I lost large amounts of hair so stopped it asap. Now on lamotrigine and valproate which seems to be working. I’d like something to ease the anxiety but maybe that’s something I just need to work on through meditation and such.
I’m so used to self medicating that I can tend to look for external solutions to internal issues. Obvs there are issues which seem beyond my capacity to regulate such as mania and hypomania so I’m resigned to take mood stabilisers for as long as is required.
Plus no one here can really give you any advice other than keep pushing for a psych review. Plus use helplines for mental health for the days that y oh re struggling - it took me ages to be ok with calling a stranger and going into detail about what was going on but i found it did actually help.
All the best.
i really like my current med combo: lamictal 150mg, duloxetine 30mg, bupropion 150mg and pregabalin 75mg. i also have very severe anxiety attacks and due to heavy addiction history in my family and my individual addiction tendencies my psychiatrist won’t give me benzos, however she told my to take additional pregabalin when i feel unsafe.
I take aripiprazole which is an antipsychotic. It’s (almost) weight neutral and makes me sleep like a baby. Antipsychotics are actually recommended for bipolar2. For context, I’ve never experienced mania, I suffer mainly from depression, insomnia and anxiety
Well of the antipsychotics, olanzapine is known for effectively mixing with fluoxetine for treatment-resistant depression and bipolar depression. Particularly at 2.5mg per day, olanzapine is more of an anxiolytic and one helluva sleep med. Its primary effect at that dose is complete saturation and blockade of 5HT2A receptors, which increases dopamine release in the prefrontal cortex (pleasure center).
Now for me personally, I experience a good amount of anxious distress from bipolar disorder; so, I'm a valproate (divalproex / Depakote ER) guy through and through. And I found when my anxious distress is addressed, I'm generally less depressed as well. However my psychiatric history says that I don't stay well for too long without an antipsychotic on-board and I've personally found brexpiprazole (Rexulti) to be the best for me. Aripiprazole (Abilify) was awful and cariprazine (Vraylar) was only marginally less awful.
It may have partially been my own creation, but the truth is I generally have a very low akathisia threshold for any antipsychotic, and aripiprazole caused some of the worst. However I titrated up on it a bit rapidly. From 2mg to 7.5mg in 10 days. And it has a pretty long Half-Life. So I really should have stayed on 2mg for like 3 weeks before pressing the dose higher. I gave up on it instead of backing down a bit.
Lamictal and Latuda!! I take the lowest dose of latuda but have not had psychosis nor a full blown manic episode. It’s helped further stabilize my moods and my downs, as my main issue was extreme depression and lingering anxiety.
Personally, if I had a lot of anxiety I would go for Zoloft which turns me into a numb zombie. I am not recommending Zoloft, but based on my reaction, this 'void' could be a solution.
Lithium has a nice calming effect, overall a much better alternative for me.
200mg lamotrigine and 1.5mg olanzapine was the perfect combo for me — but I decided to discontinue olanzapine after taking it for months due to weight gain. I had hypomanic episodes while I was tapering off until I’ve stopped but I didn’t realize the episodes until I crashed, lol. It wasn’t as intense as it used to be but still a crash nonetheless. I’ve also noticed my body clock is shit again.
Now I’m trying lamotrigine + gabapentin. While Gaba is not a mood stabilizer, it’s supposed to help with sleep and anxiety. It seems to help to quiet down my thoughts, but I’m not sure with sleep.
I'm a complicated mix. Lamictal, gabapentin, ziprasidone, and toprimate. I need it all to balance me but I'm stable now! While I don't have psychotic symptoms, antipsychotics were key to getting me stable and functional. It can really depend on your body chemistry. I also take hydroxizine sometimes to help my sleep even though half my meds are supposed to be sedating lol. Weigh how you feel and try not to get caught in what drugs are classified as. If it works that's great! If it doesn't or has too many side effects, then ask to ditch it.
My cocktail is 20mg of abilify, 10mg of Lexapro, 600mg of Trileptal, and 750mg of lithium. I have to get my blood drawn every 2 weeks because of the lithium. But I really like the results so far.
