Posted by Ritch on February 6, 2003, at 22:51:20
In reply to Anti-Depressants for Bi-Polars????, posted by Mikey_C on February 6, 2003, at 15:27:31
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> Hey all, I'm trying to find out what information there is on the type of anti-depressants that are available for Bi-Polars that are not in the SSRI spectrum. Out of the SSRIs, I've tried Paxil, Celexa, and Effexor, all of which I could not function properly on. I am no longer even interested in trying anything that is classified as an SSRI.
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> At the moment I'm taking 500mg of Depakote per day, 1mg of Clonazepam per day (to help me sleep... otherwise I just toss and turn all night, eventually leading to a panic attack), and 50mg of Trazadone (I've been using this as an anti-depressant for the time being since my Doctor is on vacation). Out of the current medications, Depakote has started to give me the runs pretty badly (not pleasant at all), while the Clonazepam and Trazadone taken together make me really lethargic the next day.
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> If I try to stop taking the Clonazepam and only take the Trazadone (100mg), in about a week my panic attacks start returning. If I don't take the Trazadone (which is only barely keeping my depression at bay) within a day my depression hits me.
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> I've still got 12 days to go before I see my Doctor, but I'd like to hear if anybody else has gone through this problem and found anything that actually worked. Maybe as a non-SSRI add-on to my Mood Stabilizer or even a change in Mood Stabilizers.
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> Thanks,
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If your hypomania/mania probs are under control and you are looking at anxiety/depression/panic stuff, I would try a Neurontin add-on first and see how that goes. Given you are at 500mg of Depakote, perhaps try 300mg 2x daily of Neurontin. You might see less Depakote induced diarrhea.
poster:Ritch
thread:139832
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030204/msgs/139890.html