Posted by alchemy on November 2, 2011, at 19:46:31
In reply to Thoughts/advice?, posted by Raisinb on October 31, 2011, at 16:36:06
Did you start taking that med combo all at once (or in a short time)? If so, that really makes it hard to figure out and your dr. is a moron. It doesn't make sense to me if being on meds made you worse to increase one of them (the lithium).
Those are bad rage episodes, I'm sorry. And it's weird that you are having random fits that sound like "cycling" to me with all of the mood stabilizers. From what I am reading, it sounds like you became BP2 after starting the meds. Agitation can be considered a form of mania (don't ask me why, when I've had agitation it isn't a happy place)
Lamictal seems to cause initial agitation in a lot of people (myself included). I would say you may have increased your dose too quickly, but because it's getting worse that doesn't seem the case.For me - Lamictal increases make me agitated for a while, but ironically, I think Lamictal may be what helped my long-term agitation. (I also got acne with both lithium & lamictal when I first tried them)
Antipsychotics (seroquel) give me agitation.
I have taken 2mg long-acting xanax during the day for a few years now. It talks the edge off of some mild anxiety & agitation.To confuse you compared to the other posts (we all have our different experiences), I would try decreasing the lithium first and stay on the Zoloft for now. Lithium can be used as an "add-on" for depression, but usually isn't used as an anti-depressant. Lamictal can be an anti-depressant as well as a mood stabilizer. 100mg is on the low side. I think as a whole, more people react more negatively to lithium than lamictal (don't quote me though).
Have you ever tried taking your xanax during the rage episodes? (until you figure out what is going on). Why aren't you taking ambien for sleep instead of xanax?
What has your experience with SSRIs or is Zoloft your first?
And don't decrease anything too quickly :) That's not fun either.
poster:alchemy
thread:1001318
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20111027/msgs/1001541.html