Posted by morgan miller on August 27, 2010, at 16:38:43
In reply to Please explain?, posted by SheilaC on August 27, 2010, at 16:14:01
> Why is it that mood stabilizers can sometimes make a person feel flat, unmotivated and even a little depressed? Sure, they stop the mania, but at what cost?
>
> Is the person really bipolar if a mood stabilizer makes them a little depressed? Or is this really more of a BPII?
>Whether you are bipolar I or II, you are still bipolar. Mood stabilizers can make all people with bipolar feel flat and depressed. Not responding well to a mood stabilizer has no bearing on whether or not you are bipolar or what type of bipolar you are. We all have individualized reactions to medications. Some doctors may diagnose me with bipolar I because of the severity of my mixed agitated manic episodes, but I have always responded well to SSRI monotherapy in the past. Prozac completely took me out of my first mixed episode, I slept great, stopped obsessing about negative things, my anxiety and agitation were obliterated, and I suddenly had laser focus. I will admit though that I was a bit on the manic/hypomanic side while on Prozac and later on Zoloft. My point here is that though I am somewhere in the spectrum of bipolar between I and II, my experience with SSRIs flies in the face of conventional wisdom with regards to the use of SSRI and other antidepressant treatments in bipolar disorder. Never once did an SSRI precipitate a severe acute manic episode, and at one point in my life, an SSRI treated a manic episode. I have to admit I would have liked to see what lithium monotherapy would have done for me back then. I seriously doubt thought that I would have felt as alive and well as I did over the years on mood stabilizers.
I personally don't believe in totally suppressing some symptoms of mania as I think they can be healthy aspects of our innate personality. If you completely suppress all aspects of mania through mood stabilizer treatment, you also risk eliminating capacity for joy, sadness, excitement, passion, romance and creativity-all things that make being human wonderful, and often make certain people unique, likable, and successful in life, especially when it comes to friendship and romantic relationships.
poster:morgan miller
thread:960165
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100821/msgs/960168.html