Posted by fluffy on October 19, 2003, at 11:39:10
In reply to Re: lamictal questions , posted by linnette on October 17, 2003, at 1:05:13
Hi Linnette--
I also just posted a "book" to you, and damnit, it got erased. SH*T!! Anyway-- I'll try this again.
To answer some of your questions, first--Yes, Trileptal is a "mood stabilizer". It is basically Tegretol w/ an oxygen molecule attached to it.
So your med history and misdiagnosis problems sound similar to mine. I was also diagnosed with recurrent depressions, not bipolar, until last year. I was on Paxil for a year and a half, and it never made me feel mixed, but the minute I went off of it, I had my first "clear cut" hypomanic episode. When I think about how I was feeling, it was just like everything was falling into place for me, and I'd conquered my life. But sure enough, I came crashing down into a horrible agitated depression. Then we tried Lexapro, and I became horribly and terrifyingly mixed. Then came the Zoloft plus Neurontin (for anxiety), and I just felt mixed and spaced out.
Wellbutrin has made me feel jittery. It's almost welcome, as I've been suffering from "leaden paralysis" (DSM language). So it's been good to get moving again.
Yesterday, though, I had to entertain a friend from out of town, and I felt agitated as HELL!! Poor friend! I went to a fabric store, and I wanted to yell at people for no reason--I thought I might explode!! There were too many colors, lights and sound in there. There was a woman who was talking in a heavy southern accent, and I just thought I'd crawl out of my skin, or yell at her to stop talking.
I called my doctor to see if he thought I might be getting mixed again, but he said he couldn't discuss it over the phone (is this some kind of law?? He's a resident, not a full specialist yet). I see him tomorrow.
But I feel like I had similar irritable bouts without the wellbutrin. My friend who is bipolar, and takes WB said that at first, she had the jitters, and also felt agitated, but wasn't sure it was just her depression, or the WB. In any case, it did pull her out of a jam, and she's still on it.
So I'm going to keep trying it unless I get the really bad mixed, suicidal urges. Sometimes it's easy to blame a drug for symptoms of the mood disorder that just haven't been resolved. It's very confusing and frustrating.
I really hope you're doing better. I definitely need to be "fixed" right now. I'll keep in touch, and you do the same, okay??
take lots of care,
Katy
poster:fluffy
thread:269540
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031015/msgs/270812.html