Hi. I don't want to take Lithium or the Anti-convulsant Mood Stabilizers because of the heavy risks they carry. I also can't make the time to go for blood tests every other week and miss school. I need to be able to take something for my Bipolar aspects but I don't know if there are any alternitave medications for it. I want to keep taking zoloft because that works for my Anxiety/Depression but I can't have the manias either...

What have you been told are the risks from taking anti-convulsants?
Also, who says that you have to have blood tests every other week? Your Doctor?

I take Lamictal for siezures. I only have blood drawn every four to six months.

The only risks that I know of are to pregnant and nursing women and even here it is the older drugs that are a cause for concern.

If you are talking about the risk of damage to the liver, that is only if you have or have a family history of liver disease.

Ask your doctor about Lamictal. (I know that sounds like a commercial) A lot of people here are finding it to be very successful for bi-polar and other mood disorders with little or no side effects.
Good Luck:)

In the begining though you have to get blood tests more often to help check if there are liver problems. I don't want to take a chance with my liver. Liver problems do run in the family. Kidney falure does too. Alot of heart problems also run in the family too, but that's probably something else. I read lithium may cause toxicity if taken at the wrong dose so I don't ever want to play with that one. Thish is where my reading on Invega comes in yet again in another post. I read it's time released ripserdal that uses Concerta's OROS delivery. I'm gonna ask the doctor about that one when I see her 1/29...

Looks like you do have some valid concerns. I did a little web search on Invega similiar to Lithium? or am I wrong. In any case again another med not to be taken lightly. The Invega website is kind of scary, some serious risks.

OROS does that mean medication is released slowly by way of a small hole in the top of the pill? Is that the same as sustained release?

Net,
Talk with your Doc.

Yea, OROS is sustained release. It releases a steady amount of the medication over time.

Nova: I was just wondering what other common medications are used in treating bipolar disorder. I make sure to do my research and look it up first before speaking to the doctor and check up on side effects when taiking it. I'm getting off lunesta because it is no longer working for me and I want to decrease the zoloft because the 100mg dose isn't working any better than the 50mg dose I was on. In re: to the risperdal I'm taking that's for the agiation from the zoloft. I don't know if I will be on that one long term. I started that 1/17 I belive. I take 0.5mg at night 1x each evening for the next 15 days and I see the doctor on 1/29...

I understand.



Nova: I was just wondering what other common medications are used in treating bipolar disorder. I make sure to do my research and look it up first before speaking to the doctor and check up on side effects when taiking it. I'm getting off lunesta because it is no longer working for me and I want to decrease the zoloft because the 100mg dose isn't working any better than the 50mg dose I was on. In re: to the risperdal I'm taking that's for the agiation from the zoloft. I don't know if I will be on that one long term. I started that 1/17 I belive. I take 0.5mg at night 1x each evening for the next 15 days and I see the doctor on 1/29...

How did your doctor's appointment go?

The atypical anti-psychotics have recently been becoming approved for use with Bipolar Disorder. They are similar to mood stabilizers in a way. For example, I've seen this one Abilify ad time and time again and it says: "Abilify is used to treat manic or mixed episodes in adults with Bipolar I Disorder and maintain efficacy in patients whose symptoms have been controlled on Abilify for 6 weeks." Zyprexa is another anti-psychotic used the same way. If someone comes into the hospital extremely manic, they might be put on Zyprexa for a little while to help them come down from the mania. I currently take Abilify 20mg once a day. I LOVE it! However, it doesn't stabilize my moods as well as a classic mood stabilizer does (my favorite of those being Lamictal). I'm on an extremely low dose of Gabitril right now as my mood stabilizer (another anti-convulsant), but before that I was only on Abilify and no other medication for stabilizing mood. I also find that the anti-psychotics don't keep manias at bay as much as mood stabilizers do. I became manic twice while on Abilify in the past 6 months, whereas when I was on Lamictal for over a year, I didn't become manic once.

Anyway, yeah, the only option, since you don't want to take Lithium or anti-convulsants, is the anti-psychotics, which I see you are on Risperdal already.

I'm interested to hear what your doctor had to say. Please update us!

What have you been told are the risks from taking anti-convulsants?
Also, who says that you have to have blood tests every other week? Your Doctor?

I take Lamictal for siezures. I only have blood drawn every four to six months.



My husband has been on Lamictal for Bipolor for more than 5 years and he has NEVER had blood work, should he have?? !!

OMG this is scaring me :eek:

Not all doctor's ask for bloodwork for their patients on Lamictal. That's one of the conveniences of it, that it doesn't require bloodwork. My old doctor never asked for bloodwork, but my newer doctor did. He said something about bone marrow and checking for white blood cells, I think it was. I wish I could be of more help, but I just wanted to assure you that it's nothing drastic that your husband hasn't had bloodwork. I would bring it up at his next appointment and ask why it is exaclty that some doctors do request bloodwork for Lamictal-taking patients. And, if you're still concerned, to request it.

I take Lamictal too. Been on it for about 3 months now. I have had no side-effects accept...

When I first started taking it, I took it at night to try to avoid the possible side effects...and I noticed that I was sooo sleepy in the morning and it didn't wear off until about 11am in the morning. I am not a morning person anyway, and have a 8-5 job. So this was not a good thing.

I told my mom about it (who is a RN) and she told me to flip it around to the day time. Wala no more sleepiness. It was weird because I would take it about 8pm and not feel sleepy but when I woke up..it was terrible. She suggested it might be because sleeping at night causes your metobolism to slow more..and the effects worse. So once I flipped it around...no more issues.

That is the one and only thing I have had, mild in comparison to the symptoms I have suffered on other things. I have been on Prozac, Zoloft...Wellbutrin etc over the years, before I was dx with Cyclothymia/BPII.
The sideffects sucked.

