treatment failure, treatment success: share your med story

Like many of you I have struggled with finding the correct medication(s) and the correct dose to take. I began with vyvanse 30 mg than after a week went to 60 mg. I also trialed Adderall, Adderall XR and concerta without superior results. Dexedrine was added for a while to the 60 mg vyvanse at 10 mg and 20 mg dosages. After several years my ability to tolerate vyvanse and or dexedrine decreased.

During periods on vyvanse I have tried several different SSRIs.

I was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 22. I have been given first and second generation antipsychotics, lithium and lamotragine. At one point for about 6 months i even tried vyvanse 10 mg with lithium, lamotragine and zoloft with moderate success.

I quit all my medications and began monotherapy with .5mg of alprazolam and my GPA and attendance increased at school. My overall performance in life was increased for those 2 years.

When my private insurance ran out I depended on medicaid and due to the bias against benzos it took a while before clonazapam was introduced into my treatment. The doctor only added klonopin because they sure well knew i was experiencing a handful of side effects from Lexepro. SSRIs have been insistently emphasized to be the primary driver to reduce my symptoms. however, i do not benefit from SSRIs for long. I managed to go from 2.5 mg of lexapro to 20 mg. Than i discontinued lexapro after 2 months. SSRIs are a horrible class of medication for me. I am afraid that the provider I currently see will be unwilling to prescribe a benzo if i am not taking an SSRI. This scares me because of their rigid logic. SSRIs according to the textbooks are overly depicted as safe and effective medications and the medicaid people like to go by the book. Soon they will probably discontinue the klonopin rapidly. But, nonetheless, here is what i am currently on.

Guanfacine 1 mg PO q8hrs (2mg daily) helps with physical symptoms of anxiety, hypertension and fast heart rate particularly
klonopin 0.5 mg PO q12hrs (1mg daily) helps with psychological aspects of anxiety such as racing thoughts and phobias
wellbutrin instant release 100 than 50 mg PO q8hrs (150mg daily) helps with depression and helps me deal with ADHD

I have to say, this combo works great. But the interest in the state provided mental health treatment is not to help individuals, it's to treat labels. I am intelligent and know what works and doesn't. it's been 10 years that i have been a consumer of psychiatric medication and for 7 years I have been on disability. Currently re enrolling into college and continue working on my degree in hopes that i will not be permanently disabled and or die at an early age.

Please share your trials and tribulations so that we all know we are not alone. Maybe we can learn something from one another.

I've been on too many meds to count over the past 33 years. I can't recall too much of what worked and what didn't. Also, sometimes something worked/didn't work and that changed later. Some of the meds that helped me in the past are not in use anymore.

I will say that I was in a mania 7 weeks ago and was put on Lamictal. It seems to be very helpful for stabilizing my moods.

Nothing has worked for me the last 35 years except paxil and geodon. Mirapex is now working. I've been on a slew of anti-psychotics which didn't work. ECT (3 trials) was a failure.

I take geodon and lamictal as mood stabilizers. And propaloanal and Ativan for anxiety. And then seasonal for PMDD.

They seem to work well. I refuse to be on anything else, or anything new because of the weight gain side effect.

I seem to respond more to other treatment then medications. Routine is very important to me.

I am on a ton of medications but they all work together to treat all of my conditions and keep me stable.