I know this is off-topic, I just wanted to say that I loved your comment regarding Karen McCarron on the Autism.About . Com .

I am wondering why your doc wants to switch meds as opposed to readjusting the dosage of the Tegretol, especially since the results have been so good until recently. Isn’t it possible that you were eating something different during this period that might have been effecting absorption or that you’d put on a few lbs and need a little more? Not trying to cast doubt, I’m just curious.

Hi Kev,

I followed your link from your comments on “Trial of Karen McCarron”. I found your links on Joseph Glenmullen interesting and also wanted to wish you the best with your medication changes.

Regards,

David

Hi, I just recent went through a medication change. I know how you feel. I too am scared to death about lithium. I take seroquel now and it has worked. The side effects when changing meds can be nasty. I hope you get good results.

Meds switched about 4 months ago from Citalophram 20mg to Venalfaxine 200mg and Sodium Valproate scaled up to 1200mg daily over a couple of months. Now feeling stable, didnt stop me loosing my job

Good luck with yr meds. Yr blog has just about outlined the last 10 yrs of my life

Hi, I am quite new to this blog thing so please have patience with me, I too have been diagnosed as bipolar, and At the moment I am going through a terrible time with mood swings almost every hour, and I do not know if it is the mood swings or the side effects of the meds. I am getting what seems to be akathisia which one of the websites describes as a worsening of anxiety unable to keep still , jaw clenching, eyes ( only when I close them) moving very fast from side to side or up and down. I think this is called nystgmas. I have been told by Psyc doc I saw last week he may change my mood stabiliser which is currantly Lamotrigine to tegretol that you have said about. Please be honest and tell me what the side effects you found with this or is it really as good as you say I What other meds do you take? I am currently taking Lamotrigine 75mg morning and night, seroquel 225 at night and 100 morning and duloxetine 60 mg a.m.plus zolpidem 10mg at night which is a sleep med. I feel right now as though my brain is going so fast, so at the moment I do not know if I am making any sense in the way I am writing this to you, but I am sure you will know what I mean. PLEASE if you are still on this website would you reply to me.
Once again thanks for the excellent descriptions you have wrote
Sally Tudor.

you’re very brave, i am 27 and recently diagniosed but i think i have suffered for over 10 years. i sometimes feel like i am dying from the inside out, its horrific and painful and upsetting, then i will feel amazing, everything is a game, a race and i am having fun. i appauld your bravery and this blog helped me realise i am not a lepper and this is a condition i must manage and i am not the only one

Hi
it’s been 2 years now that i have dealt with the same med change you getting ready to have .. Iam not sure its at all the right change with the mood swings sometimes more severe and lasting longer . but i do find myself doing more things and interacting more .
Sorry my spelling sucks about as much as the every day change of life we are now forced to accept. Good luck, stay focused, dont think you are alone we are many .
If you need to drop me a line ..
Take care jason

Hope u see good results with the change in medication and u feel better.
God Bless u !!

I found semi-sodium valproate to be a bit of a nightmare. It’s a good mood stabilizer, and the side effects are supposed to be better than with valproate proper, but I found they were still there and still a problem.

Good luck.

I tried Depakote once, and like Jurymast said, it was kind of a nightmare for me as far as side effects go. Although I have also met other people who had experienced worse than I did on it. I am sorry, I don’t mean to add to any sense of apprehension you already may be feeling about switching to a new medication. I actually meant to comfort you by reminding you of the fact that it is all so specifically subjective and dependant upon individual brain chemistry. However, I think I know how you feel! After a year of being off medication completely by my own choosing (real smart choice that was), I am just now going back to trying medication again since, like I should’ve known, my drastic moods, lethargy and often sense of hopelessness which were also exacerbated by my relapse into alcoholism, recurred with avengeance!
I am now attempting the medication you just switched off of; I have never tried Tegretol before, so we’ll see what happens….after having tried Depakote, Lamictal and another one I can’t remember the name onow, but which wound up landing me in the E.R. with a Kidney Stone. So it’s been an adventure! That’s why I say that i think I can appreciate your situation. I have had the problem that, no matter what med I try, that I always go up in dosage quicker than “average” (i.e. most others on the same medication) and thus, quicker than expected, I “peak”, and the drug fails me altogether, and rather abruptly as it seems to me. I am very apprehensive that this will just be another in a long line of medications to follow the same path, and that my destiny is to live out this tortured life being a virtual lab rat for different medications until there’s nothing left to try. I am aware I am being melodramatic, but that’s a good example of how I often feel, on or off the meds, and apparently the kind of manic depressive thinking that has, more than once, led me to say F*@k It! What’s the use? And just stop taking them. That has never been successful for me either as I again realize. So no matter what, always “stick it out” as they say! I’m gonna try to….again! And excuse my hypocrisy. Take Care and good luck!