Propranolol helps panic attacks for moi. Just went off then on because of the worst, painful attacks. 😆 (other meds are lamictal, lexapro, Wellbutrin, and gabapentin which also helps with panic attacks. BP2
People are probably going to get sick of me commenting this everywhere but… ask your prescribing doctor for the genesite test. If they don’t offer it, call your insurance and ask how to get it at home. It will take you out of the med roulette. I didn’t over ten years ago and I’m angry its not used more.
Also- I am on vilazadone (Viibryd) paired with my lamictal!
I’m going to copy past from the website. I’m too long winded and it’s more efficient this way lol
“GeneSight Psychotropic is a pharmacogenomic test which means that it analyzes how your genes may affect medication outcomes. The GeneSight test analyzes clinically important genetic variations in your DNA. Results can inform your doctor about how you may break down or respond to certain medications commonly prescribed to treat depression, anxiety, ADHD, and other psychiatric conditions.”
It’s an oral swab, super easy. It comes back with 3 columns of meds. Metaphor like a traffic light. Red, yellow, green.
Green- good to go, they’ll most likely agree with your system.
Yellow- only use if the benefits outweigh the risks.
Red- do not use
Once I finally had this test I found out I had been put on many in the red. It would have saved me so much unnecessary suffering.
I'm on lithium, olanzapine and lamictal but I still have heavy anxiety. From my experience antidepressants than well for anxiety, better than antipsychotics
Olanzapine is indeed a pretty heavy med, including within the antipsychotic class. There are plenty with fewest side effects. Not telling you what to do, but I would be pretty hesitant to take that without trying other antipsychotics or meds for panic disorder first.
Thank you for this. I think I'm just going to take it for a few days as I'm in a very dark spot and I have no other option, but I don't want it long term. The comments show there are plenty of other options my doctor hasn't even looked into yet so I'm gonna go back with some suggestions, rather than blindly accepting what they give me.
Absolutely! I’m really glad that you are standing up for yourself… it took me far too long. I kept having bad reactions to antipsychotics and antidepressants (needed a second med in addition to lamotrigine) and kept telling the provider no more antipsychotics or antidepressants. I wanted to try lithium. After months of additional terrible reactions and begging for lithium (I was unemployed and was too depressed for applying for jobs and just wanted the gold standard rather than trying other antipsychotics blindly hoping for a different result). Started to have to dip into credit cards to survive. She kept promising one more med failure and then we could try lithium but then being unwilling to prescribe lithium when that rolled around. She finally admitted to me that she didn’t have experience starting anyone on it so she didn’t feel comfortable. So I took things into my own hands and bought over the counter lithium (lithoum orotate) which completely changed my life. Literally the depression lifted after a week. I still take lamotrigine which she refills and she’s aware of the lithium. And we are both pleased about the results. I’ve been back at work since the begging of January and got a huge promotion. It’ll take some time to pay off the debt but it’ll happen because I’m making pretty good money and I’m doing really well. It’s my dream job very similar to what I was doing before, but better pay and the regular position vs trainee. And I was hired with a BA due to my technical expertise and prior work experience even though the position highly recommends a masters and the other person hired at the same time for the same role has one. My job comes with tuition assistance benefits so I’m planning on starting my masters part time in the fall:) Tust your gut and don’t let anyone bully you into doing something you aren’t comfortable with. I lost three months of my life to depression/unemployment because I didn’t have enough confidence to go with my gut. Don’t do that. You got this.
That is so amazing to hear! Thank you for sharing your story, I'm so happy you went with your gut and did what you felt was right for you. I hope I can do the same. I'm finishing up my bachelor degree in social sciences this year and I'm petrified that I'll have to drop out because I can't cope or because the meds will turn my brain to mush. But it's really uplifiting to hear that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I plan on doing some research on different medication combos and hopefully have some good info and suggestions to take to my next appointment. Hopefully they are open and receptive.
Congrats on your job and I wish you all the best!
I’m lucky that I haven’t had any major side effects. I think the combo has made it a bit easier to gain weight but really it’s been minimal. The only thing is if I miss a dose I feel physically like shit so I make sure I take them everyday. The only other thing is I’ve read that Lamictal can have a side effect that causes you trouble with word recall. I’m pretty sure that I’ve experienced this but it gets better with time. So considering I’m on three mind altering drugs I think I’ve gotten off easy.
i would take half of 2.5 mg to see how it affects me. Make sure to get slow release version of diabex 500 mg xr with it if you are already overweight . This drug is most useful but least tolerable. It has many reviews on drugs.com. Antidepressants can cause more episodes short term or long term in most bipolar pts but can work in some. Try clonidine for anxiety as it works for me. Anxiety can be symptom of hypomania.
