You say you have Bipolar I, which is what I am, the one the net says has full blown mania, while Bipolar II does not.
You say you’re on Trileptal, which drugs.com says is an anticonvulsant.
You say you’ve been on:
1. Lamictal (net says anticonvulsant, which net says is also used to treat bipolar) and you said: "way too activating but worked on depression"
2. Valproate (net says for seizures and bipolar) and you said: "Same without helping depression"
3. Gabapentin (net says anticonvulsant, no mention of bipolar on drugs.com) and you say: "Stimulating"
4. Abilify – (net says antipsychotic) and you say: "Horrible restlessness and stress"
5. Seroquel – (net says antipsychotic, also used to treat bipolar) "Tired and wired"
So, 1, 2 and 3, nets says are anticonvulsants, and are also used for bipolar.
Both 4 and 5, Abilify and Seroquel, net says are antipsychotics.
The one you’re on now is:
(6.) Trileptal which net says is an anticonvulsant (no mention of bipolar on drugs.com)
and you said “and even on a tiny dose I feel so on edge, unable to relax and mentally restless.
“The problem is it doesn’t seem to lessen with each dose. On Trileptal its only been a week but most people say that if it goes away it should by now?”
"So tired of this I just want to be calm and normal."
Trileptal side effects, “more common,” net says includes: “feeling of constant movement of self or surroundings.” You say on your current med, Trileptal: “and even on a tiny dose I feel so on edge, unable to relax and mentally restless."
So that’s a match.
I took an antipsychotic, Stelazine (sp?), years ago, and I had just had a nervous breakdown about
60 minutes earlier. When the med started to take effect, I felt the worse I had ever felt in my life.
All I wanted to do was walk, as it caused “feeling of constant movement” and mentally had the same feelings in my mind. I was constantly uneasy and not capable of any good feelings. I didn’t know if it was the result of the mental breakdown or if it was the medicine.
You identify the side effects of Ability (also an antipsychotic) the same way, saying, “Horrible restlessness and stress”
You describe Seroquel, also an antipsychotic, as making you “Tired and wired”
I’ve been on Seroquel, also, it speeded me up and made me want to clean up the house 5 times.
The first list of medicines above for treating bipolar, mayoclinic.org, read:
Mood stabilizers. You'll typically need mood-stabilizing medication to control manic or hypomanic episodes. Examples of mood stabilizers include lithium (Lithobid), valproic acid (Depakene), divalproex sodium (Depakote), carbamazepine (Tegretol, Equetro, others) and lamotrigine (Lamictal).”
Second med list above for bipolar was: Antipsychotics. If symptoms of depression or mania persist in spite of treatment with other medications, adding an antipsychotic drug such as olanzapine (Zyprexa), risperidone (Risperdal), quetiapine (Seroquel), aripiprazole (Abilify), ziprasidone (Geodon), lurasidone (Latuda) or asenapine (Saphris) may help. Your doctor may prescribe some of these medications alone or along with a mood stabilizer
Third med list above for bipolar was: Antidepressants. Your doctor may add an antidepressant to help manage depression. Because an antidepressant can sometimes trigger a manic episode, it's usually prescribed along with a mood stabilizer or antipsychotic.
Fourth med list for bipolar was: Antidepressant-antipsychotic. The medication Symbyax combines the antidepressant fluoxetine and the antipsychotic olanzapine. It works as a depression treatment and a mood stabilizer.
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What I take as a Bipolar is Lithium (stabilizer for the mania) and Mirtazapine antidepressant. With only the anti-depressant, it throws me into mania. By also taking the Lithium (which calms down my mania) I don’t become manic from the antidepressant.
Lithium is an older stabilizer, and is not used as much anymore. But when I asked my psychiatrist about
a year ago, if I could try another such medicine (for some reason), she said that I was doing well on Lithium and wanted me to stay on it.
Lithium can cause kidney damage, I think it is, and may be why today’s psychiatrists don’t prescribe it as much as they used to.
I don’t know which categories the above Mayo Clinic first mentioned meds are in (“Examples of mood stabilizers include lithium (Lithobid), valproic acid (Depakene), divalproex sodium (Depakote), carbamazepine (Tegretol, Equetro, others) and lamotrigine (Lamictal)”) but they can be looked up pretty easy under their names.
Post Edited (Tim Tam) : 2/20/2018 3:46:48 PM (GMT-7)