Posted by BarbaraCat on April 22, 2004, at 21:24:35
In reply to Re: Does Homeopathy Work for Bipolar?, posted by Cyleilo on April 22, 2004, at 17:07:21
Thanks for your sweet words! I don't feel that homeopathy is enough to get you out of a major bad place but can be used pretty well to maintain things once you're stable. Or can be used along with meds to deal with the energetic stuck patterns that meds don't address. Sometimes you can get lucky and find the right remedy like my lucky cats. But that usually takes time, and in the meantime it's best not to spiral down too far and deplete your whole system. God bless any medication that relieves things long enough find level ground and take the load off for a while.
As for Lamictal, I had good luck with it along with lithium. In fact, it was the only combo that worked to bring me out of a constant horrible mixed state depression that was going on for years. When my Mom died I had to add on nortriptyline because I was descending pretty badly. This combo worked very well but I stopped after 4 months, with no residual problems, because of dry mouth side effects. The lithium/lam combo worked well for about 1-1/2 years and then just pooped out. I was finally ready to address the underlying issues, I guess. Had no choice, really, cause nothing was working anymore.
I was on a pretty small dose of lithium, 600 mg as opposed to the huge doses you usually hear about, and I think it's because Lamictal potentiated it and vice versa. I never had the stooopids at this level, but it did aggravate my hypothyroid condition. I had to start increasing the lamictal dose as things began pooping out and with every increase I'd feel agitation. I also started getting symptoms of 'the rash', intense itchiness. In fact, I did get Stevens Johnson Syndrome just last month and was pretty darn sick with it. Not from lamictal, but from a sulfa drug. I've never been allergic to meds before and I can't help feel that Lamictal primed the pump in my already sensitive immune system. This has caused me to be very cautious with any drug. But that's just me at this point, and while the lith/lam combo worked, it worked well.
Have you looked into your hormone levels? I can't stress enough how important it is to get your levels checked and address any imbalances. I was on the standard relatively 'natural' hormones I got from my primary care doc, but no tests were ever done, it was just the cookie cutter dose. I was pretty amazed at the results of the saliva tests I eventually had done -- way off the mark! and the custom made cream I use prescribed by the naturopath has helped alot. You can't expect any mood meds to hold for long if there's an underlying metabolic dyfunction going on.
But in the meantime, you gotta be able to rub two brain cells together to get motivated and focussed long enough to sleuth out all these other underlying factors. So, maybe if things keep being real hard for you, giving lamictal a try would be worthwhile. Sometimes you need a big shovel to dig out of a hole. I just don't think that staying on psych meds forever is healthy because there's always something else going on.
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:338064
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040418/msgs/338983.html