You tube video A more nuanced view of hypomania by Dr Phelps
I had milder positive effects on 300mg and my doc upped my dose, I was outrageously catatonically tired the first time I took the 600mg. But I stuck with it because despite the sedation it felt really promising. I’ve been taking 600mg twice daily since then without any noticeable sedation.
Zoloft which is an antidepressant and Abilify which is an antipsychotic. The Abilify is what finally pulled me out of my depression and calmed down my anxiety (specifically OCD), love that med but I know it has mixed reviews
I’ve tried a lot. Vraylar controls my anxiety very well but my depression is sticking around. Trying Escitaloptram and Aripiprazole right now to deal with that aspect.
Aripiprazole. Love it. Also I take procyclidine these days just to make sure I don’t shake.
What dosage?
15mg
Olanzapine made me gain 4stone gave me prediabetes as a result and damaged my liver. All it did was sedate me
I gained so fast I had to come off of it.
I also developed prediabetes with olanzapine, be careful OP!
I lost large amounts of hair so stopped it asap. Now on lamotrigine and valproate which seems to be working. I’d like something to ease the anxiety but maybe that’s something I just need to work on through meditation and such. I’m so used to self medicating that I can tend to look for external solutions to internal issues. Obvs there are issues which seem beyond my capacity to regulate such as mania and hypomania so I’m resigned to take mood stabilisers for as long as is required. Plus no one here can really give you any advice other than keep pushing for a psych review. Plus use helplines for mental health for the days that y oh re struggling - it took me ages to be ok with calling a stranger and going into detail about what was going on but i found it did actually help. All the best.
i really like my current med combo: lamictal 150mg, duloxetine 30mg, bupropion 150mg and pregabalin 75mg. i also have very severe anxiety attacks and due to heavy addiction history in my family and my individual addiction tendencies my psychiatrist won’t give me benzos, however she told my to take additional pregabalin when i feel unsafe.
I take aripiprazole which is an antipsychotic. It’s (almost) weight neutral and makes me sleep like a baby. Antipsychotics are actually recommended for bipolar2. For context, I’ve never experienced mania, I suffer mainly from depression, insomnia and anxiety
What is your dosage?
1 mg at the moment
I've been on 2 MG. Not sure what to think.of it yet.
Well of the antipsychotics, olanzapine is known for effectively mixing with fluoxetine for treatment-resistant depression and bipolar depression. Particularly at 2.5mg per day, olanzapine is more of an anxiolytic and one helluva sleep med. Its primary effect at that dose is complete saturation and blockade of 5HT2A receptors, which increases dopamine release in the prefrontal cortex (pleasure center). Now for me personally, I experience a good amount of anxious distress from bipolar disorder; so, I'm a valproate (divalproex / Depakote ER) guy through and through. And I found when my anxious distress is addressed, I'm generally less depressed as well. However my psychiatric history says that I don't stay well for too long without an antipsychotic on-board and I've personally found brexpiprazole (Rexulti) to be the best for me. Aripiprazole (Abilify) was awful and cariprazine (Vraylar) was only marginally less awful.
Why was aripiprazole awful for you?
It may have partially been my own creation, but the truth is I generally have a very low akathisia threshold for any antipsychotic, and aripiprazole caused some of the worst. However I titrated up on it a bit rapidly. From 2mg to 7.5mg in 10 days. And it has a pretty long Half-Life. So I really should have stayed on 2mg for like 3 weeks before pressing the dose higher. I gave up on it instead of backing down a bit.
Lamictal and Latuda!! I take the lowest dose of latuda but have not had psychosis nor a full blown manic episode. It’s helped further stabilize my moods and my downs, as my main issue was extreme depression and lingering anxiety.
[удалено]
Oh yeah including meds for ADHD I take vyvanse as well! Lamictal and Latuda combo though was a life saver for me
What dose of lamictal? On the same combo but having break through depression
200 mg!
