Posted by yesac on June 14, 2005, at 11:58:08
In reply to Re: bipolar sleep problems » yesac, posted by barbaracat on June 13, 2005, at 19:36:29
> People who don't need lithium don't respond very well to it. And I'd take the blah couch-potato life sucks type of depression any day to the above WITH anxiety, agitation and panic attacks.
Do you know how lithium affects people who are *normal*? My guess would be that it just kind of dulls them out, flattens them... I've heard that lithium has neuroprotective properties though, so maybe our brains are better off somehow than the rest of the world who doesn't take it. We just have to risk the thyroid and kidney and other problems!
> All you probably need at this point is a small dose of an antidepressant that agrees with you. Remember, lithium augments ADs and vice versa so you won't need as much to start so don't let anyone talk you into taking the 'standard' dose of an AD.> Bipolars are very sensitive to SSRIs, as you know. We need just a smidge to start and increase from there. I'm having wonderful results with Cymbalta but I only take 6mg vs the 30mg standard dose.
I'm not sure what to take. I've been on SO many drugs with no luck. I'm thinking of trying Lamictal again, but I don't know if that's pointless. It really didn't do much of anything for me when I took it before, but I'm kind of hoping that combined with lithium maybe it would work better. I'm not too excited about any of the antidepressants, and wonder if I maybe should just stay away from them. I could possibly try a TCA. I've only tried one of those and got off it pretty quickly after I found that I was unable to pee! My other thought is Strattera, which would be good if it worked, because I have a lot of attention problems too in addition to the mood problems. So it would be an ideal drug, except that I've heard it frequently doesn't work very well and it has a lot of unpleasant side effects.But I guess there's no way of ever knowing until I try, with any drug.
>Good luck to you. One thing about us mood challenged folks - we're a tenacious lot. -
Thanks! And- I think that we have to be tenacious-- what other choice do we have?
Meghan
poster:yesac
thread:509410
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050611/msgs/512568.html