Posted by med_empowered on March 1, 2007, at 13:22:06
In reply to Mixed Mania anyone?, posted by bipolarspectrum on February 28, 2007, at 20:39:14
Dilantin is pretty old school but...its an option, apparently; some docs are bringing it back after a small study showed pretty good results in some patients with long-term bipolar "issues" who hadn't done well with other meds.
I guess there's also Keppra and multi-mood stabilizer mixes and even vitamins (knock Truehope all you want, the EMPOWERPlus vitamins have helped some people). Have you tried stimulants? Light therapy? Sleep deprivation?
If you have any other options, I'd say steer clear of clozaril for now. Its certainly better than, say, long-term, high-dose Haldol, which is why some people w/ schizophrenia with it love it but...its still very much a neuroleptic: there's apathy, sedation, sometimes dysphoria, weight gain, seizures, drooling, weird drug interactions...its rough stuff, best used only in very select patients.
Is psychosis a part of your disorder? Or are you dealing w/ a mood disorder w/o psychosis? Do you have any issues that might complicate things--like health conditions, a lot of stress, an Axis II issue (like borerline personality disorder) ?? Have you tried Calcium Channel Blockers?
Good luck.
poster:med_empowered
thread:736948
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070224/msgs/737346.html