[Shyguy88]

This past week has been crazy, and I'm just curious if any other rapid cyclers go through moods like these...




I think I need a slight med change, I think my Wellbutrin lost it affect, it doesnt seem to be working.

[iamtwilight]

I'm not a rapid cycler (as far as I know.. I just get told that every bipolar person is different... which is good), but I go through that as well.

Hmm. Do you manage to make a mood chart for every week, or do you sometimes just.. Well, "forget"?

That's what happens to my mood charts. I managed to keep one for 2 and a ½ weeks because my T told me to. But then I was pretty stable. Heh.

It could be that you should up your Wellbutrin dose. Do they monitor the levels of it in your blood? Or do you use it just as an antidepressant?

Well anyways, take care. Mixed episodes are pretty much the worst.

[Shyguy88]

Well I take quite a bit of meds (Lamictal, Geodon, Lexapro, Wellbutrin, Klonopin, and Trazodone) I only got my blood checked once after being out of the psych hospital and my blood test came out fine. I just started making a mood chart since new years eve because my therapist said it would be good to track my weekly moods.

[Bellax3]

I dont have any advice, I'm tracking my mood too. Well, I did in december, I haven't done so in January. I found my mood has extreme cchanges. I'm going to upload the image, and post it. I thought I'd show you the mood chart I have though, its a print out chart that ask you to record hours slept, med taken, and wieght once a month, ( I don't take meds, I can never get an acurate hour count, and I don't have a scale) lol
Anyway, here it is if you want to check it out.
http://www.psychiatry24x7.com/bgdisp...amp;page=ecall

*edit* Here is my chart,
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...e/100_0645.jpg
The numbers on the bottom are my anxiety/iritablity, from 1 to 3
I thought I'd point out the 11th, where I felt both moderatly hypmanic, and severly depressed in the same day. I was laughing uncontollably up until a few hours after I got home from school, my parents were critical and mean, and I became quite SU, more then I've felt for a long time.
Okay, sorry for the post hijacking.

[Shyguy88]

wow I checked out the link for the chart Bellax3, thats pretty handy i think I'll try it out, thanks!

[Shyguy88]

i decided to try the new mood chart out, and i noticed my old mood chart isnt showing up in my first post but anyway here it is.

[DaveyJones]

Wow, shyguy...you must feel like crap!

I see you're on at least two antidepressants (three, if you counnt Trazodone) one anticonvulsant/mood stabilizer (Lamictal), an anti-psychotic (Geodon), and a benzo for anxiety/sleep. (Is the Trazadone for sleep)?

It might be time to see you pdoc about your meds... have you tried any of the "standard" mood stabilizers, ie. lithium, Depakote, and since approval, Seroquel?

It seems to me that perhaps the antidepressants you are using may be causing your rapid cycling (try www.psycheducation.org for more on this) without enough support from a "real" mood stabilizer.

I can say that my situation improved drastically when I got off the antidepressants altogether. My highs are not as high and lows not so low...

What has been working for me is a mix of lithium, Seroquel and Lamictal. I'm back in school, moving along carefully towards my next life. I know that these meds may not work for you, I just offer it as a place to start a discussion with your pdoc.

I do hope greatly that you are well soon!

DJ

[Shyguy88]

yeah im on the trazodone to help me sleep (helps a little bit) and using Lamictal for my mood stabalizer, the lexapro doesnt seem to help and feels like my wellbutrin stopped working, like if i skip it for a week without it i dont feel any difference if i take it or not.

I went to my pdoc today which increased my Wellbutrin to 300mg but im afraid i will get the same result like when my seroquel was upped from 100mg to 300mg and no difference (not on seroquel anymore).

also my lexapro was increased by double the dosage when i first started and i felt like lexapro never worked at all, also increased dosage of lamcital to 100mg in morning and 100 at night. Though I never tried lithium yet. I hope the increased dosage on my meds will help cuz im sick of feeling so crappy

[DaveyJones]

I have to say that for me, antidepressants turned out to be poison... they really caused me a lot of problems. Of course, it's different for everyone, but for a lot of BP's, AD's cause mood instability and rapid cycling.

I wish you the best.

DJ

[Shyguy88]

not much has changed over the past weeks, even with my wellbutrin dosage to 300mg, and the lamictal up to 200mg per day. this is my mood chart for past 3 weeks

[sweetangel]

Shyguy88- besides the welbutrin not working it can cause siezures it did me.

Bri

[gardenman]

Hey guys - Just want to say I'm newly registered to this site, although have visited many times, and have totally appreciated the things I've read. Newly diagnosed BP I in the spring after an acute manic episode, then thrust into the darkest, deepest, most suicidal depression I've ever experienced. It lasted a little over 7 months and was HELL. Literally. I started Lamictal Nov 6, 07, and let me tell you the titration period was fuel on the fires of HELL, so frustrating. FINALLY in the last week or so, after reaching 200mg, the shift in my mood is amazing, nothing short of miraculous. I am feeling like my old self again. WOW! I hope this continues. Lamictal seems to be a great med, I've read a lot about it, and it seems to work well for a lot of people. Monotherapy, and absolutely no side effects. i am truly blessed.
For the rest of you, hang in there. I am confident that this disease can be managed. I am committed to taking meds for the rest of my life, anything it takes to avoid experiencing what I did in 2007, and having to be hospitalized. Here's to 2008 being a GREAT year for all of us.

[tajk]

How often do you go back to your doc? I had to go back at least once a month for about a year. I was the biggest pain in their asses but I have two little people who depend on me so I didn't let them brush me off. This is your life make these people find the right combo for you. You have to start something for stress relief. I had to quit the position I was in because it was to stressful. Lifestyle changes along with the magic combo. Don't be afraid to be proactive and irritate the hell out of the docs.

[ablindmouse]

I really need to try a mood chart again, but besides being lazy and having a hard time keeping up with things, my moods tend to be all over the place in a single day one not really leading into another. So the graph chart with only a single space for each day doesn't really cut it and is a bit misleading. Even when I did get something down, there never seemed to be a huge amount of rhyme or reason to it all.

Good luck trying to get the meds straight, I spent 5 or 6 years going through a laundry list of them and never found something that worked well. Off them right now, but I am sure i will be back at some point in the future.