So I am happy that this has not only made my quality of life better and the quality of life for all who are in constant contact with me, namely my family and employees.....but there are no sideeffects too.

I had a baseline BloodTest when I started it. And my doctor does them yearly. So I guess it depends on the doc. I also take Adderall XR 20mg and Risperdal .05mg as needed for PMDD.
Really the Lamictal has less side effects than those 2 as well.
It seems to be a wonderful thing for BpD's who have been on other drugs, as long as they don't have the rash issue, which seems to be the worst sideffect.

Good luck, and let us know how it's going.

Hope

Not all doctor's ask for bloodwork for their patients on Lamictal. That's one of the conveniences of it, that it doesn't require bloodwork. My old doctor never asked for bloodwork, but my newer doctor did. He said something about bone marrow and checking for white blood cells, I think it was. I wish I could be of more help, but I just wanted to assure you that it's nothing drastic that your husband hasn't had bloodwork. I would bring it up at his next appointment and ask why it is exaclty that some doctors do request bloodwork for Lamictal-taking patients. And, if you're still concerned, to request it.

Thank you but my husband doesn't allow me to speak to his doctor and he doctor wont speak with me unless he has permission. One reason I know my husband likes this doctor (seeing him 10 years) I'm sure of is, he helps his denial of his illness. The are alot of things this doctor doesn't do.

My husband has been on Lamictal for Bipolor for more than 5 years and he has NEVER had blood work, should he have?? !!

OMG this is scaring me :eek:

Hi FTM:)

No need to be too worried about the lack of bloodwork. Although it can't hurt to ask the docotor about it.

For the most part blood work is used as an indication of the need for a dosage adjustment or to see if the patient is taking his/her medication correctly. It all has to do with the way in wich the body absorbs the medication. Is the level too high? too low? . . like that.

I went to the doctor, but I forgot to ask about invega. I figured since the risperdal is working and I only need to take it once a day, the invega dose would be a higher dose anyways, so a lower dose of risperdal would be better than a higher dose of invega I would believe...

...The Invega website is kind of scary, some serious risks...Some of the risks are possible with other atyipical antipsychotics too, but it does look like Invega has more risks with increased severities. Very shameful for a newer med. You would expect fewer side effects and fewer risks with newer meds...

Risperdal is helping me so I may be able to stabilize at the moment with zoloft and risperdal combo. The ambien works but gives me side effects like leg pain and drowsyness later in the day...

Other than abilify, can the alternative remedies be used as a matinence medication?

Andy, my 11 year old child takes a neuroleptic for BPII and does not have to take liver function tests. Very few medications require that in my experience. Her only side effect is sedation so she takes it at bedtime.

Like Nova said, talk to your doc.

I know the neuroleptics don't but can they be taken long term as a maitenence med? (FDA approval)...

Well neuroleptics ARE anticonvulsants...I reckon that makes the answer "yes"...have you by any chance heard of the term "overthinking"?

Very familiar with the term "overthinking". Now I ask how are neuroleptics anti-convulsants? They don't use them as far as I know for seziure disorders?

Never mind, I had my terminology wrong. My point is that anticonvulsants just so happen to WORK to stabilise bipolar and that is that, ya know? There are soooo many other than Lithium (which is NOT an anticonvulsant), such as the Neurontin that my child takes. It works great, it helps her sleep and it also tames a bit of her wild sensory issues. To me that's a 3-stroke winner.

Don't overthink the thing to death. The docs have degrees for a very good reason :).

I understand. I just fear the side effects I read about...

Even after reading these posts, I still refuse to take lithium for the same reasons I started with. I don't want to be that 1 in x to get toxicity or severe [organ] damage...

Andy...

Net have you looked into the Lamictal? The sideeffects are mimimual compared to some of the others, which is why a lot of the doctors here are starting to use it? There is the "skin" rash issue, which seems to be the main issue, and the extreme portion of that rash is rare. I have been on it now for several months and other than the "sleepy" issue I discussed under my thread here, I haven't had any other side effects. And it hasn't stopped my "personality" or creativity either.


Just a thought. I am not a Lamictal pusher. I know how it feels to be worried bout taking things. After knowing and living with many drug addicts, I primary didn't become one because I was always scared of all the bad things that could happen. I also had an allergic reaction when I was 15 that almost killed me. And it was from an antibiotic/pain med combo. Man after that I wouldn't even take a stupid tylenol.

It was hard for me to even start on my ADD meds. I went to the library and looked like I was a college student studying for her thesis. But I wanted to make sure of everything I was facing. I read ADD books , neurology books, my mom's PDR and had a notebook filled with info that looked like a phone book.

But I took it. And it gave me back some quality of life. Then I faced the same issue when I started my BPD meds. I was afraid of the Lithium or other drugs I had heard of , and seen others on. I was happy when my pdoc told me about the Lamictal, and he pointed out he was very pleased with the low rate of side effects with it. And the fact he didn't just rush me on it, put me on slow and built it up little by little over a 8 week period. So I did some more research and I lept in.

I totally understand what you are saying.
I guess for me, it came down to quality of life, not quantity.

I would take 10 years less of living, to enjoy my life more leveled out and as close to "normal" as I have ever been, than 20 extra to be how I was before. Which was a big mess by the way. And I could never stop and smell the roses without looking for the thorns or hacking them down before they ever grew, if you get my meaning.

Good luck to you.

Thanks. I think the risperdal is working wonders for me. I plan to speak to the doctor about adding the methylphenidate/clonidine combination I mentioned in another thread (in clonidine section)...

update: When I see the doctor 2/28 I'm thinking of switching to abilify. The risperdal is working but I belive the Abilify will work better for me.