Mood Stabilizer Experiences

I've taken Lithium as a preventative measure for racing thoughts for years and found it helpful - unless the dose is too high which causes me to have almost no thoughts at all.

I'm wondering what people's experiences with medications prescribed as mood stabilizers are, and what they have helped for?

If there are ones, I'm most interested in hearing about people's experiences with ones other than Lithium, Lamictal/Lamotrigine, Valproic Acid/Divalproex, or antipsychotics like Abilify, Vraylar, etc.

I have tried Lithium, Geodon, Abilify, Lamictal, Risperidone, and Seroquel. I have tried to avoid anything with sedative effects, as I'm pretty certain that I have some sort of sleep disorder and I'm hypersensitive to anything sedating. Nothing has worked for me though. Seroquel worked somewhat, but I slept 15 - 19 hours per day. Abilify and Lamictal made me more depressive. Risperidone showed minimal improvement, not enough to be considered significant. Taking Geodon was like drinking water...no side effects, no improvement of symptoms.

I have taken for anti psychotics abilify zyprexa and Haldol and risperidone. Abilify made me manic zyprexa was a wonder drug but pulled weight on but did give me 5 straight years stability, risperidone I’ve only ever taken as prn and currently on Haldol to lose weight gained from zyprexa it’s going well although side effects are hard.

Mood stabilizers I have been on depakote sodium valproate and am currently on lamictal personally lost loads of hair on depakote, sodium valproate was good was just worried about accidental pregnancy as I’m very sexually active and it causes severe birth defects. Lamictal is brill virtually no side effects.

However I have found that anti psychotics ease mania while mood stabilizers are better for depressions.

I'm on Carbamazepine ER right now and it works better than any mood stabilizer I've been on, and I've been on a lot. It makes me a little unsteady when walking, but as time goes on that's getting better. It keeps the mania/depression at bay without flattening me.

I've been on Oxcarbazepine for a few years now and I love it. It's been really good for me. I'm a rapid cycler and I can tweak my dosages depending on my mood for the day. I don't have any side effects except a little slow mindedness when I take higher dosages. Although I do suspect it's having a anticholinergic effect and kind of slowing my mind down on a more long term scale. I don't feel like dumber just my brain doesn't work as fast as it used to. Of course, I really have no "normal" baseline to compare my current situation to. None of us does. When would "normal" be for us? When we're not on any meds at all? I don't think that's a good baseline for anything. So maybe what I feel now is just my mind going the speed it's supposed to go instead of the 1000mph it goes pretty much most of the time when I'm not super depressed. BTW, I'm a little manic right now as evidenced by me rambling on and on here. Classic.

Anyway, for me personally dopamine agonists are much better than dopamine antagonists. I believe most new atypical anti-psychotics are the latter and they are total hell on me. My first pdoc where I live now was convinced they were the only way even though the mania they were inducing was sending me through the roof. All kinds of bad problems I've never come close to experiencing on Oxcarbazepine. I tried lithium and Depakote also. Lithium did nothing and made everything taste so weird. Depakote made me a very angry but tired person.

Its a good question! I am on anti psychotics too. I have tried several with very spiky results. I tried one which started with a name like 'anapr...' just remembered might have been aripiprazole ....which had a strange side effect. I couldn't stay still or seated for more than a couple of minutes and then I had to get up immediately. The next thing was I couldn't sit in the same spot or chair again once used! Soon ran out of space in the house.
I am on Quetiapine now. Max dosage is apparently 600 mgs and I am on 450 mgs and its proven to be a smooth ride - lots of things are different; better. Only prob is now I can see better I can now see why my life has been such a mess - bit late now tho'.
Based purely on my experience I would say its definitely worth the effort and angst to find one that fits from the very long list!

robbi, look up "akathisia". I think that's what you're describing about not being able to sit still and having to run out of the house at one point.

Hi DistortedOne!
Thankyou for that. As it happens I'm going thru' a 'lighter' version of this as we speak so I might pick up something useful here. Thankyou so much!
Robbi

When it comes to mood stabilizers, I've really only had experience with Latuda and Abilify. Latuda really, really helped me, but then I was taken off my parents' benefits and it was waaay too expensive for me to continue to be on it. So I switched to Abilify, which has been... okay. It works, sure, as in it keeps me out of hospital (for the most part), but I'm barely functional. I can't hold down a job or stay consistent in school, which is my main goal right now, so that's frustrating.

I am currently on Epilim but unsure it is working. I do not want to go on lithium. I am even prepared to handle the emotional ups and downs without any meds. What do you suppose I should do?