Posted by katia on July 8, 2004, at 3:14:45
In reply to Re: Back on lithium and grateful for it!, posted by fluffy on July 7, 2004, at 17:43:11
Barbara and Katy!
First off, I'm soooo excited to hear from both of you in one go and I was reading each of your postings with eager eyes devouring each word!Let me respond to each of you individually (and together!)
> Hi Katia--
>
> Good to hear from you, too! Funny how we were all still connected to the thread. Let's see...I can't really remember how much trileptal I was on. Maybe 600mg? Anyway, it didn't last long for me. I stayed on it for a month before I got sick from it. Glad to hear it's working for you.
>
> Risperdal is another atypical antipsychotic like Seroquel. It was the second atypical to come out after Clozaril. It is not quite as sedating as Seroquel, but it helps me sleep anyway.**600mg sound about right. I'm on a low dose of 450mg. I was at 750mg of Dep. as well. It was good but I got such a s/e of sleepiness around 4ish and the fear of PCOS. But in retrospect, the best I felt (apart from now) was at 250mg of Dep. and a low dose of Lam.
**Good that Risperdal helps you sleep. I wonder if it'd do anything for me as I've been taking Sero. for a year now. That's interesting that it isn't quite as sedating as Seroq. b/c I wonder if I'm too sedated!? I'm only on 25mg per night at most nowadays. How're you doing besides Katy?? Haven't heard from you in awhile. Are you still teaching that art history class and doing your own art? Are you still w/ that guy who is also bipolar? and/or depressed?
> So you added Paxil, huh? I wonder what will help the depressions I still dip into weekly. I can almost set my watch. Thankfully I don't have severe symptoms besides a once a week blah depressed day. I'm fighting apathy right now, though. I feel awful complaining to my pdoc that I feel apathetic after all we've been through. I'm hoping that he will be willing to switch me to Abilify to see if it will help that department. I want to give it a try at least. If it's a disaster, then I guess we can go back to Risperdal and I'll just try my best to fight it.
**Apathy is a negative trait of depression and you have every right to complain about it! Being "normal" is not inclusive of apathy BTW!
Yes, I tried (am trying) Paxil. And feel good apart from those dips and such. But they are much less severe now. I've been on quite a trial and error with lots of things. I was off everything (except Seroquel and fish oil) for awhile (as you prob. remember). I remember hearing in between the lines from you that I should be on meds! I bought a house...and it's going great! I found housemates to help me pay the mortgage. It was a blessing for me to find this. I'm still unsure how I managed to do this!And long story short, Paxil is working for me!
And Barb, it's really atypical of me. (in regards to SSRIs and BPs). When I went on Trileptal in Feb. I then added Wellbutrin a month later and went bazeerk-o! And then went off of it and added Lam. for my second trial. It wasn't the euphoric kind this time. I got severly agitated. Went off of that and was having panic attacks almost and went to the pdoc and suggestd I go on Paxil. he agreed. and it seems to be working.Previously, before BP dx, the ADs that made me go hypo were the atypical ones like WB (serzone and effexor). SSRIs, like Celexa and Zoloft made me an insomniac or a zombie. I am not the average BP responder to ADs.
And Barb, re: St. John's wort, Glad to hear that's working for you in combo with Lithium. I think that's what you were missing too was a MS to augment the SJW. Unfortun. Li. did NOT work for me. I became a shuffling drooling stupor. But I did feel the powerful sedating qualities of it; which were positive. So too bad I experienced those negative s/e. Wish I were one it worked for. I know you were on the Li. Ort. Did that not do it for you again? just curious.
GREAT! to be in touch with you two.
Take great care,
Katia
poster:katia
thread:9730
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040704/msgs/363935.html