hi i hope this works for you and will be good to read your updates

i am still on lithium myself

anne

Hey Kev. I just found your site. I’m in Topeka, Kansas, USA. I’ve struggled with Bipolar for years.

I’m glad to see you out of the shadows and into advocacy. Great work.

If you want to see what I’m doing, I’m at

http://www.youmeandapollo.com

Peace,

JD

ntxXLK hi! hice site!

Hi, saw your link on the Guardian article. I’m on Depakote,1000mg daily, been 3 weeks now,it works pretty well but not reached the right dose yet. Lost lots of hair last time I took it Stabilised me last year, but I got well and stopped taking it…same old story! Just getting back to normal after a massive episode. Citalopram 20 mg daily and benzodiazepines at night and during the worst in the day time. Been diagnosed 2 years, but really have had it since childhood, estranged from my partner/carer and living with my parents as of the last two weeks due to severity of the latest episode. Hoping it will all be ok, traumatic for everyone. Waiting to hear on my DLA claim, been on IB for 4 years. I’m a 30 year old woman. So glad to have found this site x

Hi,saw the article in g2 today, and felt I had to tell you that after 18 years of ups and downs and countless changes of medication, from lithium ,ssri etc I have now been stable for nearly three years after my psychiatrist asked me to add a 1000mg codliver oilcapsule and 400upg folic acid tablet to my daily dose of 150mg venlafaxine.
My sister has also been stable for 2 years on this regime except earlier this summer when she stopped taking the fishoil(, as she thought the sun was enough in the summer), but she had a slight depression compared to other episodes and became well again 3 weeks after increasing the venlafaxine with an extra 75 mg and taking the fishoil again. The best thing is the absence of any sideeffects on this regime.
We have a family history of manic depression and I was diagnosed when I was 48 and had to give up work soon after, Being able to plan holidays ahead is such a joy, as before I became stable we could only take holidays soon after a “high” and before I plunged back into the” black hole”.
I would recommend anyone to take these two supplements with their medication to see if it works for you, they are both relatively cheap, especially if bought from Simply Supplements here in UK. Here`s hoping it works for you too .
God bless you regards Lilian

Hello Kev

Saw your link on the Guardian and thought I would have a look. I have been on 1500mg of Depakote a day for 4 years without a problem. The only side effect I get is bloody spots, but thats not bad in comparison with some of the tablets.

Good luck & glad to find this site!

Hi,
I’ve been on Lithium and Tegretol for years. Now my dr has decided I’m no longer rapid cycling but showing symptoms of a mixed state (o joy!) She has increased the Tegretol to 800mg but says if that’s not effective she would like to try Sodium Valproate instead. I have no experience of this drug so am pretty apprehensive. I’ve never had any problems with Lithium but whenever my Tegretol is increased I get blurred vision for a while. Changing medication is scary and I hope I don’t have to. I hope your change goes ok for you. Not much fun is it?

B strong! We all hope it will work out for you with the changing!

Hi I just found your site and think it’s brill.

I have just been diagnosed bipolar at 19.

Drop by my place sometime ‘nolongeralittlegirl.blogspot.com’

All the best

Hi, I was wondering if you might take a look at a new painting I did dealing with some stuff on my mind. I’d be interested to hear your comments. It is a series of four short films titled ‘Art Therapy’ and you can see the first ‘episode’ here:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LjtngYzw93E

I wish you the best with changing meds.

thanks