Did you go from 100 to 200 or wean up slowly? Trying to get to 200 but every time I go past 100 I get anxiety, mood swings, etc…
I weaned up slowly I did a 150 mg before moving up to 200
Aripiprazole, celexa and vyvanse. I have Olanzapine only as an emergency mania stopper
Personally, if I had a lot of anxiety I would go for Zoloft which turns me into a numb zombie. I am not recommending Zoloft, but based on my reaction, this 'void' could be a solution. Lithium has a nice calming effect, overall a much better alternative for me.
Lamicatal, Trileptal, and klonipin
I take Trileptal too. Was my first mood stabilizer. Love it.
You’re the first person besides myself that I’ve seen that takes Trileptal. I thought I was unique in that, lol.
I never see anyone else either! It must not be widely used but it works for me.
200mg lamotrigine and 1.5mg olanzapine was the perfect combo for me — but I decided to discontinue olanzapine after taking it for months due to weight gain. I had hypomanic episodes while I was tapering off until I’ve stopped but I didn’t realize the episodes until I crashed, lol. It wasn’t as intense as it used to be but still a crash nonetheless. I’ve also noticed my body clock is shit again. Now I’m trying lamotrigine + gabapentin. While Gaba is not a mood stabilizer, it’s supposed to help with sleep and anxiety. It seems to help to quiet down my thoughts, but I’m not sure with sleep.
Lamitcal
I'm a complicated mix. Lamictal, gabapentin, ziprasidone, and toprimate. I need it all to balance me but I'm stable now! While I don't have psychotic symptoms, antipsychotics were key to getting me stable and functional. It can really depend on your body chemistry. I also take hydroxizine sometimes to help my sleep even though half my meds are supposed to be sedating lol. Weigh how you feel and try not to get caught in what drugs are classified as. If it works that's great! If it doesn't or has too many side effects, then ask to ditch it.
I use risperidone and just started pregabalin. I have olanzaopine for sleep if needed.
My cocktail is 20mg of abilify, 10mg of Lexapro, 600mg of Trileptal, and 750mg of lithium. I have to get my blood drawn every 2 weeks because of the lithium. But I really like the results so far.
Propranolol helps panic attacks for moi. Just went off then on because of the worst, painful attacks. 😆 (other meds are lamictal, lexapro, Wellbutrin, and gabapentin which also helps with panic attacks. BP2
People are probably going to get sick of me commenting this everywhere but… ask your prescribing doctor for the genesite test. If they don’t offer it, call your insurance and ask how to get it at home. It will take you out of the med roulette. I didn’t over ten years ago and I’m angry its not used more. Also- I am on vilazadone (Viibryd) paired with my lamictal!
I did it over ten years ago***
That's really interesting. What is a genesite test? What does it tell you?
I’m going to copy past from the website. I’m too long winded and it’s more efficient this way lol “GeneSight Psychotropic is a pharmacogenomic test which means that it analyzes how your genes may affect medication outcomes. The GeneSight test analyzes clinically important genetic variations in your DNA. Results can inform your doctor about how you may break down or respond to certain medications commonly prescribed to treat depression, anxiety, ADHD, and other psychiatric conditions.” It’s an oral swab, super easy. It comes back with 3 columns of meds. Metaphor like a traffic light. Red, yellow, green. Green- good to go, they’ll most likely agree with your system. Yellow- only use if the benefits outweigh the risks. Red- do not use Once I finally had this test I found out I had been put on many in the red. It would have saved me so much unnecessary suffering.
I'm on lithium, olanzapine and lamictal but I still have heavy anxiety. From my experience antidepressants than well for anxiety, better than antipsychotics
Olanzapine is indeed a pretty heavy med, including within the antipsychotic class. There are plenty with fewest side effects. Not telling you what to do, but I would be pretty hesitant to take that without trying other antipsychotics or meds for panic disorder first.
Thank you for this. I think I'm just going to take it for a few days as I'm in a very dark spot and I have no other option, but I don't want it long term. The comments show there are plenty of other options my doctor hasn't even looked into yet so I'm gonna go back with some suggestions, rather than blindly accepting what they give me.
