BiPolar and anxiety medications?!
Question: I'm just curious as to what & how many medications people with BiPolar and/or anxiety disorder take. I take two anti-depressants (Remeron & Nortriptyline) one mood stabilizer (Lamictal) and one anti-anxiety (Zyprexa).
That seems like a lot to me, so I wanted to see how much and what other people with my condition are taking.
Answers: I was put on lithium sodium. I was fine after that.
I had the understanding that putting a bipolar on antidepressants would not be a cure. It will just make their mood swing to the other extreme. I was put on an antidepressant for a little while, but only a little while. I understand lithium is the appropriate med for all bipolars, but some young people are put on something else, especially if they are so young (so small) that it might become toxic from too much lithium.
It seems to me you are overmedicated, but I am not a doctor and I haven't done blood work on you, so I can see where your biggest problem lies. Sometimes you can learn from the med and get used to its influence on your anxiety. Then when they take you off you continue in the same manner. But you have to allow some time, something like at least a month, to let your system get used to it.
If they want a mood stabilizer, I don't see why the doctor didn't just go for the lithium. It is a mood stabilizer. Once your sodium level is stabilized, you should be fine after that. I'm not sure that I was diagnosed exactly the same way you have been, but bipolar is bipolar. If you are dissatisfied with your meds, maybe you could do some research and get more info. That is one expensive drug cocktail you got there. If you felt like a zombie, I wouldn't be surprised.
Knowledge is power. It may be true that lithium would work great for you too, but I don't know that and I can't prescribe that. I wonder how bad is your anxiety? Two antidepressants and an anti-anxiety? That seems like a lot. Are you still experiencing a lot of anxiety? Maybe this just isn't right for you. If it's not working, can you describe that to someone? Find a support group on the internet and vent. Maybe someone else knows just how you feel.
If you can do more to help yourself like I did----I got the healthy diet thing going there, I try to get a good night's rest, I exercise and lift weights, B complex vitamins and plenty of sodium and potassium in my diet, lots of water----I am now off lithium and I have no meds at all. The doctor decided to do that, I am not taking my health into my own hands. I am doing fine. I stayed on lithium for about 7 years. If you can do more to stabilize your mood, go for it. Listen to your gut and learn to trust it. You can help yourself. Just don't get to the place where you feel great and then decide you don't need any meds at all and fall apart. Something works, the big question is what. Keep asking questions until you do find it.