Posted by morgan miller on August 4, 2010, at 10:22:39
In reply to Re: Effective Treatments for Mania » SLS, posted by cycling on August 4, 2010, at 4:40:39
> i must admit, it is very interesting you bring up bp2 though. if you do some searches on here, there's a thread about overlapping symptoms between adhd and bp2. growing up we (my family) knew i was hyperactive, but i never really had problems in class for my GPA was always near the 4.0 range. It makes me think whether my hyperness was adhd (which we all thought it was) or underlying mania. I don't believe I suffer from psychosis which would kick me out of the bp2 range correct? I am aware of whats going on in my head, and I'm coherent enough to understand this is all one big pain in the *ss. I don't think someone with psychosis could analyze this situation in such a manner. I'm just hoping one day soon I get these meds right. I understand its a process, but damn do I want to get on with my life and live the life that I want underneath this mess. so would you reccommend a mood stabalizer in my case over an antipsychotic like seroquel or abilify?
I bet your symptoms of ADHD were your genetic predisposition to bipolar manifesting.
If your going to take an atypical antipsychotic, I think you should be taking Zyprexa(at night) instead of Seroquel(overprescribed drug that sucks donkey dong IMHO).
So wait, did I read this right(sheesh my short term memory is bad right now-this is one thing that could happen to you if you don't take all precautions to prevent bipolar from developing into something much worse than what it is now), your doc wants to take you off lithium? I would at least stay on a low dose, maybe 300 mg. I am finding that 300 mg of extended release lithium carbonate has been working well for me lately.
Honestly, I believe it is very possible you will not have to stay on an antipsychotic or a mood stabilizer like depakote. If lexapro ends up helping you a ton, you may be able to get away with just taking it along with a low dose of lithium. I did just fine for years on SSRIs alone, free of any crappy side effects that atypicals and mood stabilizers(which were originally developed to treat epilepsy), and I think I have a version of bipolar I. I admit that I did take fish oil and I had to exercise vigorously 5 to 6 days a week. I also needed to moderate alcohol intake(which I did NOT do much of the time. I took breaks but would always return to partying and social binge drinking out of boredom and having some underlying psychological issues-the reason why I emphasize therapy). I also think I may have benefited from a little lithium back in those days of SSRI monotherapy.
Your pdoc is way too high on seroquel like many others are. I really think you should drop the seroquel and add a low dose(maybe 2.5 to 5 mg) of zyprexa. Then wait and see if Lexapro works any magic. If and when it does, maybe you can wean off Zyprexa and just stay on just Lexapro and Lithium. You may even want to just stay on a low dose of Seroquel, and if you start feeling much better on Lexapro, wean off Seroquel and see how you feel on just Lexapro and Lithium. It's possible Lexapro monotherapy along with fish oil, exercise, therapy, and maybe a few other supplements, may be enough to keep you stable and feeling good for a long time.
I'm not sure if you should even be thinking about being medication free right now. I believe, in your case, it is possible at some point down the road. I know of some people that are bipolar and have succeeded at getting off all medications. A
few of them were taking low doses of lithium orotate or lithium aspartate, though, which may be a good idea for you if you ever do successfully get off pharmaceuticals. I also know that some of these people figured out that certain vitamins and minerals and other supplements helped manage things. Things like exercise and meditation may also be necessary to achieve medication free success.Morgan
poster:morgan miller
thread:956333
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100731/msgs/957165.html