[Nene873]

I posted yesterday about my dr and his prescribing Adderall for depression while I'm on Vyvanse already for ADD and got some interesting answers about stimulants.

So, the first thing I'm concerned about is I'm on a lot of stuff to defend off depression in the first place - Wellbutrin XL, Mirtazapine, Latuda - and I still had a breakthrough depression that is pretty severe anyway. Have I gotten to that point where depression meds aren't going to work anymore? I don't know what I'm going to do if that's what's happened. I'm scared of being "treatment resistent". I've been on lithium, Seroquel, Abilify, Geodon, Risperdone and the only thing that seemed to work well was Latuda and I finally was stable on it for about 2 years. How did depression get through this seemingly brick wall of antidepressant measures??? How did I end up this way again???

Secondly, the additional Adderall seems to be working for the short term but it's been mentioned that there's the potential for many things to go wrong - and I'm afraid that the longer I use it, the more chance there is that will be pushed into a mixed state, which I have a history of having. I've used Vyvanse for almost 2 years without any problems - the last two years have been pretty good, up until November when the bottom dropped out for reasons that have yet to be figured out - but with the increase in stimulant could I be pushed into mania or worse, a mixed episode?

What have you found to best for bipolar depression? I tried Lamictal when I was first diagnosed, a while ago and was at 200 mg. I don't remember why the dr. stopped it.

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Bipolar 1, ADD, PTSD
Latuda, Wellbutrin XL, Mirtazapine, Trokendi XR, Klonopin, Vyvanse, and now Addderall

[hopeless2015]

Right now I'm on Trileptal 1200 mg, latuda 120 mg, busbar 20 mg 3x a day and Lamictal 150 mg. I'm still fighting the depression to. I'm noticing a pattern of 1 good week then going down for a couple of days. I'm especially bad during pms. I'm trying really hard to not beat myself up when I go down, I tell myself you can have this day, it's one day and then get back up and back to routine the next. Routine is good and good sleep is good!

[Victoria'smom]

I was on 2 antidepressants and that didn't keep the depression away. I still ended up in the hospital eventually it subsided. Now I'm off AD's and feeling better now. The biggest thing to remember is it wont last forever.

[Nene873]

Originally Posted by Miguel'smom

I was on 2 antidepressants and that didn't keep the depression away. I still ended up in the hospital.

Why is it so hard to keep depression away? I hate being this way. I've been in the hospital, too. It's so frustrating that you really have no control over it - I feel like when I'm stuck in it, I have to wait it out, one second that drags on at a time and the dr can't always fix it, it just takes slow, gut wrenching time. It's torture.

[wildflowerchild25]

Sometimes meds just don't work or stop working. I've had a hard time finding an antidepressant that works. I'm now on an MAOI which works really well but for the past month I've still been having breakthrough depression. I feel like I have to come to terms with the fact that I will always have depression no matter what meds I'm on.