Posted by PsychoSage on February 28, 2004, at 0:00:44
In reply to Re: Bipolars on Wellbutrin? » PsychoSage, posted by katia on February 27, 2004, at 15:54:09
> Did you try Zoloft before you knew you were bipolar? I did. Are you BP II or I?
> When did you experience your first episode of either? I was 10 when i experienced my first depression. and 17 first hypomania.
> Katiawell, i had short bouts as a child and suicidal ideation. I became hypo in college [in a dysfunctional way]. Before college, I was an overachieving youth, and I had an overactive mind that permitted me to sleep only 5 hours a night on average unless it were the weekend.
I was not really pathological until substances and booze came into play. Half of BPs are alcoholics and substance abusers, so perhaps my illness was brought out solely because of the substances or maybe accelerated. Either way, I am mental, and I deal with manic, hypomanic, psychotic, depressive, anxiety, and attention issues. I have a few diagnoses, but I just think about symptoms. The DSM is very limited, and it will undergo revision soon. I am deathly afraid of full manic episodes, since I have had one without any substances or psych drug inducing it.
I don't think I could really have one unless my life became very exciting.
.I tried zoloft twice before I was bipolar. But I was always kind of bipolar basically. a BP diagnosis would not prevent a doc from prescribing it to me if that is what you are asking, That whole AD{SSRI}=mania is not a uniform effect at all. It doesn't preclude us from SSRIs. It just means they can be totally wrong or they have a limited time frame for our use.
I think I was BP -NOS [not otherwise specified} or BP 2. I take trileptal 1200mg to quiet everything down. That means keeping me from getting overexcited or elated, anxious, and even for my residual psychotic problems according to my prescriber. I am just starting to learn how to figure out my cycles. I know flat out depression like the back of my hand, but I have mixed states more than anything now.
Wellbutrin is less likely to cause mania in people I have read than SSRIs. It is more norepinephrine than dopamine first of all. I think of it as something that keeps me awake, since I am on the Trileptal, more than something that makes me act or feel great. I have been on Wellbutrin without Trileptal, and it is not all too exciting, but the side effect profile is the best.
poster:PsychoSage
thread:259757
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040223/msgs/318427.html