mood stabilizers?

I have BPD and have extreme mood swings throughout the day. I go from chipper to suicidal in a short span of time.Not to mention livid to loving from one minute to the next. Everything sets me off and I'm ready to get off the roller coaster and stop tormenting the people I love.
Has anyone had luck with mood stabilizers? Anti depressants have never worked for me. Either the side effects are too much or they make me worse, or no change.
Thanks

I work in the MH field (ironically enough) and i've been told lamotrigine is a very effective mood stabilizer. It's generally prescribed for bipolar but it can help a lot with BPD mood swings. I've recently been prescribed this myself actually. I'm yet to take it because i'm so ridiculously paranoid about side effects (with all meds.) However, i've heard this is very effective.

Personally never had much luck with meds of any type, but I hope that they help you be able to control these intense emotions

yes. i agree with the lamotrigine. i take it with Trazodone so my moods don't become just flat

hi there! i'm a fan o'lamictal here's some dirt for you on mood stabilizers:

http://www.crazymeds.us/pmwiki/pmwiki.p ... tabilizers
http://www.crazymeds.us/pmwiki/pmwiki.p ... lass/MSAps

Awesome people! Really appreciate the input

I will start researching which sounds the best. If I can have some stability in my moods, the world would be a much better place.

Ophelia333 wrote:I work in the MH field (ironically enough) and i've been told lamotrigine is a very effective mood stabilizer. It's generally prescribed for bipolar but it can help a lot with BPD mood swings. I've recently been prescribed this myself actually. I'm yet to take it because i'm so ridiculously paranoid about side effects (with all meds.) However, i've heard this is very effective.

lol you sound like me!!!!! I just recently been prescribed Topamax. Pretty much cause i told the psychiatrist my psychologist suggested it. My psychiatrist seemed unsure what to give me! I said listen, i don't want weight gain or sexual dysfunction. and it was like hmmph now THIS IS tough! seriously? so many meds have the possibility of giving those two side effects? so sad.

anyways, she prescribed me this, i got a bottle of pills filled up and now, its just sitting on the counter. haven't taken them because I'm SO PARANOID OF SIDE EFFECTS!!! i tell people "yeah, my psychiatrist gave me this." they say oh go do some research. my therapist tells me to NEVER do research cause ill freak out by what i read and not take it.

when i asked my therapist what i should take - an antidepressant or mood stabilizer. he said ill have you take anything you'll swallow. thats how stubborn i am.

have you still not taken any medications since you posted this?

noreally_imfine omg i'm glad i'm not alone! I just can't deal with the paranoooia! lol. Nope, still not taking anything. I'm being nagged left right and center by my boyfriend, mum and doctor who's prescribed me (this could take a while) clonazepam, temazepam, paroxetine, citalopram, zopiclone... countless others and the only meds i've managed to bring myself to take are zopiclone (when i'm feeling brave lol)

I was inpatient for a little while (which is when I got my diagnosis) and the psychiatrist there basically told me there's no point in me taking meds because they have no effect on BPD. Obvs I know this! They just help combat some symptoms, they're not gonna help change the actual PD.

I think I just need to man up a bit. I wish I could bring myself to take something for my anxiety but taking a med for it just seems to heighten my anxiety as I sit around and wait for all the side effects that I am DEFINITELY GOING TO GET! Ha.

Despite all this I gotta say I was recently in general hospital after ODing (which I know is so ironic for someone who is usually so para about side effects but ya know, different circumstances!) and I was so distressed I was practically begging the doctor there to give me ANY kind of medication to help me but he refused arg.

Ophelia333 wrote:noreally_imfine omg i'm glad i'm not alone! I just can't deal with the paranoooia! lol. Nope, still not taking anything. I'm being nagged left right and center by my boyfriend, mum and doctor who's prescribed me (this could take a while) clonazepam, temazepam, paroxetine, citalopram, zopiclone... countless others and the only meds i've managed to bring myself to take are zopiclone (when i'm feeling brave lol)

I was inpatient for a little while (which is when I got my diagnosis) and the psychiatrist there basically told me there's no point in me taking meds because they have no effect on BPD. Obvs I know this! They just help combat some symptoms, they're not gonna help change the actual PD.

