[Ralau]

I have read that SSRIs can induce mania in bipolar patients, but is it common that they barely help at all?

I have been taking an SSRI with a mood stabilizer, the mood stabilizer works well for me and keeps me from getting too high even when I don't get much sleep. In the past I stopped taking my mood stabilizer and continued taking only the SSRI because I was hoping for euphoric hypomania. Dangerous game, I know. Instead of euphoria I felt like living in hell, maybe that was a mixed state.

Well I guess the SSRI I have been taking for almost a year now has kept me away from the deepest depressions, until now. To be honest I am not very functional in my daily life right now.

I'm looking forward for a medication change, and I'd like to read your experiences about SSRI meds. I don't find mine very effective, I just wonder if it's worth to give another SSRI a try, or better try something else...

Sometimes meds poop out on us. They work great... until they don't. It sucks. Sounds like that's what happened to you if it worked before.

It's ok to try a different SSRI because it may work for you, but there are also SNRIs and Maos etc..

I know in my case that Abilify didn't work for me (aripiprazole), but rexulti (brexipriprazole) works wonders even though they're so similar, so you never know!

[wildflowerchild25]

No SSRI/SNRI antidepressant has ever worked for me. Most have made me worse. Wellbutrin has worked on occasion but not anymore. The only time I was stable was when I was on invega (antipsychotic) and emsam (MAOI antidepressant). I wish I could go back to that combination.

[franz kafka]

When I took zoloft along with a mood stabilizer it didn't help with my depression at all, then it popped me up to mania thanks to difficulty sleeping. I wouldn't try an SSRI again personally, but it might be helpful for others.

Whenever I ever took an antidepressant, before my bipolar dx, and even after when taken with a moodstabilizer and antipsychotic, it caused a mood switch. These were the common scenarios for me:

1. Hypomania (elated) then mixed episode - horrible!

2. Mania (elated or irritable) then mixed episode

3. My moods rapidly shifting from depression to mixed episode, maybe to some elation, to mixed, to depressed, to mixed in a matter of days

All scenarios were unacceptable. I tried many antidepressants over the years and all did one of the three above. They were not only worthless for me, but dangerous.

I don't know what mood stabilizers you have/or tried. I know some have said Lamactil works for them on depression. I can't take that, though, it gives me a headache.

Lithium pulled me out of depression. I've seen mixed reviews about whether it helps depression. It sure does for me.

I can't get an antidepressant from my pdoc due to mania risk.

[Victoria'smom]

I've been on several. They either didn't work or I get mixed. Now my husband and son take webutrin and it seems to help.

[Carmina]

I think people often underestimate how different bipolar and clinical depression are, even though they share some common symptoms they are in many ways radically different conditions and probably have different aetiologies. Think of it as like MS and CFS - both cause fatigue but apart from that they are different in most respects.

[Wonderfalls]

No SSRI's have ever done anything for me except maybe a little bit Luvox which I had to drop because I maybe did or maybe didn't have seratonin syndrome which put me in the hospital. Now I take Wellbutrin for depression and it works very well.

[still_crazy]

not an antidepressant fan, personally. and yet...I'm prone to bouts of psychotic depression. I had that from a young age, and I turned Bipolar I when (yet another...) bout of psychotic depression switched into off the wall, psychotic mania.

point is...at times, I do need an antidepressant. With ongoing Abilify plus whatever mood stabilizer(s), Wellbutrin seems to get the job done, nicely. I usually stop the Wellbutrin when things have smoothed out and/or I start feeling too apathetic (that happens with most antidepressants, but its worse w/ SSRI and SSNRI options).

some people do well on remeron, with another drug added in severe cases of depression. MAOI drugs aren't popular, but I had an acquaintance who did well on Parnate for bipolar depression.

According to my current shrink, tca drugs are usually not a good idea for Bipolar. They can be miraculous for severe depression, but they have a high rate of switching Bipolar people into mania, they can make psychosis worse, plus they have all kinds of drug-drug interactions, they're lethal in overdose, and long term use can cause problems (cardio, I think..).

some Bipolar people like Provigil or NuVigil. Some do well on old school stimulants, such as Ritalin or some form of amphetamine. And then...

there's those of us prone to psychosis. My current doctor doesn't want to use an antidepressant for me, and he even wants me off coffee (ugh!).

Plus, a -lot- of people do not benefit from SSRI drugs. They can be awesome if you have OCD or if obsessive stuff is part of your depression, but...whoa. They can also cause a lot of emotional numbing, mood instability, etc. I read somewhere....takng Prozac (for instance...) is like taking a stimulant and a low dose antipsychotic, except unlike back in the day (when those were often put in 1 pill, lol), you don't know the proportions of each, and the reaction to the drug varies based on genetics, personality, other drugs, etc.

:-)

[Guiness187055]

The only anti depressant I can take is wellbutrin the rest make me manic.

[pirilin]

I was the archienemy of SSRIs. Big mistake. Lithium got me out of a blackhole depression , but the shakes were uncontrollable. Also made me manic, BON.

I take Paxil, (the big bad wolf) which is my first and hopefully, last SSRI.
I'm back. Really back. The old crazy, energetic, happy me.
I could have followed my shrink suggestions and not suffer for three long years, which I lost.
My weight went up at the beginning, but since I'm more active, I lost it all and then some. Besides I shower every day. An exercise in itself.
Everybody is different. I was on 300mg of lamotrigine and the depression was worse. Go figure. Good luck and follow your heart.

[raspberrytorte]

I'm on cymbalta right now, but I don't think it's working. Effexor made me homicidal. Zoloft made me manic the first time I took it by itself, but when I took it with mood stabilizes it didn't. It also didn't work though.

Good luck.

[Unrigged64072835]

I took a lot of SSRIs before I was diagnosed with bipolar. They made my mood swings worse.

I was able to do genetic testing, and I found out I couldn't metabolize most of them. There are only three that I can take, but they're all expensive. I'm taking Viibryd now with Latuda, and it seems to help. I hope I can stay on it because it's a little sedating which lowers my akathisia as well.

Not all SSRIs are alike, plus there's other types of ADs. There's also a couple of mood stabilizers that help more with depression. It's worth talking to your pdoc about it.

[Ralau]

Thanks for everyone sharing your experiences.
I haven't replied earlier because I was hospitalized due to my depressive episode about 6 weeks ago.

Now I'm convinced that the SSRI medication I was taking didn't work for me like it was supposed to. First my doctor stopped my mood stabilizer and added quetiapine along with lexapro. Well that made me swing between severe depression and hypomania so my doctor stopped the SSRI too. Quetiapine has worked miracles for me. After stopping lexapro all my hypomanic symptoms disappeared. Usually I have enjoyed my euphoric highs but now it was very uncomfortable: uncontrollable laughing, anxiety and pacing around not being able to stop.

I still have symptoms of depression and I'm still getting inpatient treatment, but I'm also slowly getting better. I hope quetiapine continues working as well as it has by now, and I can finally start a stable life.

[Unrigged64072835]

I'm on Viibryd, which is an SSRI. I'm also on Latuda as a mood stabilizer/anti-psychotic. I find that Viibryd works well for my depression. I have gene testing done that shows I can't metabolize most antidepressants, but I can metabolize Viibvryd.

Both are wickedly expensive, though. I'm fortunate that the military pharmacy pays for that.

[pirilin]

Hoping for euphoric mania. Interesting. Pharma has little to offer in that field.
Now the streets are a whole different story, I've been told.