Posted by discopainter on March 21, 2006, at 21:37:44
Hi, I am newly diagnosed and very, very anxious. I thought maybe I could get some advice here. about how to move forward with medications...
My history: I have been treated for moderate unipolar depression for years with little impact. Then just recently a pdoc put me on 20mg of Prozac and I became somewhat euphoric (things looked really pretty and I was too amped/anxious to focus. Then they put me on a birth control pill and I got a million times worse and spun down into a suicidal "mixed state"; I kept seeing images of myself dead, etc. I guess according to this they are now saying I have been misdiagnosed for years and I'm really on the bipolar spectrum (cyclothemia or bp2)... and I'm confused 'cause it just seems like a crazy drug induced thing...
Anyway I went off all ad's and things began to normalize but then I started to get really physically depressed again (lots of pain in throat and chest). So I started taking 5mg prozac which worked for a bit (for the last 3 weeks) but now it's causing intense anxiety again. I am trying to knock out anxiety with clonazepam and propanolol but it's not working that well.
So, the doc suggested Lamictal, a mood stabilizer. My questions are
1. I am a songwriter in the middle of recording an album due in 2 months. Does Lamictal flatten you out much? I'm terrified of "blowing" this music opportunity but I'm not doing very well now as it is.2. Does Lamictal dampen creativity?
3. Does it help with anxiety?
4. Does it cause weight gain?
I would be grateful for anyone's experiences on these drugs, especially "creatives". Thanks for reading... I still can't believe I'm being diagnosed with an "illness" (I just thought I was passionate and creative)... DP
poster:discopainter
thread:623150
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060315/msgs/623150.html