New here - My introducation and a meds question

Hello Beautiful Wreck (but only because "Pretty Little Liar" has been taken):

I also have bipolar, and take Lithium for the mania and Mirtazapine for the depression.

You ask about Latuda which drugs.com says:

Latuda (lurasidone) is an antipsychotic medicine. It works by changing the effects of chemicals in the brain.
Latuda is used to treat schizophrenia in adults and teenagers who are at least 13 years old.
Latuda is also used to treat episodes of depression in adults with bipolar disorder (manic depression).

Common Latuda side effects may include:
• weight gain;
• drowsiness;
• nausea, vomiting;
• feeling restless or being unable to sit still; or
• tremors, muscle stiffness, problems with muscle movement.

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You also take: "Celexa (citalopram) is an antidepressant in a group of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Celexa is used to treat depression."

You also take: "Wellbutrin (bupropion) is an antidepressant medication used to treat major depressive disorder and seasonal affective disorder."
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As noted, I take Lithium for the mania part of my bipolar. What are you taking for the mania part of your bipolar?

I guess the now Latuda is supposed to take care of that.

You said, "I am Bi-Polar and also have Anxiety disorder. For the past 3 weeks, I have been in a deep depression (which came on after a two week bout of hypomania)."

Now, were you being treated when you were in deep depression?

Were you being treated when you were having a 2 week bout with hypomania?

I'm just wondering, were your meds not holding during that time, or were you not on meds? How long have you been in treatment?

You might also want to check in with the "Depression" forum on this website. Since you are wondering about if anyone has taken Latuda for depression.

Ask about Abilify anti-depressant also.

And since you have anxiety, also, you can ask about that and other questions on the "Anxiety" forum of this website.

It's good that you reached out for help.

Hi Beautiful_Wreck67,

Welcome to the forum

I have never used Latuda so I cannot be of much help.

I understanding that it is hard going along our day as normal, when we feel depressed. The feeling sucks. Sometimes I wish depression was something I can literally remove to feel better.
Please know that things will get better. However, it will take some time. You are on the right track by using your meds. Therapy also helps.

I practice mindfulness and distractions to help me with how I feel sometimes.
Regarding the weight gain, talk to your doctor about. Yes, some meds can cause you to gain weight, but you can talk to your doctors as they can suggest a diet and exercise plan. Exercise wan also help you feel better when you are depressed.

Please know that we are here for you. Feel free to post anytime you like.
I hope to learn more about you.

Take Care,
UA

Interesting.

You said:

"(I've been in treatment approx. 15 yrs, but initially was only being treated for depression and anxiety. The bi-polar diagnosis was 2 years ago)"

This seems to be a familiar situation. The patient goes in depressed. The psychiatrist never says a thing during the 50 minute evaluation.

He sees the patient depressed, he gives the diagnosis as "depression." Wait a minute. What if the patient is manic-depressed?

Why can't the psychiatrist ask about the possibility of mania going on in the same patient, and ask questions about that, such as "Do you ever have racing thoughts?"

OK, once we have miss-diagnosed, we then miss-medicate, by giving only an anti-depressant, which can throw the patient into mania, which will be untreated. Or in your case, "approx. 15 yrs, but initially was only being treated for depression and anxiety. The bi-polar diagnosis was 2 years ago"

That's about how long I went diagnosed as depressive only, and only given anti-depressants.

Now, maybe they don't want to give Lithium (which calms down the mania) too soon, I was about 30. I don't know why they miss-diagnose, but I've heard a lot of stories like that.

You said, "Now, were you being treated when you were in deep depression? (Yes, I was being treated with Celexa and Wellbutrin)"

I wonder why the anti-depressants weren't holding during the deep depression?

So the Abilify (a Lithium type med to treat the mania) didn't hold during the mania, and you went into hypomania.

You were on meds, you just weren't on the right meds. Whoa!

