Posted by polarbear206 on January 5, 2003, at 20:50:25
In reply to Re: Mitch and others, I am at my wits end. NICOLE, posted by nmk on January 5, 2003, at 15:00:23
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> > Where you aware that many women who suffer from postpartum depression are later diagnosed with an underlying bipolar disorder? I suffered from postpartum depression after my son was born and I really never got back to normal after different trials of antidepressants over the years. I had the same cyclic depression and anxiety after my period as you did. I would just bottom out and slip into depression and anxiety attacks. All of this got worse over the years. My pdoc suspected I had a mild bipolar disorder. It was hard for me to accept this. I did alot of research over the years and finally came to the conclusion that this is what I had. I have been on lamictal since last march. I feel so much better taking a tiny dose of an antidepressant with the lamictal.I also tried birth control pills, but the mental depression was very bad. There is a broad spectrum to mood disorders. You don't have to be manic to be diagnosed with bipolar. Manic depression is at the other end of the spectrum. A good book I suggest you read is "Why Your Depression Isn't Getting Better" It's about the epidemic of undiagnosed bipolar disorders. My bipolar is depression dominated. I would cycle with oversleeping, low energy, confusion and concentration problems. This would escalte to anxiety. Antidepressants used alone and in higher doses without a mood stablizer would just exacerbate everything. You may need to back of the a/d and increase the trileptal or try another mood stablizer. I finally found the right mood stablizer after trying lithium and depakote. I didn't like the side effects with them and just didn't feel right. Lamictal has no side effects. No weight gain either. Many who post here are having alot of success with this drug.
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> > Laura.
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> Laura,
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> Your situation sounds so similar to mine and I am
> grateful for your advice. Could you please tell me what dose of Lamictal you are on and the type and dose of antidepressant you take with it? Do you feel that you are feeling back to where you were before having children or is it a daily struggle?
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> Also, what about estrogen therapy? Since I feel "normal" during menses, couldn't there be some way to replicate the hormonal activity going on during that time? Have you ever tried taking any hormonal supplements and if so, did it improve your mood? I hope I can keep in touch with you and pick your brain some more. I will also check out the book you suggested.
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> Many thanks,
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> Nicole
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Nicole,I am taking 200mg of lamictal. I divide the dose in the morning and evening. Before lamictal was added, I was on 100mg of imipramine and 15mg of paxil. This combo kept the depression most of the time at bay, but I would have mixed states where I
was very irritable and tired. When I took paxil alone, it made me really happy with all this energy 2 weeks before my period and after it I would crash and feel sluggish, lethargic confused and had carbohydrate cravings. I also have some SAD with this which is very common with bipolars. I am now down to 25mg of imipramine and down to 7.5mg of paxil. I'm going to stop the paxil in the future. I have never been able to get down to this low of a dose on antidepressants. I feel 100% better with the low dose of a/d with the lamictal. It's been 14 long years to get to this point.I tried some of my mother's premerin years ago. It does have some very good antidepressant properties. I took a 1/2 of a .625mg tablet. When I did this I was able to lower the paxil to 10mg. I felt wonderful. My pdoc wasn't to thrilled about it because he thought the estrogen would eventually make me hypomanic. I have read some literature about the use of estrogen patches to prevent reoccurances of post partum depression.
One of the others who posted suggested pscheducation.org. This is one of the best sites I have found. There is a very interesting page on thyroid and bipolar. I'm going to send some pages I want you to check out.
Laura.
poster:polarbear206
thread:134602
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021230/msgs/134668.html