Cyclothemia and adjusting meds

HI, I'm new here. Quick synopsis of most current situation because this question deals with meds. Was diagnosed with BP disorder and put on Prozac and Abilify, which only magnified the issue, went through a lot of med changes including increased dosing of both of those, switches to Celexa, Wellbutrin, and Zoloft. Had an overdose attempt and then was sent to long term psychiatric care, where they took me off all meds and evaluated me for a month.

Ended up on 400 mg of Lamictal, 1200 of neurontin and Ambien for sleep. Ativan for anxiety as needed but it makes me super sleepy.

I've been experiencing rapid cycles, anxiety and increased paranoia recently. I have two small children that I stay home and care for. I am extremely afraid that I have no other med options since all SSRI and like meds only made things worse for me, and am afraid there are no other options that won't zone me out so much I'll be unable to care for or participate in my kids lives.

Does anyone have any insights here? I've been waiting to get a call back from my psych for a week, I am feeling a little defeated and confused.

Hi wonderonawhim,

Sorry you're not getting much for replies; the cyclothymia forum can be really quiet compared with the primary bipolar one.

I think it'd be worth giving other stabilizers a chance. SSRIs are actually usually out of the question for BP unless combined with a stabilizer, and even then I think it's usually avoided... There are plenty of other treatment options for BP, and I think most people don't end up feeling like zombies once they find the right med or combo. It just varies a LOT from person to person, which meds work and which don't, so it requires a fair amount of trial and error.

Lithium is sort of in its own category, and it helps a lot of people with BP, though some get side effects, and it has to be monitored in the blood to get the dosage right. You're already on lamictal, but there are other anticonvulsants out there, too (though I'm only very familiar with lamictal myself). Antipsychotics are common options as mood stabilizers, and are often prescribed for patients who haven't had psychosis at all, so don't let the name scare you off. Sometimes people get sleepy and gain weight, other times not at all. It really depends on your individual chemistry. A good site I've used for researching meds is crazymeds.us, which gives you entertaining med profiles and a forum area with condition and med specific sections, all very helpful in my experience.

Rapid cycling is tricky to treat, which is unfortunate given how exhausting it can get. Hope you're able to figure things out with your pdoc soon.