Posted by lizbeth on June 2, 2002, at 12:58:08
In reply to rediagnosis: bipolar II, posted by bonnie on June 2, 2002, at 1:00:23
Hi Bonnie,
I'm in the same boat, except I was only diagnosed BPII after 8 years of being on various antidepressants. Before I go any further, a good website to check out is Psycheducation.org. I don't agree with everything the doc says (like necessarily stopping AD's altogether for BPII), but he's got some good info. Click on the right section of info for primary care physicians.
The problem for me was that the antidepressants stopped working after a while, or made me more agitated. A big flag for p-docs is when a person has weird reactions to antidepressants. For me, I always got an instantaneous boost from any AD I tried--the worst was Wellbutrin, which darn near made me manic.
I'm surprised your p-doc didn't try you on depakote or lithium first line. They're really the gold standard and like a lot of other medical conditions that are treated empirically (by the reaction of the patient), a diagnosis of BPII can usually be made if someone responds great to one of the two. I, for one, felt much calmer the morning after I took my first 500 mg. dose of Depakote. I've been tweaking the combo of mood stabilizer and AD since last Spring 2001, and I'm now on 600 mg. of Lithium (don't be scared of this one--I just started a couple of weeks ago and it seems to have finally lifted any residual depression), 250 mg. of Depakote Sprinkle, and 20 mg. of Prozac. I may try to wean myself off the AD, or at least down to 10 mg--we'll see.
I think that at least 30% of people being treated by Primary Care docs with AD's have underlying BP, whether it be I, II, or III. The reason we may be seeing more diagnosing of it is because the AD's are being used a LOT more than used to, because SSRI's are less of a OD risk than old-school TCA's. And, the longer people are on AD's without a moodstabilizer, the worse the BP gets.
Hope that helps and good luck--work with your PDoc and don't hesitate to find another if he/she doesn't work with you. People on this board can help you find a good one. I'm in Chicago area and can get you the name of mine (excellent). Or, email Dr. Bob and he'll help you.
Take care,
Elizabeth
poster:lizbeth
thread:108402
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020602/msgs/108441.html