Posted by AMenz on June 15, 2001, at 13:11:32
In reply to Re: Lamictal and SAMe --Miriamne, posted by Miriamne on June 13, 2001, at 15:58:36
I am no expert because besides having a bipolar II spectrum almost identical to yours, with very rapid cycles (sometimes diurnal) I am also menopausical and therefore have estrogen involvement.
But let me tell you what I have found out by experience. Virtually every antidepressant no matter in what dosage leads to that ugly hyper mood state. Stabilizing on a mood stabilizer and taking out the anti-depressants or lowering them substantially will eventually stop you from cycling and of course both the highs and the lows will ameliorate.
I have just gone through 6 months of horrible cycling between a euthymic state followed by the same length of mixed mania (irritable, etc. as you described), I finally after research on my own initiative cut down on Zoloft from 100mg to 50mg and saw a huge amelioration in the cycling. I plan to go down to 25 mg as soon as I get the courage up for withdrawal symptoms.
However, let me say I'm chagrined because Zoloft does do wonders for anxiety and depression, and I've never felt better than on SSRI's. SAM-e seems to have the same cycling activation effect.
Do some research on the internet on bipolar depression. See what you come up with. But you cannot go by what the unipolars say about depression on this or any other forum, because they do not experience activation of manic or mixed states when they take AD's
I hope this helps.
> Ruth:
>
> Actually, my doctor suggested Neurontin first before he mentioned the Lamictal-- maybe I'll end up trying that, depending on where the next few weeks take me... I was interested to hear that it does not seem to "dull" your feelings. I will keep this in mind in the seemingly endless search for the right drug for me.
>
> I'm not sure what level of detail you would like re my symptoms, but the short description would be that I am mostly depressed, alternating with periods of agitation (guess I got shortchanged in the euphoria department when they were handing out Bipolar II symptoms!). The depression is made up of overwhelming sadness, hopelessness, tiredness,a sense of being cut off from everything because it is either too emotionally painful or too much effort; the agitation is made up of anger (at myself and others), lack of focus, racing thoughts, restlessness, inability to concentrate or complete anything but the most basic tasks, and anything requiring decision-making is so difficult that I end up either crying or raging about it.
>
> I suspect I will end up going back to some form of antidepressant plus a mood-stabilizer, and simply having to live with the side effects. It would be great if the SAMe helped, but I don't see any results yet with the "feeling" part of this-- it does get me moving, but that's not the whole story, of course, and if it moves me into agitation, that's not going to work for the long run, obviously. I hate the waiting, but we'll see.
>
> I do appreciate your comments-- all of this is a big help. What kind of art do you make?
> Sincerely,
> Miriamne
poster:AMenz
thread:57666
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010612/msgs/66566.html