Bipolar Meds - An Introduction
Bipolar Meds - The Mood Stabilizers
Bipolar Meds - The Antipsychotics
Long Haul Bipolar Treatment
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
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About Me
- John McManamy
- I am an award-winning author and mental health journalist. I have been writing about mood disorders since being diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1999, ranging from a website, an email newsletter, a book, articles for HealthCentral, and this blog. More recently, I have been producing videos. Writing about my illness has played a very strong role in my healing and recovery. Writing allows me to come to terms with my past, gives meaning to my present, and gives me the courage to face the future with hope.
What about Zyprexa (olanzapine)as a mood stabilizer?
ReplyDeleteYour article was very helpful to me. Very well researched and thought out. I just started taking Seroquel in addition to my lithium and appreciated your article. Thanks, Luann
ReplyDeleteMy psychiatrist is treating my bipolar disorder
ReplyDeletewith Topamax and Neurotin. I tried Lamictal for depression but had serious side effects.
Also, in order to help my depression I have been drinking @16 oz. of wine before bedtime so I can sleep. I would appreciate some advice
or references. Thank You,
I had my baby through CS and spent a week at the clinic. I had little rest and sleep and was overwhelmed with emotions. I became irritable and agitated withhot flushes.i was given largactil,haldol,risperidone for about one month.Then I was given zoloft for about 6 months. Now I feel like a zombie as if am incapable of good reasoning,perception and judgement. Is there anything I can do to reverse the effects of the drugs?
ReplyDeleteI often feel tired and uninterested in things happening around me. If I had read this article earlier it would have given the courage to question the usefulness and necessity of some of the drugs I 've been subjected to by my doctor. You are doing a great job!
ReplyDeleteYour article answered to the questions I've been asking myself for a long time. I was about to change psychiatrist recently because, here in France it's the same, they just give you your meds but you go on living as you can. Without asking him, I've just started a talking therapy and hope it will help me. I had come to the conclusion that I coull not go on living like that ; one day fine out of ten at the best and trying my best to go and work, but for how long?
ReplyDeleteDo you still believe there is some merit to the micronutrient supplement developed by Canadian Anthony Stephan for bipolar disorder? (It's called EM Power Plus.) You mentioned this in your 2006 book. Will you be publishing a new edition of Living Well with Depression and Bipolar Disorder? I hope so.
ReplyDeleteHey, Alison. I updated my article on nutritional supplements a week or two ago, with a revised look at EM Power.
ReplyDeleteI do need to update my book. I very recently updated this website, which underscored the need to update my book, but it's probably going to take me at least a year to get myself into shape to tackle the project. Many thanks for your interest, as this really helps motivate me. :)
What a warm, cleared-headed post on a vexingly complex issue. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteMy teenage daughter may well be bi-polar and is in a crisis phase (and in hospital) right now. Abilify seems to have failed and we're not quite sure what happens next.
John -- I notice from your archive that after a burst of activity in 2009, very little in 2010 and then a bit more in 2011, you might be getting back into into blogging shape.
Please do. This information is hugely valuable.
What to do when no med seems to work?
ReplyDeleteAbout 2.5 years ago (God has it been that long) I became a statistic. I was one of the many people who has their unipolor depression diagnosis switched to Bipolar 2. It was even the statistically correct time frame. I had been fighting the depression for 10 years. Then on Cymbalta I developed severe akasia, felt like I was about to fly offf the planet(thats HYPO?mania) and finally mentioned the severe irritability I had been having all my life---nice girls don't get angry let alone complain about it.
ReplyDeleteSo it was off the Cymbalta and on to Lamictal---but the 'loading' stage of Lamictal takes so long and I was so dysphorically hypomanic so we added geodon. At first it seemed to work. But then, in the middle of one night it seemed like some kind of switch flipped in my head and I became terrified of everything, absolutely paranoid obessed that something would happen to my husband and had super akasia--the akasia on the cymbalta was nothing compared to this.
Into my prescriber I went ( I see a nurse practioner) and we decided it was the geodon. She wanted me inpatient to get me off the stuff and figure out something that would work.
And hey----considering I live in a small community in North Northern Minnesota I got lucky---the psych doc at the hospital was brilliant. He got me on stuff that is still working.
A tiny dose of Paxil (he said it would help with the obsessive thinking that accompanied my hypomania---I had not even realized I had obsessive thinking,), a dose of Seroquel because you can't give a BP2 an antidepressant alone, clonazepam lmg three times a day and a sleep aid as needed. Oh, and a thyroid med because even tho my thyroid was ok as far as cardiac stuff went, apparently it was not functioning properely for meds to be absorbed
Ironically I had been functioning on this combo for about a year when my husband went in for his annual once every five year physical and we found out his third cervical vertebrae was becoming far too friendly with his second cervical vertebrae and his forth and fifth were self fusing and he had bone spurs everywhere. In short he need surgury and he would be a quadraplegic if it didn't work.
It worked---thank God and I was able to sit in the waiting room for six hours of surgury without breaking down or flying off the planet.
So---sometimes if your meds aren't working maybe you need someone new with a fresh perspective to look at things.
