Posted by polarbear206 on November 7, 2002, at 7:49:04
In reply to Bi-Polar, I need some advice, posted by Mr Cushing on November 6, 2002, at 22:15:34
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> Alright, here's what I'm currently taking:
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> 150mg of Depakote at night -- Been on this 3 weeks
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> 75mg of Effexor per day -- Recently increased this from every 36 hours to every 24 hours
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> 50mg of Trazadone at night -- I take this usually right before bedtime, only started taking it again last night
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> 1mg of Klonopin a day -- I stopped taking this cold turkey 2 days ago. I was using it for about 2 months while I was switching around on a bunch of meds and since I had already took this long-term in the past before stopping for a year and found out that long-term it didn't work quite as well.
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> Problem is, since I stopped taking the Clonazepam (Klonopin) 2 days ago, my anxiety is back to about 50% of it's power. I had a panic attack tonight around 8pm, lasted for about 45 minutes, took .5mg of Clonazepam to stop it, and now at 11PM I still feel VERY wired.
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> This stuff is all becoming very confusing to me. I don't know if I'm taking too much of a certain medication, if I'm not taking enough of a certain medication, if I should be taking something else... I'm just lost at this point.
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> My Doctor told me today that she's planning on retiring in about 6 months too. So she can work with me up till then, but that after that she's going to need to refer me somewhere else. Problem is, I'm scared to death of new people. It was not always like this, only within maybe the last 8 months. I've just become terrified of new people, and can barely trust any of the people that I've known for half of my life. This might be what set off the panic attack.
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> If you read my last post just a little bit further up this page "Re: I need with w/ diagnosis", you'll see why I'm fairly certain that I'm Bi-Polar. I feel that this is finally the correct dx for me. It's been an incredibly trying time to get to this dx, but I'm fairly certain that I fall directly into this category.
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> So people, I need some advice. Anybody that's bi-polar, can you please tell me what you would switch in my medication combo at the moment? Am I missing out on something? Should I increase something? Should I decrease something? I'm lost and I need help. My body doesn't respond too great to medication within the first 4 weeks or so (like most medications give me pretty severe side effects for the first month) but I'm more than willing to go through that IF I can finally get myself back on the normal level.
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> I'm 24 and honestly, I feel like this disease has stolen my life from me.
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Hi,I would be very cautious using antidepressants with your bipolar. They can exacerbate you mood cycling causing increased anxiety as you are having. Since early spring I have weined down to 7.5mg of paxil. I started Lamictal at the same time. Gone is the anxiety that the high doses of antidepressants gave me. I am so at peace and even for once in my life. I used to take 100mg of imipramine and 15mg of paxil. Your mood stabilizer dose is too low at 150mg. Have you had any blood levels done? If not you should. Trazadone and effexor can be very activating. This can contribute to your anxiety and insomnia. From my experience with meds the past 13 years, Mood Stabilizers should be your Main med. If an antidepressant is needed, the dose should be low. I'm going to give you a site to check out about these very issues.
Hope this helps.Be well soon!!!!
Laura.
poster:polarbear206
thread:126749
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021101/msgs/126783.html