Posted by Ritch on November 16, 2002, at 17:49:15
In reply to Re: med combination for ADD + BP ][ » Ritch, posted by SLS on November 16, 2002, at 14:06:53
> Hi Mitch.
>
> > I am also on Trileptal 150mg/day to help with bipolar depression...
>
> My depression seems to be an atypical presentation of bipolar disorder.
>
> How can you be sure that Trileptal is exerting an antidepressant effect?
>
> What cognitive side-effects did you have, and how long did it take for them to disappear?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> Sincerely,
> ScottHi Scott, I was on a brief Trileptal trial a couple of years ago. I definitely felt an increase in energy and mental alertness. However, I got really nauseated from it and stopped it (at 300mg/day with some Zoloft which aggravated the nausea). This time around I had been through several stimulant trials with mixed success. They worked great for one or two things, but made several other things worse. It was like they made me feel the *same* mood-wise day to day (anticycling), but the sameness was an *icky* sameness (a mild, but chilly antisocial anxiety and a tendency towards increased and sometimes unnecessary obsessiveness with detail). That is *great* for *some* things, but not all day long, day after day. Anyhow, I am facing another seasonal bipolar depressive episode which typically worsens very rapidly through January, and I want to do this without stimulants AND Depakote always tends to worsen my depressions because of oversleeping. SO, that is when the Trileptal got brought back up (this time at just 150mg) along with *reducing* the Depakote to a minimal 125mg/day to reduce sleepiness. Thus far it seems to be helping. I've really got my fingers crossed I can handle Depakote 125mg + Trileptal 150mg + Klonopin .5mg + Effexor 12.5mg PLUS fish oil.
Whew!, I hope this clarifies things, I never had any cognitive sfx from the Trileptal, but *always* had cognitive sfx from Depakote/Klonopin. I can get some of the mental functioning back from a Depakote increase with time (but not fully).
Mitch
poster:Ritch
thread:127770
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021116/msgs/127957.html