Doctor then prescribed "Wellbutrin and now Latuda also." With the Latuda to treat the mania, you said, and the Wellbutrin for the depression, you said.

This Latuda med, to treat the mania, has got me going.

Many years ago, I was getting very depressed for several weeks, it went untreated, then that turned into some days of anger at my mother for all my problems, which lasted a couple of days, and then I had nervous breakdown from that, then went to a psychiatrist who gave me Stelazine anti-psychotic.

Now, the plot thickens, the psychiatrist, socially, we'll say, knew my mother. From the horrible reaction I had with the Stelazine, I never knew if that doctor was trying to kill me, cause I was mad at my mother, or help me.

The Stelazine was gosh awful. Here's what it did. I was really angry at my mother for two days. To try to get me to calm down, my mother had me go to this psychiatrist, which caused me to have the breakdown.

I got to the psychiatrist's office, and he gave me Stelazine right then. The anger is what they were going for, and the nervous breakdown, but it took away all my other emotions, also. Like, feeling good. No such thing with that med.

So when you say, you're being described Latuda, which the net says is an antipsychotic, I'm going back in time.

Then when it says, "Latuda is also used to treat episodes of depression in adults with bipolar disorder (manic depression)" I'm really starting to wonder.

Then whe it says for possible side effects:

•feeling restless or being unable to sit still; or
•tremors, muscle stiffness, problems with muscle movement.

I'm almost wigging out.

These are the memories this is bringing back/

With Stelazine, when I sat down at a table to eat, I would have to tap my left foot, for what I really wanted to be doing was walking in circles around the room. And the side affect says, "feeling restless or being unable to sit still."

And "tremors, muscle stiffness, problems with muscle movement."

This is almost like going back and looking at my high school annual. That far back.

Whew. I'm not predicting what the news anti-psychotics are like today, or predicting anything, it's just throwing me back down a rough memory lane.

I'm sure the new anti-psychotics are better. And can you always, ask the doctor if you can change meds.

At least I now know, well, at least the psychiatrist wasn't trying to kill me.

What do you think about all of this?

We're on Latuda watch.

The medicine to treat the mania portion of manic-depression.

Again, I'm on Lithium to treat the manic portion of my manic-depression, and I take the anti-depressant Mirtazapine to help with the depression part.

Lithium has to be the first such med to treat bi-polar, or manic-depression. My psychiatrist still likes it, me too. I asked to get off of it for some reason two years ago, and my psychiatrist vetoed that.

Hey, too much success too long, baby.

Do you know where your bi-polar came from? Mine came from my mother's mother, who had that, and there was no treatment.

They said she would be a guest in someone's house and would go into their medicine cabinet and take whatever was there, to try to calm her troubled mind.

So, we can be glad they have modern treatments for that. Very glad. They use to think bi-polar was schizophrenia.

They had no treatment for it. My grandmother spent time in a state mental institutions, about 125 miles from home. With no effective meds. Can you imagine?

So we can be glad that we were born into a era when there are meds for bi-polar. By the grace of God.

Do you know where your bi-polar came from? Parents, or it can skip a generation, where a grandparent had it, as in my case, and it can be transferred like that. Maybe an aunt or an uncle had it.

I was kinda the same way about meds, resisting. I had huge anger, but I thought it was all justified. I mean, I thought I had good reason to be upset with a lot of people, my reasons were all there.

The thought that Lithium would make me like everybody else, did not appear to me. But then when I got so depressed and so angry so long, that basically it caused me to have a mental breakdown, it was like, I had no choice. It was like, yeah, I'll do anything to get my sanity back.

I've also learned that I was negative. Read something that said being positive going into a problem, increases your chances that you will solve it. News to me. So, I tried that, and it worked.

You said, "I'm determined at age 49 (50 in Sept) that I will be the best version of me possible. If that means 3 - 4 medications, then bring 'em on" So it sounds like you have a good frame of mind.