Posted by linnette on October 17, 2003, at 1:05:13
In reply to Re: lamictal questions , posted by fluffy on October 16, 2003, at 12:01:14
Hi Katy,
It was really difficult gettomg on here tonight, there must be lots of activity with posts.
Thanks for the sharing and the encouragement, and the welcome! I should feel right at home here!:-)
I'm glad to be of help and encourage you any way I can, and I hope you feel better real soon.
That feeling of "maybe I will never feel better" is terrible, and makes one feel real helpless I know.As far as my drug trials go, way back when I was placed on imipramine. My main issue has been the mixed states that my pdoc thinks may have been bipolar all along, but diagnosed as just major depressive illness. That was my first real severe bout, and the imipramine did wonders, but only after about a month. I was sooo agitated for the first few weeks, the imipramine made it worse, I know it did.
I was put on maprotiline 2 years later, along with xanax. I was tried on on lithium, with an AD, (nortriptyline), but after a month, couldn't tolerate the lithium. At that time, they were just beginning to learn about mood stabilizers other than lithium. Much later, I was given tegretol, which made me feel real strange.
Then after a long bout of depression that just wouldn't remit, a doc put me on Nardil. Honestly, it was the best thing that I ever took. I really felt alive, and for the first time I was happy, truly happy, and motivated to do things other than worry, sleep/not sleep, pace cry. At that time, again, still not yet diagnosed with BP illness, within a year of starting the Nardil I was hypomanic, hardly sleeping, and it lasted a long, long time interrupted by really bad depressive crashes, where I couldn't get out of bed for days. I was truly addicted to the high mood, but in looking back I was a mess, although the first few months were wonderful.
A new pdoc pulled me of Nardil to try Wellbutrin, and for me it was a disaster, due to extreme agitation. BUT--KEEP IN MIND, that I wasn't on a mood stabilizer, I was coming off of Nardil and that may be the reason I couldn't tolerate it. I liked the fact that I could wake up easily in the morning. I was then put on prozac which totally freaked me out, and probably others, and ended up on nortriptyline and xanax, which have been my mainstays. Zoloft at low doses has been ok, but I really want off of it, and would be happy with just the lamictal and nortriptyline, or maybe just lamictal. My experience with high doses of zoloft has been that I just want to crawl out of my skin..
Again, I would have went back on Nardil, but have never been able to tolerate a mood stabilizer, until Lamictal, and that is a little shakey right now, but I think I will be ok. This week has been better than last, so I have my fingers crossed. The mixed states are the worst part of the illness for me, and if I can just get stable, I think there may be hope. That is what I am hoping the lamictal will curb.
I'm not a doc, but I think that you should stick with the wellbutrin, to see if it pulls you out of the pits. I have heard good things about it, and my pdoc had mentioned trying again for augmenting my other meds. And AGAIN, I often think that had I been able to tolerate a mood stabilizer that I would have avoided all of the trials, and probably been able to tolerate many of the meds I was tried on. I'm assuming that trileptal is a mood stabilizer? Is it similar to any of the other mood stabilizers, or does it have other benefits?
Boy, I've written a book here. Let's keep each other posted on our progress. Also thanks for the encouragement and sharing your experiences..
take care,
linnette
poster:linnette
thread:269540
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031015/msgs/270087.html