Posted by JohnX2 on February 24, 2002, at 10:31:18
In reply to One More Question Please, posted by spike4848 on February 24, 2002, at 7:23:00
Hi spike,I have trouble falling asleep, but then I like
to sleep 10 hrs+. I'm a night person when not
medicated. Before my major mood problems, I
naturally would prefer to keep hours from 12 pm
to 2-3 am. But i know a lot of people like this
who aren't bipolar.A lot of bipolar ii people are hypersomniacs
and have anergic symptoms of depression.When I take medicines that give me an anti-depressant
response, albeit they never stick, they seem to
be affecting my noradrenergic system. My sleep
schedule is shifted back to 11 pm to 7 am. Its
really weird and I am the 1st person to work and
it freaks out my boss. But alas I can never get
the medicines to "stick" they always poop out
(the best candidates being Wellbutrin and Zoloft).
Serzone fixes my inability to fall asleep, but
still makes me want to sleep 10 hrs.mood stabilizers do not affect my sleep patterns.
Also I have noticed that since I have taken Lamictal
that the cognitive declines from other medicines
has decreased substantially. At first i thought
it might be zyprexa, but I stopped it. So I
take this really strong dose of Topamax with no
cognitive decline (seems everyone else complains).
I just started Serzone again with little cognitive
decline (last time off Lamictal it wiped me out).
I have been taking Neurontin with few cognitive
issues. Last time it made me dumb.
I think what is happening is the Lamictal is
guard banding glutamate transmission and preventing
these other medicines from hypostimulation of
glutamate (which is what helps you concentrate).
Also I think Lamictal may have mild monoamine reuptake
properties. sorry for babbling.-John
> Hey Guys,
>
> Thank you so much for the advice. I think I will try 200mg every 8 hours.
>
> I think the pieces of the puzzle are finally coming together in terms of figure out what the hell I have, depression versus bipolar versus anxiety. What I have noticed is that when I take a mood stablizer, lithium-depakote-neurontin-lamictal, my circadian rhythm is corrected. I am able to wake up in the morning with ease and feel sleepy at night. Off mood stablizers, I sleep all day and awake all night. I know this is a sign of bipolar disorder. The only problem is I still am depressed on a mood stablizer alone .... so I need an antidepressant.
>
> Question: (Mitch/John/Anyone) Have you noticed a problem with you circadian rhythms off mood stablizers? Is this bipolar/seasonally affective?
>
> So I guess it all makes sense now. I basically have a unipolar-bipolar hybrid disease. I got a few bipolar genes from my father (but not enought for full blown bipolar I) and a few unipolar genes from my mother.
>
> Thanks again.
>
> Spike
poster:JohnX2
thread:95270
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020222/msgs/95306.html