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Lithium or lamictal in unipolar depression?

Posted by fido on March 2, 2015, at 17:03:14

I read a book by a swiss psychiatrist who treats hard cases and this person basically says that people who have been depressed for a long time or who relapse during antidepressant therapy need to also be put on lithium or another mood stabilizer.
I never heard this before. She even wrote that she would prefer lithium over an antidepressant as long term protective measure.
But lithium seems pretty scary to me because you have to measure the levels all the time and from what I read it can also have many side effects.
I really don't think that I'd even dare to take it.
But then again I think what if lithium would work?
She wrote that lithium usually starts to work already within days. If this is so then you could quickly find out if it helps and if not get rid of it again.

Another option would be lamictal. But I also dont know much about it. My pdoc didnt really want to put me on it cause he said it has more side effects than antidepressants. I also dont even know if my insurance would cover the costs cause I'm not bipolar and lamictal isn't officially allowed for normal depression, at least where I live.

What do you think about this? I mean if antidepressants don't work then sooner or later you have to try something else. But at the same time moving to other classes of drugs is also harder for me cause it's more scary. For example I'd not want to try an AAP because of the EPS risk and also because of the class. It's like once you start to take an antipsychotic it's as if you're officially "psychotic" and no longer only depressed. I dont want to go down that road.


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poster:fido thread:1077272
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