Posted by Elizabeth on April 20, 1999, at 3:22:52
In reply to Re: Atypical depression, posted by Albert on April 19, 1999, at 19:19:30
Hi there Albert. You are right to be concerned: if you do have bipolar disorder - get the records from your old doc, the one who diagnosed you as bipolar II, and give them to your current one - there's a good chance that an antidepressant by itself will cause switching (into hypomania) or rapid-cycling.
The way to prevent this is, of course, with mood stabilizers. I know many people with bipolar II disorder who are functioning successfully on these combinations of meds - an antidepressant and a mood stabilizer, sometimes two mood stabilizers are needed, sometimes they can get by without an antidepressant (or using lithium as the antidepressant).
Good luck to you.
poster:Elizabeth
thread:582
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990401/msgs/5069.html