Posted by med_empowered on December 2, 2005, at 11:50:56
In reply to Re: hypomania from ssri, posted by ghuber on December 2, 2005, at 11:39:13
I'm kind of iffy on considering drug-induced (hypo)manic behavior bipolar disorder. Lots of drugs can cause psychiatric ill effects (especially psychiatric drugs, obviously)...it just doesn't make sense that repsonse to antidepressants can "unmask" bipolar, or whatever the idea is now. That's kind of like saying that meth addicts who go psychotic are "really" schizophrenic or otherwise suffering from a psychotic disorder and the meth simply "unmasked" it. Its just not true.
You might be well served by just switching to something else. Wellbutrin seems pretty good for bipolars, and it seems to induce fewer (hypo)manic reactions overall, so that might be a good med to try. You could also try Lamictal instead of an antidepressant, Symbyax, stimulants, or see if something like an ssri+buspar combo helped...the buspar could boost the AD while dampening some of the sertonin effects, which could maybe allow you to take the AD without going crazy. Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:584507
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051126/msgs/584547.html