Anti-depressants vs. Mood Stabilizers

[haas mark]

Okay, I just got put on lithium for being diagnosed as rapid-cycling manic-depressive. Now, the last psychiatrist I saw put me on Celexa (a well-known anti-depressant) and then Wellbutrin (which is a mild anti-depressant). The psychiatrist I saw on Friday says that anti-depressants in a mani-depressive person are likely to speed up the mood cycles.. as has been the case with me. Now, I have a question.. why does it do this? Does anyone know?

Note: I am very sensitive to medication, but was not put on Depakote (another fairly-well known mood stabilizer) as it may increase the mild anxiety that I have. I was prescribed with 600 mg of lithium a day.

[Frank Hipper]

I just don't know, ver.

[Grand Admiral Ancaris]

Heck if I know. For my Bi-Polar/Manic-Depressive disorder, they put me on a seizure medication.

[Andrew J.]

Just take Ritalin. Ritalin solves all. When I was young I took Ritalin all the time, even though I didn't have attention deficit disorder, and I'm perfectly fine. *twitch* *giggle*

[Seggybop]

Those who take Ritalin are deemed unsuitable for government service of any kind. You wouldn't even be allowed to be a mailman. Blegh...

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Okay, I just got put on lithium for being diagnosed as rapid-cycling manic-depressive. Now, the last psychiatrist I saw put me on Celexa (a well-known anti-depressant) and then Wellbutrin (which is a mild anti-depressant). The psychiatrist I saw on Friday says that anti-depressants in a mani-depressive person are likely to speed up the mood cycles.. as has been the case with me. Now, I have a question.. why does it do this? Does anyone know?

Note: I am very sensitive to medication, but was not put on Depakote (another fairly-well known mood stabilizer) as it may increase the mild anxiety that I have. I was prescribed with 600 mg of lithium a day.

Likely because your brain chemistry is already swinging back and forth from one extreme to another. Anti-depressants try to push you away from the depressive side and back to the center or to the high-side of center. Except when your brain swings to the other side of it's cycle, the anti-depressant exacerbates the speed of the swing since your brain is working toward the same goal as the drug is.

The mood-stabilizer is supposed to suppress the chemical changes prompting your mood swings, leaving you generally around the center.

[weemadando]

Get a job in IT. Then you're brain will realise that what its been putting up with until then was nothing and will spontaneously combust.

[jegs2]

The mood-stabilizer is supposed to suppress the chemical changes prompting your mood swings, leaving you generally around the center.

It's my opinion that folks depend on prescription drugs too much. Giving anti-depressant drugs and such to kids seems ridiculous. When I was a kid, we didn't use such things, and I can see no need for them now. Creating any kind of dependency on prescription drugs is just a bad idea all around, IMO.

[Wicked Pilot]

It's my opinion that folks depend on prescription drugs too much. Giving anti-depressant drugs and such to kids seems ridiculous. When I was a kid, we didn't use such things, and I can see no need for them now. Creating any kind of dependency on prescription drugs is just a bad idea all around, IMO.

Yeah. Thankfully we have beer, which is over the counter.

[Atavarius]

Wellbutrin's action is that it decreases neural reuptake of dopamine in the CNS.

Celexa works by inhibitng the neural reuptake of serotonin.

Bipolar unfortunately has no specific cause that has been identified by researchers, but they have found some different things relating to neurotransmitters in the brain. People with bipolar are normally found to have a higher instance of receptor cites for these trasmitters. By decreasing the uptake of the transmitters, the therapy was probably supposed to lower these levels and get you back to a the centerline. This all while your brain is still actively trying to get back to the centerline.

[haas mark]

Wellbutrin - I can't take it because it is a mild anti-depressant.

Anti-depressants - I can't take them (Paxil, Prozac, Celexa, Zoloft, or anything made from them) because they are anti-depressants.

Depakote (seizure meds) - I can't take it because it increases anxiety.

Hell in a handbasket, if you will, with trying to get me on good meds.

~ver

[Grand Admiral Ancaris]

Depakote (seizure meds) - I can't take it because it increases anxiety.

I'm not on that... I'm on Tegretol. As a side effect it acts as a mood stabilizer.

[haas mark]

Depakote (seizure meds) - I can't take it because it increases anxiety.

I'm not on that... I'm on Tegretol. As a side effect it acts as a mood stabilizer.

Right, but Depakote is also seizure meds. It doesn't, however, work as an anti-anxiety med, and sometimes doesn't work well as an anti-depressant. Hence, why I am on lithium, because although I'm not an extreme manic, I *am* an extreme depressive.

~ver