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Re: Mood-stabilizers other than depakote or lithiu » audrey

Posted by dddiane on May 18, 2003, at 8:32:57

In reply to Mood-stabilizers other than depakote or lithium, posted by audrey on May 15, 2003, at 10:12:03

Audrey,

We talked about a month ago, I think, about Topamax and how it wasn't quite giving us the stability we needed. I just saw your message today, so I am replying a little late here.

I too had gained weight from meds, Depakote among others and this was addressed by Topamax. Also, Depakote was not the greatest drug for me, the two times I used it I began losing amazing amounts of hair after three months. A year ago I lost 50% of my long hair in a few months time. Sorry, fat, bald and dopy is just not acceptable to me.

Anyway, I am now doing a very slow transition from Topamax to Lamictal. I may try using both meds together, or I may eventually drop the Topamax altogether. I don't know yet. I do find Topamax very nice and calming.

If you do decide to go with Lamictal, go very slowly! I do have a good link I can send you for a conservative dosing schedule which can help elminate the possibility of allergic rash. I am finding it a frustratingly slow start, but I have run out of options with meds and I really want Lamictal to succeed.

I think it will be a good choice for me because of my need for it's antidepressant qualities. I too found my "creative manias" vanish as I aged. Now I experience more mixed state crap, self-hatred, self-distructive, garbage. So I know what you mean.

Best of luck, and keep me, and us, posted, whatever you decide to try.

Diane


> Hello. I'm diagnosed as bi-polar I and borderline personality disorder. Over the past couple of years I started having problems with my moods swinging back and forth between depression and mania much more frequently, with less down time in between. This was after a period of about four years in which I didn't have any extreme episodes. Now that I'm older -- 28 -- my moods are much more severe. My depressions tend to be much more intense, including 2 suicide attempts, and my manic episodes are much less productive and seem to involve anger and rage rather than just staying awake for several days getting a lot of writing or reading done, or scrubbing my bathroom tiles with a toothbrush, or whatever. Now it's all just terribly frightening. So my psychiatrist put me on depakote for a while, which seemed to work pretty well. However, despite being a competetive athlete, training for marathons and triathlons, I gained 30+ pounds. Then we tried lithium, and had the same problem. I've had issues with my body image since I was 10 years old, so this caused other problems! Now I'm on Topamax which is not nearly as effective. I've been losing the weight I gained, but the old demons are back. Does anyone know of any mood stabilizers that don't cause weight gain, but also seem to be effective for most people?
>
> A little background -- I also take klonopin to help with anxiety. And I've tried Paxil and several SSRIs, all of which basically caused me to freak out.
>
> Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!
>
> --Audrey


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