Posted by cybercafe on July 5, 2002, at 14:59:17
In reply to Re: Is Neurontin really a mood stabilizer?? » MomO3, posted by Ritch on July 5, 2002, at 10:11:13
> I think Neurontin has "mood-stabilizing" qualities about it, but it often doesn't address many fundmental "core" symtpoms of mania (at least not very well). The thing it helped me with the most was the agitation that accompanied mild mixed-states. I still had hypomanic spells with anger outbursts. I guess, to sum it up-it worked the best on the mixed anxious/depressive symptoms that accompanied hypomania or mixed states, but not as well on cycling, and anger (as depakote or lithium does).
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...
> "Mood stabilizers" are really antimanic agents. Most of them have little or no antidepressant effects. If anxiety is drivingI'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 ...
>your depression, then they might be useful indirectly as an antidepressant. They can make you "flat" and "tired" at higher doses. Sometimes just taking *less* antimanic agent (to combate fatigue or flatness) and avoiding (or reducing dosages) of meds that can aggravate mania works better than escalating doses of everything up and up.Yeah I found that too... but I don't know if that result is typical...
My doc gave me 4 different meds that were very sedating, and then wondered why I couldn't keep my job.... Hah... falling asleep for an hour at a time just isn't good
poster:cybercafe
thread:111356
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020628/msgs/111491.html