Posted by ms. b. on February 16, 2001, at 11:33:39
In reply to Anyone out there on mood stablilizers only?, posted by roo on February 16, 2001, at 10:51:55
Roo,
My boyfriend (bipolar II) takes only neurontin, in the mid-range dose, somewhere around 3000 mg per day. Wish they would make big horse pills, rather than having to take 4 or 5 pills per dose, 3 times a day. However, he likes the fact that it has a short half-life, so there are benefits.You are on prozac for its AD qualities, I guess? Are you having any side-effects, and is that why you want to discontinue? What does your pdoc mean by cyclical depression? There's probably nothing really wrong with taking the prozac, and it, too has a short half-life. In fact, I think my boyfriend would benefit from taking prozac, even a little, when he's in his depressed phases of his BP. But he is a rapid-cycler, and the ADs sometime initiate mania, and the hypomanic phases are hell (like right now, when I've been dumped after a two-year relationship). I also wonder whether just the neurontin alone, in either phase, is the best med for him.
But you are unipolar I guess, so, maybe you can taper the prozac sometime soon and see. Most of us end up doing cocktails of some sort. I'm unipolar, tapering effexor (I'm almost done, yea!), on 200 mg of wellbutrin (really helping), and 600 mg neurontin, too, at bedtime, to chase the bad dreams away...
Good luck, and write again,
B.
> Does anyone take a just a mood stabilizer and not an
> Antidepressant along with it? If so, how does that
> work for them? My psychiatrist thinks I have cyclical
> depression. Right now I'm on a combo of prozac and
> neurotin. She thinks if we can get the neurotin to
> the right dose, I may eventually be able to wean off
> the antidepressant and just take the neurotin for mood
> stabilizing.
poster:ms. b.
thread:54150
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010212/msgs/54156.html