I think I just need to man up a bit. I wish I could bring myself to take something for my anxiety but taking a med for it just seems to heighten my anxiety as I sit around and wait for all the side effects that I am DEFINITELY GOING TO GET! Ha.

Despite all this I gotta say I was recently in general hospital after ODing (which I know is so ironic for someone who is usually so para about side effects but ya know, different circumstances!) and I was so distressed I was practically begging the doctor there to give me ANY kind of medication to help me but he refused arg.

Haha i hope you don't mind me laughing right now. My laughter isn't making fun of you at all. it is just funny how we are so alike on this paranoia of medicine!!!

My boyfriend actually doesn't care for medication at all. thinks me and anyone else in this world can get better without them and if i truly do feel like i need them, go on them for a short period of time til i can do it on my own. a few of my friends are urging me to go on medication including my therapist.

the other day when i saw my therapist, i told him the next day i was heading to the psychiatrist to pick up pills. I'm SUPER nervous to see my therapist again and be like "hey.... yeah... i got the pills but decided not to take them." i don't want him to get upset! the one you take when you are feeling brave enough, what type of drug is that?

the first time i was introduced to behavioral medication, i refused to take it because i was too prideful to take it. I said nope, i can do this on my own! when i finally caved in, i felt self-defeated. it wasn't bad. it was Wellbutrin and i felt happier while taking it. granted i only took it for a few months during the summer when i was out of college and i exercised A LOT so i don't know if the good feelings came from the pill, exercising or a combo of the two. i felt pretty confident. the first and only time i have. got off that because i noticed my heart would flutter often. not too often but enough to notice it. wellbutrin is a psycho-stimulant so i believed it to be that and got off it.

then i tried setraline. it was purely for my anxiety whereas the wellbutrin was for my depression. SETRALINE SAVED MY LIFE when it came to anxiety!!! i felt that my anxiety became very debilitating when it came to every day things. I could not stay on the public bus on campus for longer than a minute. i had a few stops before i was supposed to get off where my lecture hall would be but once i got one the bus i would freak out and have to get off at the first stop and walk the rest of the way. during classes i had to sit closest to the door in case some urgency overcame me and i had to leave. i would leave class at times. i couldn't go to the dining commons either. if there were too many people, id freak out.

setraline really helped with my anxiety. i stopped it after a few months because it gave me sexual dysfunction pretty hardcore and could not stand it. many months later, i studied abroad and felt a bit of anxiety coming back so i went back on it. stayed on it for like 18 months and was FINE with my anxiety throughout the whole semester abroad. i hated airplanes. had lots of anxiety flying from the US over to Spain. a month before i left europe, not only was I flying alone but i even stayed in portugal for 4 days alone and didn't know the language.

i do believe setraline helped a lot. not with depression though. and i will not go back on it cause 1) my anxiety isn't even close to that bad but 2) those damn side effects - mess with my sex life and I'm off that pill!

after that... tried prozac for like 4 days, had chest pains (could have just been from the anxiety of taking a new pill like you get)

and now just have a bottle of Topamax which i haven't touched and probably won't.

uff! lol!!!!!!!!

by the way, nice to meet yoU!!!!!!! =]

I'm on Abilify, which was given to me for my bipolar, but helps with my BPD as well. I have had no big issues with it. The side effects I experience are the need to move constantly, which *sometimes* leads to anxiety, and it makes me tired. That's no biggie because you can take it at night, which I love. I also like it because it's the least likely to cause weight gain. It can also be taken at any time of the day, as long as it's taken, so that's awesome if you have a busy schedule.