Posted by Quintal on April 9, 2008, at 16:52:58
In reply to Re: Lorazepam, posted by dbc on April 9, 2008, at 14:20:06
Well if he does it's going straight in the bin. Pdoc's understudy already suggested olanzapine instead of lorazepam today, but my social worker refused because I've been on it twice before and she knows I hate it. We're both uneasy about the way atypicals are becoming the drugs of choice for long-term use in bipolar disorder. They have way too many serious side effects to be a reasonable option vs. benzos and mood stabilizers IMO. I suspect too often the profits of the pharmaceutical companies are being put before the welfare of patients these days. In any case, I've already taken Seroquel, Zyprexa, Abilify, flupentixol, and I'm on a low dose of amisulpride right now. I got no benefit from them - Abilify nearly drove me to suicide. Low-dose amisulpride has a mild mood-brightening effect in the short term, but it isn't helping very much. Zyprexa and Seroquel were just awful.
Lamictal worked quite well for two years, so that's why I'm considering it again. Parnate was the only antidepressant that really worked for me, although dothiepin was pretty good too, but they don't like to prescribe it any more, hence lofepramine if he doesn't want to prescribe an MAOI. When I was in hospital, lorazepam p.r.n and zopiclone were sufficient to treat my mania. I was on a low dose of amisulpride too, but that wasn't helping much - in fact I think it was making me slightly manic. Like flupentixol, I think it's one of the APs that can actually trigger mania in some people. Hypomania can be adequately treated with lorazepam or another benzo, if it needs treating at all. Atypicals are just overkill and I want nothing more to do with them.
Q
poster:Quintal
thread:822365
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080330/msgs/822434.html