What are your meds and what do you think about them?

me:

abilify
celexa
klonopin
lithium

like it the best of any drugs i've been on, but feel quite numb and emotion-less.

let's share!

Currently Seroquel. With Lithium I still felt bad at 600MG and I stopped that due to bad side effects.

Perhaps you could talk to your Doctor about your dose and see what he says about being numb.

None currently. Worst ever.

I’ve been feeling emotionless and numb as well. My meds are listed in my signature. The Latuda is new (replacing Risperdone). We are also going to be switching out the Depakote probably for Tegretol. We (me and my pdoc) are making these changes to try to get me out of this funk. So far I think the Latuda is making a difference. We’ll see how I feel after we get rid of the Depakote.

Right now: depakene (depakote XR) 2500mg and lithium 1200mg. They don't impress me much. I'm rapid cycling mostly on the depressed side of things, have loads of side effects and don't see particular positive effects of either of them except for the fact I am doing best workouts ever at the gym (I guess this might have something to do with lithium vs water). Changes will be a-comin'.

Currently I am taking this cocktail of medication

Lithium 900mg daily (have not had a problem with this. So pretty lucky)
Mirtazapine 60mg to help sleep (been taking this one for years, had hiccups when starting out, but now it actually works)
Seroquel 150mg (this was meant to be a short term thing to help with the depression but it has now been 5 months, don't mind these ones)
Sodium Valproate 600mg (don't like this one at all. Has been making me wake up feeling like crap, also takes about an hour for me to wake up properly)

Good luck in getting your meds sorted out.

Landor

I'm currently just on 600mg of Carbamazepine (extended release) as maintenance treatment. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been in remission for over a year, after a torturous couple of years of constant mood instability. The key change for me was landing upon an excellent psychiatrist in Sept '13 who gradually overhauled all my meds.

I think the Carbamazepine works pretty well, although it's primarily an anti-manic and I've never been on a different mood stabiliser for comparison. It's fairly side-effects light for me, though I do experience some sedation, sore throats and sensitive skin. It also has a lot of complex drug interactions, which can be very annoying. For example, it means I can't rely on hormonal contraceptives because it reduces their efficacy.

I've been on a range of antipsychotics and antidepressants with it in the past in order to treat episodes, and although they have been necessary, I find the side effects hard to tolerate long term.

Since I've had success with Carbamazepine previously (almost six years in remission), I'm sticking with it for now but would be open to trying something else in the future. I'd like to reduce the dosage slightly if possible to combat the sedation, though my psychiatrist says it's best to wait a bit before changing anything.

Good luck to everyone out there trying to find a combination that works. It certainly takes a lot of patience! I'd say if you're having problems with a certain medication, talk to your psychiatrist, as the dosage or type of medication might need some tweaking x

I am on

Lithium 800mg
Lamotrigine 100mg twice a day
Aripiprazole 20mg
Quetiapine 150mg
Gabapentin 300mg three times a day
Propanolol mr 160mg

It seems to be a lot to me but they do generally keep me fairly stable without messing with my emotions and leaving me flat - so I think that is good. Better to be stable on them than unstable off them. It took many years to arrive at this combination and two of them are in part prescribed to address side effects (propanolol and gabapentin) as well as help with anxiety. So yeah i do think it is a lot to be on but I also think that it is good I have found something which generally works well.

Cracked

160mg Geodon/Ziprasidone at night
1-2mg Klonopin/clonazepam morning/night
200mg Wellbutrin/Bupropion in the morning

Even though I have a few side effects, I'm happy with my combination of meds. With this combo, things have never ever gotten dangerously high or low. I'm currently hypomanic and taking 1mg klonopin in the am as directed by my doctor. I'm definitely still a little high, but less so each day. I haven't had a single episode of depression since January, when we added bupropion. That's a long stretch for me, the longest in about ten years. I haven't been full blown manic since October 2013.

The Geodon leaves me foggy for about an hour when I first wake up, I have acne for the first time in my life (not sure which med that is, klonopin or geodon?), and my husband says I sleepwalk regularly since being on Geodon. However, I am the most stable I've ever been, have been getting progressively sober, luckily none of the side effects are truly awful, and having been on 26 different medications over the years, I'm happy with my power trio. I'm not numb, I feel quite alive and, overall, well.

BrainStorm wrote: I have acne for the first time in my life (not sure which med that is, klonopin or geodon?), and my husband says I sleepwalk regularly since being on Geodon. However, I am the most stable I've ever been, have been getting progressively sober, luckily none of the side effects are truly awful, and having been on 26 different medications over the years, I'm happy with my power trio. I'm not numb, I feel quite alive and, overall, well.

Hi Brainstorm! I was on Geodon and klonopin and got horrible acne as well. My pdoc was baffled as neither of the meds are supposed to do this. But when they took me off klonopin, it went away. I still don't know for sure if that was the thing causing it, but it is the most likely. I feel for you. I would wake up everyone morning with a new pimple on my chin and cheeks. I had never had acne before, either. Hang in there and best wishes!