Posted by maggiedelena on April 28, 2006, at 22:11:57
Hi,
Apologies if there are threads about this already -- I did a search but didn't find anything that quite touched upon what I'm looking for.
Anyway, I recently decided to believe the second psychiatrist who told me that I might be BPII. Tried Lamictal as monotherapy and after 2.5 months, when I got up to about175 mgs, I experienced serious agitation (maybe akathisia) spaciness and, a few times, hallucinations. The combined effects made it impossible for me to function at work, so I'm coming off of it. Actually, the agitation in and of itself was probably sufficient to make it unbearable for me.
However, this is the drug that seems to work for everyone, and the fact that it didn't for me somehow makes me question the BPII DX. Also, it did seem to help with the depression, but I still had a fair amount of anxiety (which I distinguish from agitation -- I don't know if that's a distinction that only exists in my head) and never went more than a day or two without suicidal thoughts.
Has anyone else tried Lamictal and not gotten far with it for reasons other than the rash? Also, since my hypomanias are usually quite mild and pleasant, how can I tell if the antidepressant effects of the Lamictal triggered an unpleasant hypomania, or if the agitation and its accompanying nervous energy were just an unrelated side effect? I'm wondering now if I'm not BPII at all, and can just go on straight antidepressants.
PS: I do have a psychiatrist, whom I'm seeing soon and will discuss all this with. I'm just interested in hearing other people's experiences.
poster:maggiedelena
thread:637992
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060423/msgs/637992.html