Posted by ROO on December 20, 2002, at 10:35:06
I've been on Topomax for a few months (maybe a little
over 3) and I think I've decided after a fair trial, that
I don't like it. I think it might be worsening my depression,
and plus it has sexual side effects that I don't like. I did
a little experiment last week...(without the permission of my
pdoc, which I feel a little squirrely about, but...) I just went
off the stuff for about 5 days...I noticed my mood got quite a bit brighter
(I'm also on 10 mgs lexapro), I felt pretty darn GOOD...had hardly ANY
sexual side effects (which led me to believe MOST of my sexual side effects
were coming from the Topamax, not the lexapro)...but sure enough, after about 5 days, I started
to get anxious and agitated and I guess I was "cycling"...so I figured I better
restart the Topamax. I have an appt. with my pdoc today, so I guess I've
got to confess what I've done, and of course she gets really pissed when I do
stuff like this without telling her. But my question is....what
mood stabilizers are out there that aren't depressing? That don't flatten your
mood so much? I noticed Topamax had "depression" listed as an actual side effect for
some people. Which ones don't have sexual side effects?
For the record I've already tried Lamictal, and I can't sleep on that one, so it's out.
I've tried Neurotin and it seemed kind of wimpy...I could feel it wear off within hours...but
no side effects, I'd be willing to try it again...but I don't feel all that stable on it.
Any other suggestions? I really miss my "up" moods....do they all flatten you out so
much? I don't know if I like this flattening out business. Mood stabilizer are relatively
new to me. It's hard to live with the cycling though, which expresses itself as extreme agitation,
anxiety, hard to be in my own skin feeling...very hard to function that way too.I'm cyclothymic, by the way.
poster:ROO
thread:132614
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021217/msgs/132614.html