Posted by med_empowered on July 24, 2005, at 15:43:43
In reply to Re: mood stabilizers for anxiety » med_empowered, posted by KaraS on July 24, 2005, at 14:47:27
hi! I just wanted to make sure that I didn't come off as saying that a mood-stabilizer wouldn't help. If you have mood-disorder that responds well to a mood-stabilizer, and the side-effects are nill or minimal, then you probably will get some anxiolytic effects from the mood-stabilizer along with a much-needed help in overall functioning. My point is that mood-stabilizers really are for MOOD REGULATION. If you have bad anxiety they might help, but they should probably only be used for an underlying mood-disorder and not to smooth out anxiety...the resulting side-effects just wouldn't be worth it in terms of risk-benefits breakdown. BTW...if you opt for a mood-stabilizer, I'd seriously recommend low-dose Trileptal or Lamictal. Trileptal, at lower doses, is pretty easy on the patient and reasonably effective. Lamictal is nifty because it is the only mood-stabilizer that seems to have a marked, robust effect on bipolar *depression* and really functions more as a mood-brightener than simply an anti-manic agent, which is how most other mood-stabilizers work. (Atypical antipsychotics are an exception, but I seriously think they should be avoided whenever possible). In people with bipolar, there is a problem of sometimes getting some hypomanic symptoms from lamictal, which may or may not be a bad thing (hypomania really isn't nearly as problematic as depression or mania, so given the choice..I'd personaly opt for hypomania). My guess would be that combining a mood-stabilizing, long-acting benzo like Klonopin with the lamictal would boost your mood, while kind of smoothing off the rougher edges of hypomania. Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:532236
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050723/msgs/532821.html