Posted by shoebox on January 25, 2005, at 8:11:34
In reply to Re: Aggressive thoughts » tensor, posted by Bob on January 24, 2005, at 13:15:30
My two cents:
Rather than increasing the lithium, augmenting it with a mood stabilizer (Lamictal) worked wonders for my husband, who has not had an "aggressive" thought in many a moon. He is also on a small amount of Prozac, as the lithium and Lamictal are not effective for his depression.
Lamictal supposedly has "antidepressant effects", though I personally haven't found that to be the case. (I am BPII, on Lamictal and Prozac.) From what I have observed of friends and family struggling with these thoughts, the addition of Lamictal has made all the difference. The fact that Lamictal does not affect the liver the way lithium does, makes it a strong contender. In some circles Lamictal is now being considered as a first-line treatment against BPII. I am not sure if it is "strong" enough for BPI--seems lithium is always the magic bullet there--but the combination seems to work really well. A pinch of a carefully chosen AD seems necessary to keep the depression at bay.
poster:shoebox
thread:446110
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050124/msgs/447296.html