can you please advise what I should do ? should we switch her to herbal ? should we stop medicaition completely and avoid all the side effects from such chemicals..
Is it normal to try all of these meds without success ?
Please advise ..
Thanks in advance so much

[Victoria'smom]

She's only on one med a day? Usually there's a mixture of antipsychotics, antidepressants, and mood stabilizers. It's normal to try different meds until one works. Sometimes it takes years to find the right combination on an out patient basis.

[bioChE]

If I were you, I wouldn't give up yet. As MM said, it can take years to find the right combo of meds and dosages. I would strongly caution against herbals as a front-line approach, as the evidence based proof just isn't there. You could certainly try herbal supplementation, but get your psychiatrist's clearance on anything you want to try. There could be interactions or other side effects which would only complicate his ability to nail down the right treatment.

Unfortunately for us with BP, the only method of getting to the right medication combo is trial and error. It can be disheartening at times, but if it helps at all to know, there are a lot of people going through the same difficulties. Take heart and carry on. If only a few meds have been tried, know that there are tens or hundreds more out there. Best of luck to you.

[~Christina]

I have Bp and Fibro !

They feed off eachother, it often takes a long time to find just the right combination, I was diagnosed late at age 43 , it took me at least 4 combos and over a year to start really feeling a difference and feeling more stable.

Please let the Pdoc know this just isn't working !

Good wishes PM if you want more specific ways I cope with duel diagnosis BP and Fibro.

[still_crazy]

how severe are the mood problems? If you're talking about psychosis, severe mania, etc., then it might be necessary to try a few combinations. If the "Bipolar" is milder, than you might have enough leeway to skip the drugs, try natural approaches, etc.

I use the " " because a lot of people are being called "Bipolar" when its probably just severe depression, or a bad reaction to stimulants or antidepressants, or depression that doesn't respond to standard drugs, or...you get the idea.

Personally, I don't know you or anything, and I"m not a doctor, but if its not severe Bipolar, you can probably try to avoid an antipsychotic. I take Abilify for my Bipolar I, but I wouldn't if I didn't have to.

[Icare dixit]

It sounds like a mixed state/episode (no longer called episode; would be mania with mixed features), mania with depression (or rapidly alternating).

She may need a higher dose of Seroquel (or Abilify or Latuda). Abilify may be too much an antidepressant for the state she's in.

To prevent anything like it happening again or if that isn't enough, she may need a mood stabiliser, like lithium, lamotrigine/Lamictal, Depakote/valproic acid.

[Ocean Swimmer]

Support groups too.
I go to Dbsa thru Nami . Spouses or support friends can go too.
I'm still trying new meds after 35 years.

[csmams]

Originally Posted by ~Christina

I have Bp and Fibro !

They feed off eachother, it often takes a long time to find just the right combination, I was diagnosed late at age 43 , it took me at least 4 combos and over a year to start really feeling a difference and feeling more stable.

Please let the Pdoc know this just isn't working !

Good wishes PM if you want more specific ways I cope with duel diagnosis BP and Fibro.

Thanks a lot Christina , I will PM you once my posts count are fullfilled to make a PM..

[csmams]

Originally Posted by still_crazy

how severe are the mood problems? If you're talking about psychosis, severe mania, etc., then it might be necessary to try a few combinations. If the "Bipolar" is milder, than you might have enough leeway to skip the drugs, try natural approaches, etc.

I use the " " because a lot of people are being called "Bipolar" when its probably just severe depression, or a bad reaction to stimulants or antidepressants, or depression that doesn't respond to standard drugs, or...you get the idea.

Personally, I don't know you or anything, and I"m not a doctor, but if its not severe Bipolar, you can probably try to avoid an antipsychotic. I take Abilify for my Bipolar I, but I wouldn't if I didn't have to.

I totally agree. her BP is not that severe and at the same time I also feel she may not be that BP , I may need to check other physicians to re-evaluate as it is too confusing, today he instructed her to get off the anti-pyschotic as she developed a bad side effect (akathisia)... and then happened with Latuda and Abilify

[csmams]

Originally Posted by Icare dixit

It sounds like a mixed state/episode (no longer called episode; would be mania with mixed features), mania with depression (or rapidly alternating).

She may need a higher dose of Seroquel (or Abilify or Latuda). Abilify may be too much an antidepressant for the state she's in.

To prevent anything like it happening again or if that isn't enough, she may need a mood stabiliser, like lithium, lamotrigine/Lamictal, Depakote/valproic acid.

Yes, after today meeting, he advised to take her off of the Abilify as it developed her side effect called Akathisia. (restlessness and inability to sit with excessive bad energy).
She is still on Seroquel temporarily but he needs to remove the anti-psycotics and she would handle with Lithium and Lamotrougine mood stabilizers. I asked him about the cycling of the bipolar and he said we need to monitor it but the anti-pyshoctic are mainly to balance the cycles .. I don't think that she is developing these cycles in a short term, anyway we need to monitor it , and hopefully she can be off any anti-pyshcotic as seroquel is adding her a lot of weight which is too depressing for her..

[Shazerac]

Like the above posters said sometimes it takes a good while to find the right combo of meds. If you have doubts seek a second opinion. However I strongly advise that you do not take her off meds without the supervision of a Pdoc. It could be catastrophic.

[Victoria'smom]

There's AP's that are weight neutral. Geodon maybe an option.