[RelientK]

Hi all. I am BPII. I get some slight features of hypomania that last a day or two and then depression that goes for months. Last episode has lasted since April 2007. Yup. Depression ranges from suicidal to moderate.

Antidepressants do nothing for me and make me agitated and give me racing thoughts and racing music. Effexor actually helps with the depression before it induces hypomania.

I am currently on Depakote and Lithium. New to Lithium.

Anyone have any luck with Lithium?
What do people with hard to treat BP depression take?
I do have confidence in my Doc, but I was just seeing what other people benefit from.

[Schatje]

I was on many different anti-depressants and though some seemed to help a little it never quite did the trick. When I was diagnosed with bipolar I was told that most anti-depressants wouldn’t work for treating bipolar as the depression associated with bipolar is different. In fact anti-depressants can cause a bipolar person to go into a manic or hypo-manic episode.

I was very surprised that I was bipolar. I was always, like you, moderately to severely depressed and the hypo-manic episodes were fairly mild. It wasn't until I mentioned something about paranoia that my doctor caught on, I'd never mentioned anything like that before, and he had been concerned that none of the antidepressants seemed to work very well for me. Now we know why.

I tried Lithium Citrate and got pretty bad hives, although it seemed to help quite a bit, and Lithium Carbonate sent me into a hypo-manic episode. I am on Lamictal right now. My doc put me on it because of its success in treating bipolar people whose major problem is depression.

[ehrhar]

I have taken lithium for a lot of years. I have been very satisfied with it except for the hand tremors and the frequent blood level testing.

[3kittycat]

Hi. My BPII most often presents itself with depression. Like most of us with this disorder it is the symptom that initally made me seek help. I went through trials of Zoloft, Effexor, Lexapro, Remeron, and Paxil. All of them would poop out really quickly or not work at all. The effexor did send me into hypomania, though. After I was correctly diagnosed my pdoc added an antipsychotic. First it was Risperdal added to the Effexor and I finally found what it was like to not be in an abyss. After some side effects after a year and a half on Risperdal, I was then put on Zyprexa. I did not fall back into depression with the med change. I did however put on 10 lbs in 2 months on the med. I suggested to my pdoc that I try Abilify and that has been working well at 5mg for the past month.

My attempts on lithium were not fruitful as an adjunct to the antidepressant. I know antidepressants can be controversial in the treatment of BPII but I can not imagine not being on them.

My current treatment is Abilify 5mg and Effexor 150 mg. I have not cycled since last spring.

I encourage you to continue searching for options if the lithium does not work out for you. Good luck.