Posted by morgan miller on August 3, 2010, at 0:16:15
In reply to Re: Cycling, How are things? » morgan miller, posted by cycling on August 2, 2010, at 22:41:33
> I've been a little busy for the past two days or so with my birthday then two doctor appointments today. Today i saw a psych doc and my pdoc. New regiment as follows:
>
> 900mg lithium carb (same)
> 100mg lamictal (tapering)
> 300mg seroquel xr
> 5mg lexapro
>
> Does anyone have any thoughts with the addition of lexapro to my regiment? My pdoc insists that I fit in the bipolar spectrum because I have mania. He's going with mania as my diagnosis. There's a part of me that can't disagree with him. I start the lexapro tomorrow so we'll see how i feel. usually ADs aren't given to people with mania for its been known to increase anxiousness.
>
> thoughts?I think your pdoc made a pretty decent move here. I prefer Zoloft just because I am biased and love it's profile, but Lexapro may be best for you right now.
Actually, ADs can take someone straight out of a mixed state agitated mania(which I believe you experience a kind of). I had my first mixed state(I didn't know it at the time) when I was 22 and a pdoc gave me 20 mg of Prozac. For 3 weeks I noticed nothing a I was still suffering thinking it may never work. I was encouraged to keep taking it by my mom and I knew that these drugs could take a while to work. At almost exactly 3 weeks, I woke up, took my strange little pill, and withing the hour I felt f*ck*ng amazing. All of my anxiety, racing thoughts, obsessive thoughts, and depression were completely obliterated. It really was a magical experience that I probably will never have again. Prozac worked! I will admit though, I was on the hypomanic side for sure, especially when I drank. But, much of the time, I was pretty chill. After 9 months I decided I didn't want to be medicated and I stopped taking Prozac. I wish I had had an inkling of an idea that I was bipolar, it may have impacted the way I went about many things in my 20s and early 30s.
I think you should stay on 5mg Lexapro for at least a month before even thinking twice about raising the dose. Lexapro is VERY powerful and doctors often prescribe way too much. My friend does great on just 10 mg. I've even considered adding 2.5 mg to the mix just for sh*ts and giggles(well really for my hurting brain and mental health!). Lexapro may be extremely effective at easing your anxiety and obsessive thinking.
Maybe in a month, if you start feeling much better, you can lower your Lithium dose to 600 mg and start weaning off the seroquel. You are already getting off Lamictal, so eventually and ideally you could just be on Lexapro and lithium.
Why the Seroquel again? I'm sure your pdoc is trying to treat what he believes is a form of mania(and he may very well be right). So the Seroquel doesn't sedate you? Or does it? And you are NOT taking it for sleep, is that correct?
poster:morgan miller
thread:956333
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100731/msgs/956985.html