Posted by ramsea on October 28, 2003, at 10:20:57
In reply to Re: These SSRIs failed..WB or Lithium next?, posted by venus mcmars on October 28, 2003, at 7:37:00
First of all, sorry you are both having such a hard time. At least you are half way there.
To me the big question is "what is the root of this irritability?"If it's drink, that really doesn't need any med. Less is more. If it's not drink on its own, the drink still needs looking at because of the aforementioned reasons, and also any underlying psychological problems that the beer might be helping to push out of view. So no one is calling him an alcoholic. ANYONE could be in those shoes.
2)You've no doubt had thorough medical checks to rule out other medical problems that can cause these negative mental states?
3)If he is cyclothymic, he wouldn't be subject to much on the manic side of things anyway--it would be mildly depressive/ mildly overexcited mental states. Theoretically any antidepressant can cause certain folks to be irritable and agitated. If he is also subject to a lot of anxiety, WB could increase that. Though it is said that WB may be better for bipolar depressives, leading to less mania, it is also well-documented that anxious types can get even more anxious/agitated and irritable on it. Well, it sure did happen to me.
4)I have been on Lexapro, Celexa, Prozac, and etc., and I believe your husband if he said they caused intolerable SEs. These meds are miracle drugs for some people, and I know that is a fact. But SSRIs cause others of us to NEED a miracle after we take them, they shot me into several lifethreatening mixed (manic and depressive at same time) episodes requiring lengthy hospital stays. But really there were many ways I couldn't tolerate them---huge weight gain, terrible carbohydrate cravings even in my sleep, nightmares, no sexual desire or feeling, feeling like a zombie in a sleep walk, no motivation, and so on.
5) Lastly, I do think everyone should look into side effects of any drug we take. Not just for lithium, which has been used for 50 years and so reems is known about what it can do to the body, but for all the new drugs too, bearing in mind that much less is known about the long-term effects of SSRIs, etc.When they come out with a drug they often seem to say, Hey, this has hardly any side effects, it's benign, doesn't cause weight gain, etc. etc. That's only because the drug is new and the testing isn't finished (did you know the final phase of testing a new drug is to use it on the population at large? Then those side effects start coming in--and sometimes they have to take a drug off the market because it's worse then they thought.)
Personally, I don't have a mild enough illness profile to debate the issue--I take lithium. I guess if I had seizures a lot I'd take something to stop the seizures, whether it made me chubby or sleepy or whatever. So if your husband can get away with it, maybe he doesn't need medicine at all. One last thought--has he been tested for ADD? Because some people with ADD are misdiagnosed as mild bipolars.
poster:ramsea
thread:273954
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031025/msgs/274264.html