Posted by fluffy on March 28, 2003, at 14:40:48
In reply to Re: lamictal newbie, posted by jonh kimble on March 28, 2003, at 13:37:52
John-
I'm no expert, but I have done a fair share of reading on the subject. The first time I went on antidepressants, I didn't get manic. It seemed that I slowly came out of depression in about 2 or three months. I'm not sure if the AD's really helped me, or if I just came out on my own. I continued taking them, and then went off (a year later), thinking that I was doing better, and that the depressive episode I had was just a fluke and due to stress.Soon after discontinuing the AD, I had my first "hypomanic" episode, which I just thought was some major anxiety like I'd had before. It was punctuated by a devistating depression again. Thinking I had problems with depression and needed to be on AD's indefinitely, I went back to my former psychiatrist. We tried Lexapro, and within 4 weeks, I was fully mixed. I didn't sleep for 4 days...(maybe I told my "story" in an earlier post) This is what confirmed the BPII diagnosis. Otherwise, we might have been fumbling around for years.
It used to be that people who had BP in their family tree and who had depressions that didn't respond to SSRI's or MAOI's, psychiatrists would prescribe Lithium to supplement. It worked for lots of patients (probably a lot of them were mildly bipolar like us). I'm not sure, but I think psychiatry is starting to recognize that SSRI's are only suitable for people who are TRULY unipolar.
In that sense, I'm not sure if it matters what your diagnosis really is, John. Only that the SSRI's didn't work, so why not try a mood stabilizer? They seem to be safer, and people who were formerly diagnosed unipolar are benefitting, too.
I just hope it works for you! I'll post a link for you so that you can read a good site on BPII.
good luck!
Katy
poster:fluffy
thread:213226
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030325/msgs/213819.html