Hello everyone! I hope you all are doing
well and have a wonderful day! LOL I sound
like Mr. Rogers... (for those of you old
enough to remember the PBS TV Show Mr.
Roger's Neighborhood.)
I would like to know what the best
antidepressant is for someone with
Bipolar. I currently take Prozac but
notice that in the literature it lists
mania and hypomania as side effects.
I should mention that I have just started
taking Depakote ER at 500mg at bedtime so
that should help with any wild mood
swings. And if all goes well with the
500mg, My Psychiatrist mentioned going up
to 1,000mg of the ER Version. In addition,
I take 100mg of Seroquel at bedtime which
is also supposed to help.
I am sure there are MANY of you out there
who have Bipolar and have had to take an
antidepressant with or without a mood
stabilizer. So I am wondering, which
one(s) have worked best for you? Or have
you heard of working best?
I have a friend who has Bipolar among many
other things that are similar to me, and
she swears by Effexor. I have taken
Effexor, but that was years ago before I
was diagnosed with Bipolar. When they said
I had Major Depression and Panic Disorder.
And I have to say it made my Panic Attacks
vanish and I was able to tolerate it for 3
years. The longest I've ever been on ANY
med. But it was the only med I was on, so
I don't know how it would do in a combo.
Also I should mention that I have only
been with my current Psychiatrist for
about 3 weeks now and have only been on
Prozac (now 10 mgs, was on 20 for a few
days) for that amount of time. I'm not
sure if it's working as I started taking
it at the same time as Geodon. But I quit
taking that yesterday because it seemed to
give me extreme anxiety and insomnia. It
was bad.
When I started seeing my new Psychiatrist,
he gave me the choice of either Prozac or
Effexor. He told me that Prozac is better
for Anxiety and Effexor better for
depression, so I went with Prozac because
my anxiety has been horrible for months.
Although I always thought Prozac is the
most stimulating???
I can't say whether or not the Prozac is
working or will work at 10mg or even 20mg,
so I am not against it at all. And it does
seem to help with my appetite, so I like
that. But not enough to not feel my best
on a day-to-day basis.
I just want to get some opinions from
people who have been where I am. So if any
of you have any information you'd be
willing to share, I would be very grateful
as I'm to go see my Psychiatrist soon and
he wants to discuss this then.
Thanks so much for reading my lengthy
post. I hope someone out there will give
me something to go on as I NEED to get
better. I've been out of work for almost 2
years because of all this!
Before I even knew
I was Bipolar!
Take good care everyone. I hope to hear
from you soon! Have a great day!
Hugs,
CA 2 NJ
