I was talking to a friend online about the various and sundry medications I’ve been on, and ending up writing a list of what I’ve tried and how I reacted to it. It might help someone else, so I’m reprinting it here.
Different meds work for different people. :-/ I’m bipolar: generally severe depression, mild to moderate anxiety, rapid cycling hypomania (up then crashing several times a day for about a week or so), rare full blown manic episodes. Every med I’ve been on before has been for treating depression, not bipolar. So, my depression has been more-or-less under control, while my hypomania ran unchecked.
I’ve tried:
Celexa. Lexapro is a newer version of Celexa. Celexa made me twitchy (like jumping when you’re falling asleep ‘cause you think you’re falling) and dropped my libido to non-existent levels. Moderately controlled my depression, then quit working after about a year. I also punched Steve in the face in my sleep from a violent muscle twitch. :)
Xanax. Anti-anxiety. Good for immediate control of panic attack, but never took it on a regular basis despite a shrink who gave it to me like candy.
Trazodone. Have no effing clue why I was prescribed this one. Turned me into Nessa Zombie. Bleah.
Zoloft. The Sad Rock and I were pretty cool, although again that’s an anti-depressant that does nothing for my mania. Drops my libido to nothing unless I have it at a pretty high dosage.
Effexor. Made me violently angry. Wanted to kick my dog to death because she was barking. Srsly.
Depacote. Made me Chipmunk Nessa. I have pictures around here somewhere. Gained a LOT of weight on this one. I don’t think it even touched my depression. Pretty pointless.
Wellbutrin. Pretty sure I tried this one at one point, too. Eh.
Lamictal. One of the potential side effects was a dangerous rash. While on this one (TMI alert!) I had a vaginal infection that wouldn’t go away: changed soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, diet, type of underwear, nothing changed it. Went off the medication just in case.
Abilify. Finally! A medication for bipolar! Unfortunately, it made me a twitchy, restless insomniac. No good.
Started on lithium this morning. Hopefully this will do something for my kooky head. :)
Having said all that, I hate to see what kind of spam I’m going to attract with these tags. Oy! ;)
sillycakes said,
18 June 2008 at 11:26 am
Good luck, honey.
titaniumrose said,
18 June 2008 at 4:11 pm
I’ve been on lithium for over 2 years now and have had pretty good luck with it EXCEPT that it makes me a little twitchy and I’ve pretty well given up my crafting. But it’s helped the bipolar like nothing else ever did. It’s a toss up I guess. Good luck!
Leslie said,
18 June 2008 at 10:56 pm
Wow. I’m impressed. And intimidated. Seriously.
Still miss ya, lady. Come join Plurk!
Dijea said,
9 August 2008 at 5:31 pm
I’ve been on most of those Wellbutrin – made the whole world spin. Lexapro & Effexor made me insane, twitchy and no one could touch me. Lithium made me a zombie. The only thing that works is Xanax. Probably because I’m 100% worry wart with a tendency for mania over depression. Most meds make me nuts. Hell vicodin will make me stay awake for 24 hours and that’s just with one pill.
Good luck!
Gabriel... said,
10 August 2008 at 1:28 am
Lithium: 2100mgs
Wellbutrin: 200mgs
Seroquel: 75mgs
I use the Seroquel as a sleep aid. Pre-Seroquel no sleep, Post-Seroquel… nicezzzzzz. The low dose lets me wake up with no fuzzy feelings. With the Lithium just make sure you get your blood tested frequently. It has to be at a certain level in your blood, so the doctor will generally shoot high and bring it down if it’s warranted. At first it’s generally once a week, but then once the level is pinned down it gets less frequent.
I know you knitters can be a solitary bunch, mostly keeping within your own tribe, but a blog buddy of mine also has a knitting blog and she’s in a group of about twenty or so… so, if you’re interested:
Knit Nut: http://knitnut.net/
If you’re looking for some support of the bipolar kind, Titanium Rose (above) has a good blog. So is ‘i was normal (once)’, at iwasnormalonce.wordpress.com/ and Experimental Chimp at experimentalchimp.wordpress.com