Posted by Tabitha on August 22, 2016, at 12:29:42
So my dx is bipolar II. In the last few years I've done this:
- Lamictal 150
==> good for a few months, depression relapse
- Lamictal 150 + SNRI (cymbalta)
==> good for several months, then some depression relapse plus got tired of sexual side effects & sleep disruption
- Lamictal 150 + SNRI (fetzima)
==> good for a few months, depression relapse
- Lamictal 150 + SNRI (fetzima) + lithium 300
==> good, tapered off the fetzima since I had relapsed on it anyway, while increasing lamictal
- Lamictal 200 + lithium 300
==> slow depression relapse, pdoc wanted me to ramp up the lithium
- Lamictal 200 + lithium 900
==> agitated, miserable, horrible depression, joint pain, constant sweating. In desperation I dropped lithium back to 300 and dug up my old cymbalta
- Lamictal 200 + lithium 300 + SNRI (cymbalta)
==> feeling markedly better after 4 days. I see pdoc next week.From this I've concluded I really need a serotonin drug. The lamictal + lithium just doesn't cut it for me. My concern though is that I always relapse with depression. I've tried every flavor of AD (except MAOI), I've responded to all of them, but none last more than 6 months to a year.
Has anyone else had this pattern? Did you find a solution? I wondered if just swapping different ADs every six months would help.
poster:Tabitha
thread:1091494
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20160819/msgs/1091494.html