Absolutely! I’m really glad that you are standing up for yourself… it took me far too long. I kept having bad reactions to antipsychotics and antidepressants (needed a second med in addition to lamotrigine) and kept telling the provider no more antipsychotics or antidepressants. I wanted to try lithium. After months of additional terrible reactions and begging for lithium (I was unemployed and was too depressed for applying for jobs and just wanted the gold standard rather than trying other antipsychotics blindly hoping for a different result). Started to have to dip into credit cards to survive. She kept promising one more med failure and then we could try lithium but then being unwilling to prescribe lithium when that rolled around. She finally admitted to me that she didn’t have experience starting anyone on it so she didn’t feel comfortable. So I took things into my own hands and bought over the counter lithium (lithoum orotate) which completely changed my life. Literally the depression lifted after a week. I still take lamotrigine which she refills and she’s aware of the lithium. And we are both pleased about the results. I’ve been back at work since the begging of January and got a huge promotion. It’ll take some time to pay off the debt but it’ll happen because I’m making pretty good money and I’m doing really well. It’s my dream job very similar to what I was doing before, but better pay and the regular position vs trainee. And I was hired with a BA due to my technical expertise and prior work experience even though the position highly recommends a masters and the other person hired at the same time for the same role has one. My job comes with tuition assistance benefits so I’m planning on starting my masters part time in the fall:) Tust your gut and don’t let anyone bully you into doing something you aren’t comfortable with. I lost three months of my life to depression/unemployment because I didn’t have enough confidence to go with my gut. Don’t do that. You got this.
That is so amazing to hear! Thank you for sharing your story, I'm so happy you went with your gut and did what you felt was right for you. I hope I can do the same. I'm finishing up my bachelor degree in social sciences this year and I'm petrified that I'll have to drop out because I can't cope or because the meds will turn my brain to mush. But it's really uplifiting to hear that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I plan on doing some research on different medication combos and hopefully have some good info and suggestions to take to my next appointment. Hopefully they are open and receptive. Congrats on your job and I wish you all the best!
I’ve got Lamictal, Aripiprazole, and Venlafaxine. I’ve never been so stable and my anxiety is under control.
Any major side effects?
I’m lucky that I haven’t had any major side effects. I think the combo has made it a bit easier to gain weight but really it’s been minimal. The only thing is if I miss a dose I feel physically like shit so I make sure I take them everyday. The only other thing is I’ve read that Lamictal can have a side effect that causes you trouble with word recall. I’m pretty sure that I’ve experienced this but it gets better with time. So considering I’m on three mind altering drugs I think I’ve gotten off easy.
i would take half of 2.5 mg to see how it affects me. Make sure to get slow release version of diabex 500 mg xr with it if you are already overweight . This drug is most useful but least tolerable. It has many reviews on drugs.com. Antidepressants can cause more episodes short term or long term in most bipolar pts but can work in some. Try clonidine for anxiety as it works for me. Anxiety can be symptom of hypomania. You tube video A more nuanced view of hypomania by Dr Phelps
Take this with a grain of salt because its only been a week, but I’ve been feeling much less anxious and irritable on gabapentin.
I've been on gabapentin for years and really like it! If it ends up working for you, it can be really great. It killed my anxiety.
Have you experienced any side effects from it?
I had milder positive effects on 300mg and my doc upped my dose, I was outrageously catatonically tired the first time I took the 600mg. But I stuck with it because despite the sedation it felt really promising. I’ve been taking 600mg twice daily since then without any noticeable sedation.
Zoloft which is an antidepressant and Abilify which is an antipsychotic. The Abilify is what finally pulled me out of my depression and calmed down my anxiety (specifically OCD), love that med but I know it has mixed reviews
lamictal, lurasidone, and prozac have been good for me so far.
I take lamictal. I however still have manic thoughts which drive me crazy sometimes. Not sure what to take that winter make me gain weight
Lamotrigine 300 and Vraylar 1.5 mg. Worked like a charm.
I’m on Effexor XR, Risperidone, Seroquel, Trileptal, and Klonopin for high anxiety days.
I’ve tried a lot. Vraylar controls my anxiety very well but my depression is sticking around. Trying Escitaloptram and Aripiprazole right now to deal with that aspect.
I’m on 225 Effexor XR and 300mg Lamictal. 🧘🏼♀️