And even paranoid---what was I, a former RN seeing when I looked at my husband one year before we found out about his neck?
this is a great site better by far than #bipolarworld chat there if you are not in agreement they give you the boot it has happened to me over and over again when i simply try to say something that is not silly talk no everything is a trigger somethings are facts of life like health and what to eat
ReplyDeleteI am in a mood group in canada. My psychiatrist is collaborative, once I got over being in crisis. She is very pharmaceutically patient in weaning me off lithium s l o w l y. tinkering around with subtherapeutic doses of different things,then weaning me off them one at a time. Now I am on Seroquel extended release and small dose of lamictal. Had to go off lithium for my kidneys. I really try to have good sleep hygiene. Others in my mood group have had good results, function etc. The one guy in the group finds fault with every medication no matter how benign. (Cant take Seroquel because he read that he cant drink wine with it. Cant take zopiclone in case it would be bad for his memory. Cant take anything. Fear of medication could be part of his illness I guess. I have worked for 15 years without re hospitalization as have others in my group.Monitored every month...by the way my doctor does not like the term "tinkering" with medication: prefers "adjusting the medications." She gives talking therapy as an adjunct.and has trained me to look out for warning signs of mania also.
ReplyDeleteYou state lithium as a treatment started in 1940. I'm an omnivore reader, and I seem to remember reading that a mineral hot spring north of Rome during the days of the Republic / Empire was well known for it's miraculous' of the 'insane' and 'troubled'. Much, much later it was discovered the hot springs were loaded with lithium salts. Trivia.
ReplyDeleteI had bariatric surgery 6 months ago. Sixty pounds gone so far and regular nutritional lab tests ... and I feel better than I've felt in decades. [Yet I had to reach a point in my depression treatment, drugs and talk therapy, that allowed me to take this step and now, to do what I need to do for a post-Bariatric life.] Over the years occasional blood tests had resulted in B-12 shots. Multiple shots. Then, no follow-up. Now I take B-12 sub-lingual (dissolving under the tongue for absorption through the skin) every day. I strongly recommend nutritional lab tests for anyone coping with depression.
ReplyDeletebethc@dishmail.net
So refreshing just hearing you speak. I have lost so much of my life to misdiagnosis and of course my dear children and husband have had to pay the price!! I am so tired of blaming myself and also having everyone else blaming me when I "GO" from one extreme to another!! I did not want to be like this Did not ask for it, really don't think I deserve this frustration everyday. I am a wonderful loving person that would do anything for anyone... Just ask all the volunteers that I have been blessed to serve with....... May someone find the cause for this junk, please, before all of our children and our future generations end up in this stupid dark hole!! I believe we were put here for a wonderful life. To share love. This in my belief, was intended for us ALL That is ALL I want For EVERYONE!!! Hold no hate in your heart and you shall find TRUE happiness. This is my "motto" in life TRY IT you may like it!!!
ReplyDeleteI've been diagnosed/living with BP 1 since 1991. I can hardly believe 20 years of emotional struggle has passed - some periods much for "functional" than others. I appreciate your sharing of information that just doesn't hit the 6 o'clock news or even many mainstream academic journals. Lithium has been very effective at putting a stop to my mania, but has done precious little for my depression which has always been my main forefront problem since puberty (long before my official BP diagnosis at 24 - bang on statistical age - during grad school). After about a decade living in depression/dysthymia, I reached out to psychiatry for help with my depression and agreed to stay on Lithium. The immediate response about 10 years ago was combine an anti-d and up my lithium dose within my therapeutic range. What's strange is that I did find that paxil elevated my mood somewhat, so I went from depressed to having increased energy, motivation, etc. However with these positives came quite an intensity of irritability. This became my next phase of functioning - more able to work and manage day to day life, but emotionally enraged a lot of the time. But Id been raised to always put on a happy face, so I somehow managed to divert my irritability somewhat inwardly leading to insomnia and bodily aches and pains. After a recent relapse due to mixed states, I was hospitalized and now back on lithium and paxil with a hint of seroquel. I was amazed and shocked to read this article that a BP 1 would continue to be given anti-d for depression in today's day and age given how much destruction this as caused. I will be seeing a psychopharmacological/biochemical shrink at my request to look at other options for bipolar depression. Your article is very timely and I will be bringing it with me to my appointment to see if this helps us to make an informed decision on my med treatment. I know that it takes more than drugs to fix my life, but with that said, the drugs are a first line of stabilization for me to allow me to engage in therapy and healthy living. Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteWhen I get Hypomanic for few days I can forget to eat some meals when my brain is working on projects, researching, and composing. Balanced meals are important to me so are extra meals of protein. For me I try to balance mental work with physical work...and try to have a social life to share stories with friends.
ReplyDeleteI have something more rare called hyperthymic temperament. It's like I've been hypomanic all my life, but it's a little bit less severe because there is no poor judgement or impairment of function. I am simply upbeat, energetic, creative, confident, very outgoing & humorous. I have been successfully self-employed for 20 years No complaints here. Just stumbled onto information about hyperthymia because I had a manic episode from an anti-depressant I was prescribed for a temporarily stressful circumstance that has since resolved. I was positive that I was not bipolar because I never had mood swings. I wish hyperthymia was not as obscure of a topic as it seems to be. At least 1 in 100 people have my temperament. I wonder how many of us, like me, were or have been misdiagnosed as bipolar. I don't take any meds. I'm nearly 48 and have not suffered, have impairments of functioning, I'm not a threat to myself or others and there is no chance of having an episode from not taking meds. i have only had one FROM taking meds. Come join my group on Facebook. Hyperthymics Are Us.
ReplyDelete