Psycho-Babble Medication | about biological treatments | Framed
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here's what my ex-pdoc told me...

Posted by Christ_empowered on August 27, 2010, at 21:55:31

In reply to Please explain?, posted by SheilaC on August 27, 2010, at 16:14:01

she said you have your uppers (antidepressants, stimulants) and you have your downers (sedatives, benzos, most antipsychotics). In Bipolar Disorder, what you're looking for is the right amount of upper(s) and downer(s) at the right time to push the patient's mood into "euthymia," which I guess is like Nirvana if you're bipolar.

This kind of makes sense. Antidepressants are often categorized based on how "activating" or "calming" they are and prescribed accordingly. Antipsychotics generally fall into the "downer" category, especially at full therapeutic doses, but low doses of some drugs can be stimulating, so more on the "upper" than "downer" part of the continuum.

If a low dose of Geodon makes you feel flat, it may just be that you're not cut out Geodon (or maybe atypical antipsychotics aren't your thing). Since you have BP type II, I would think that Lamictal might be an option...it certainly looks better (on paper at least) than Lithium or Depakote.


Good luck.


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