Posted by Ritch on July 5, 2002, at 18:47:31
In reply to Re: Is Neurontin really a mood stabilizer??, posted by cybercafe on July 5, 2002, at 14:59:17
> Hi Ritch,
>
> Yeah I suppose gabapentin would probably not be used alone to address a patient who is manic (type I)
>
> Did you try the maximum dose? How high did you go dude?
>
> I really like it for agitation and anxiety... but you're right it's definately not perfect...
> but I often wonder if raising the dose would help...I started off at 900mg/day along with Depakote, Klonopin, and Celexa (about 3 years ago). Then I stopped the Depakote because I felt so much better-it was during a depression). Then the neuro I was seeing doubled it to 1800mg/day. That's when I got derealization/depersonalization from it along with bad cognitive side effects (this also happened with Gabitril and Topamax). So, the dose had to go down. It went all the way down to 100mg 4x daily, and I stayed on that for quite some time until recently. I added Depakote back in for hostility (which worked during a hypo spell and still is working), then swapped low-dose Celexa for low-dose Effexor(which has worked for this current depressive spell). Then most recently went off the Neurontin to boost alertness during the day (which helped). I got a little uptight from stopping it, but I am OK. I am just trying to simplify my med regime and save some $$$.
>
>
> > "Mood stabilizers" are really antimanic agents. Most of them have little or no antidepressant effects. If anxiety is driving
>
> I'm really interested in this... since a lot of people say this... but I once went to a support group where 70% of the patients on lithium said it worked when they were depressed...
> plus i looked on the net, and saw that lithium was often used in unipolar depression... so... i don't know what to do...
>
> Might I ask what your source is for this?
>
> my personal experience was... valporate depressed me... but that's because i'm Type II and we tend to average a negative state.... whereas Type I tends to be as high as they are low ...
Lithium and Lamictal probably are the only two antimanic agents that generally have much significant antidepressant effect. When I first switched to Depakote from lithium my depression worsened. There is NO WAY I could take Depakote by itself and get any antidepressant effect from it. There HAS to be something else. As far as the "source" goes (about mood stabilizers being really only antimanic agents)-it was a link to an article by a psychiatrist that was complaining about the misunderstandings regarding the term "mood stabilizer". It is stashed here-but it has been a month or so-and I can't remember it-it was very convincing however.Mitch
poster:Ritch
thread:111356
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020628/msgs/111517.html