Posted by Ron Hill on January 18, 2005, at 14:32:56
In reply to Re: Depakote works, but be wary of side effects » johnnystats, posted by catmint on January 15, 2005, at 14:27:59
Amy,
So sorry to hear of your difficulty. I can totally relate to the symptoms you've listed in this thread. I’ve been there, done that, and I pray that I don't have to do it again. The dysphoric mood state is the worst. At least when I'm depressed (atypical type) I can sleep 24/7. But there is no escaping the dysphoric mixed-state hell. And I pity my poor wife!!
My sympathy goes out to you Amy. You're such a sweetie. I wish you didn't have to suffer this way. (And for goodness sakes, STAY AWAY from the recreational drugs!! But you know that.)
Refresh my memory; have you ever tried Trileptal. It seems like you did a couple years ago, but my memory fails me. Based on the Prescribing Information document for Lamictal -- http://us.gsk.com/products/assets/us_lamictal.pdf --, Trileptal and Lamictal do not interfere with each other very much. Adding Trileptal might be worth a trial for you Amy. You know best, of course; just a thought.
As I was telling Mitch above, I love two things about Trileptal; it reels in my hypomania within minutes of taking a dose and I sleep like a baby on it. As you are well aware, good sound sleep is an excellent bipolar "medication".
Unfortunately, Trileptal does not help my BPII atypical depression. In fact, it almost feels like it hinders me from cycling out of the depressive phase of my cycle. In other words, it kinda holds me in the depressive phase longer than I would have been without it. I notice this particularly at higher dosages. As a side note, I'm absolutely convinced that Depokote caused depression when I was on it years ago.
Based on the most recent post that I know of from Colin, it appears that he is taking Trileptal (as of 10/04).
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041007/msgs/401578.html
Amy, I’m not supposed to be posting until late February ’05, but I just wanted to drop you a quick note of empathy and encouragement. There is a solution out there for you and you’re a smart gal; so keep looking. (At the risk of being reduntant and overly opinionated, please allow me to say it again: You and I both know that the solution is NOT recreational drugs).
-- Ron
Bipolar II and Obsessive Compulsive Personality Traits
600 mg/day Lithobid
900 mg/day Trileptal
50 mg/day Lamictal
5 mg/day Adderall PRN for very short intervals (i.e.; about five days or so) as needed to chase away the bipolar atypical depression demons. The Adderall is discontinued as soon as the depression abates in order to avoid pstim induced burnout. (Note: the Adderall experiment is early in the trial, so time will tell.)
-----------------------------
> Thanks a lot for your post.
> I spent some time yesterday researching the Lamictal/Depakote combo and have decided against it.
> I was on just Depakote before the Lamictal and it is true what you said. I was tired all the time, my depression worsened and I had a huge apppetite.
> I am now considering going off all meds for a while. I've done it before and can't say it was that much better but I don't know what else to try at this point.
> What meds do you take now?
>
poster:Ron Hill
thread:441138
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050113/msgs/443764.html