Posted by Rosa on May 23, 2002, at 7:53:37
In reply to Re: SCARED TO DEATH to take this med..HELP!!!! » BarbaraCat, posted by Jewele on May 22, 2002, at 18:11:34
BarbaraCat wrote:
What I've found out since then (entirely due to this board and through further research) is that these kinds of reactions to antidepressants (panic/hypomania at onset, pooping out, anxiety, non-responding to different kinds), are typical of Bipolar II disorder rather than unipolar depression. In Bipolar II, antidepressants alone will cause high and low cycling and will make things worse. You have to take a mood stabiliser along with your AD (sometimes the mood stabiliser alone is enough).
Adding a mood stabiliser, such as lithium, depakote, lamictal, neurontin, has worked wonders for many of us here, myself included. I now take lithium along with Remeron. The Lithium has made all the difference for me. It literally saved my life.
The fact that you had postpartum panic attacks is another red flag for Bipolar II disorder - same thing happened to me. If indeed you do have BPII then taking another kind of antidepressant is not going to do it - ultimately they all fail. Most doctors don't see us frequently enough and are too busy to think about our cases adequately. If I were you, I'd ask for a diagnostic reevaluation and possible trial with a stabiliser.
____________________LITHIUM/LITHOBID
Years ago I took Lithium successfully to get off Valium. The doctor said I didn't need a tranquilizer; I needed an antidepressant. A few years ago I found out I couldn't take Lithium or Lithobid. I had a severe reaction to Lithobid including hallucinations, tremors and loss of equilibrium, tinnitis, etc.DEPAKOTE
I also took Depakote for a few days but found that I could not take it either because I could not stay awake.TRAZODONE (DESYREL)
I have taken Trazadone successfully for several years.I believe that when you are older, you may not be able to take the same medications as you did when you were younger. I find that there are many medications that I cannot take. I am not allergic to them; I just cannot take them because of their side affects.
I believe that if you cannot drink alcohol that you may have a problem with addiction to certain medications. Alcoholism is a progressive disease. If you quit and then start again, you will pick up where you would be if you had never quit.
poster:Rosa
thread:3323
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020517/msgs/107384.html