Posted by Tabitha on June 28, 2016, at 20:37:45
In reply to Re: Gabapentin for Bipolar2, posted by KarenRB53 on June 28, 2016, at 15:56:26
> I have had depression most of my life and I've been on antidepressants for over 25 yrs. Prozac was first one and because it "lifted " me...it was like a miracle really. Looking back, i was probably hypo manic. My friends said I was like a different person! Anyway, I thought it was great at the time and it worked for me for aboutb5 yrs or so. I did use Buspar at times because I was a little too excitable and impulsive. So on it went, trying to find an antidepressant that would work as well as the Prozac but never did. Anyway, about 3 or 4 months ago, after being on Celexa..I asked my dr if I could try Prozac again as Celexa just kind of kept me going...well he put me on Prozac and I tapered off Celexa and the Prozac didn't make any difference so we agreed that I'd get off both, just use Ativan prn and get it out of my system. So, here we are..it's been over 3 months without antidepressants and even though I'm very emotional I'm not depressed so he said he thinks I'm bipolar2..(my sister was bipolar, committed suicide and my father was bipolar or manic depressive as it was called then. So..Gabapentin! Or a mood stabilizer is what he thinks is what I should be on now. No more antidepressants. Sorry to go on like this but wanted to explain.
Thanks for the details, now your dx makes more sense. I'm very sorry about your sister. I had the same situation with my mom. :-(
We've had a lot of similar med experiences, too. I understand why your pdoc wants you on a mood stabilizer, so you don't get another recurrence. Maybe s/he is planning to try the ones with least side effects first, then keep going until they find one that works. My most recent pdoc started me on lamotrigine, then when that seemed to poop out, added lithium. I'm really noticing an improvement with the lithium, although I got tremors from it.
I was also on an SNRI, but am tapering off it. So far so good. If anything I feel calmer without it. All the SSRIs & SNRIs seem to work to lift me out of an episode of depression, but don't work so well for maintenance.
poster:Tabitha
thread:1089892
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20160609/msgs/1089969.html