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! ;)
