No anti depressant:(

So, my pdoc said she feels a bit responsible for this last episode because she put me on a high dose anti depressant. She said she won't do it again. I'm worried. She said we will have to trust the depacote and learn to better manage the depression. 😔

Just wanted you to know you have my support and I'm here to talk if you need to. I hope everything goes smoothly. Best wishes.

Be aware that Depakote is lousy at managing depression. It has a decent response curve for mania and for acute depression, but evidence for long-term depression control just isn't there.

I experienced the worst depression of my life while on Depakote; my doctor and I were trying monotherapy and it just didn't work. My doc added Lamictal and Latuda, and within three days I was out of the depression, two weeks later I went back to work (I had been on short-term disability). Good luck with whatever you try.

Thank you so much; that is very sweet. The same goes for you if you are having a rough time!

That's just what I'm afraid of. I am on a low dose of lamictal (200 mg...down from 300 mg) but my pdoc plans to quit it altogether because she thinks it is doing nothing for me. She has me in therapy twice a week and currently still seeing her twice a month (down from weekly). I am just afraid of what can happen as I have had some nasty depressions (some equally bad manias; thus no anti depressants).

I'm so sorry Cash. My doctor and I agree I can't take an antidepressant yet. I'm not stable enough for it to be safe. I feel for you, I really do. Good luck and we are here for you.

I hope you and your doctor will find an approach that works well for you.


WC

I was off ADs for a long time because they triggered manias. Depakote got me stable enough that I was able to try ADs again. I was on imipramine with it for a long time with a dose I could adjust as much mood dictated. Then I got on Seroquel and eventually off of Depakote and with a moderate dose of Seroquel XR was able to start Emsam, an MAOI which I've done really well with. I do have to lower the dose when manic but it's nothing like ADs before it and doesn't seem to de-stabilize me. It just doesn't help if I start to slide.

Depakote didn't help with my depression. I ended up on Latuda and Viibryd for a while (an expensive combination), then weaned off the Viibryd once I started feeling better. May have to go off the Latuda because of anxiety. Not sure what I'll take next.