Posted by Nickengland on August 18, 2005, at 7:05:07
In reply to What is the most effective mood stablizer?, posted by rjlockhart98 on August 17, 2005, at 18:49:39
Hello Matt,
I think to answer your question, perhaps out of all the mood stabilisers each one is maybe no more effective than the other. (Although some are considered first line etc.) I know that may sound slightly confusing, but it can be hard to generalise which would be best, as everyone reacts so differently to the same drug...even when these people are 'grouped' under the same illness eg mood stabiliser for bipolar disorder.
Each individual if different..and so its a case of taking into account the needs of the specific symtoms you want to treat with a mood stabiliser vs then which particular side effects you would most likely like to avoid...then its a case of narrowing down which mood stabilser would be most effective for your individual needs, if you know what I mean? lol
For example...i'm bipolar but really didnt respond well to the 'gold standard' lithium or valproate. But of course those 2 were tried first as they are first line. Its a massive pain in the *ss, because of the trial and error game.
Personally, I found lithium, valproate and lamotrigine terrible.
Next up I found Tegretol/carbamazepine okay-ish.
After that i found Trileptal/oxcarbazepine very good indeed. Its was truely a very effecive mood stabiliser for myself and with little side effects ~ lol but actually there was a rare side effect I did get which annoyed me hugely and that was it gave me swollen kidneys so i had to stop the stuff. Great shame I really did like it. (it had a very positive effect on my mood..but the pain in the kidneys was too bad)
I'm now on Topamax and although its not so well established so to speak..it appears that its doing the trick for me. (I also take Neurontin...but this is more for anxiety as it doesn't really act as a mood stabiliser for me at all) Topamax does do the trick though in that department.
Its weird as well because although I respond to what some may think as being pretty tricky drugs in the medical evidence based treatment, for bipolar disorder (I thought I was taking a huge risk using these to keep well) but from the results so far, i'm grateful for what I've achived from them.
My mum (whos bipolar too) has been on lithium for nearly 20's ~ the doctors thought i'd respond well to this as she did. I guess it goes to show its a case of finding what is the most effective for yourself...
Hope that helps..
Kind regardsNick
Ps I find taking supplements along side the medications greatly help too.
poster:Nickengland
thread:543158
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050816/msgs/543347.html