Bipolar Disorder meds:Yikes! I almost made a pretty bad mistake…..

I  had a pretty scary experience today.

I am good about taking my medications. I basically have no life if I don’t use my Lamictal along with my management plan. They can’t work alone- so meds are my lifeline.

I have small amounts of my meds in many locations as I move around town a lot and may forget to put my daily meds container in my purse.

Here’s where I put them:

1. My glove compartment

2. My mom’s house

3. My house

4. My daily dose in my purse- I fill this bottle every night.

Today,I was putting a bottle of meds at my mom’s house and had my daily bottle in my backpack.

I took out both bottles at once.

My daily meds are 700mg Lamictal  (my Lamictal is much higher than most doses),Ativan for sleeping if it’s a [ Read More ]





Posted on September 18th,2011 | Tags:,,,,, | Category:Medications

Blog Reader Question on Bipolar Disorder and Anxiety

Hi Julie,

I am having a really rough time with anxiety and i haven’t been able to track down what the issue is. I’ve also been cycling very rapidly from morning to night. Wish i knew what the problem is.

 Hi Gail,

 I’ve had anxiety for many years- it’s a normal part of bipolar and it can be reduced. It comes from many areas:

 Work- sometimes the requirements of work are stressful for people with bipolar disorder.  I remember working as a teacher- as long as I was with my students I was fine- but when the classes ended,I would go into the teacher’s lounge and lie on the couch. I am not like that at all anymore now that I do the stuff in my books- I can work through the anxiety,but it is still often there.

 Relationships- I don’t date because the situation adds too much pressure to my brain and [ Read More ]





FDA Approved Bipolar Disorder Drugs

Here is an interesting list- the FDA (federal drug administration) has to ok a drug for use with bipolar disorder before a drug company can advertise that the drug can be used for bipolar disorder. Here is a list of the approved drugs with their initiation dates. I will write more on this topic in the next few days:

FDA:Acute Mania        *   1970:  Lithium       *   1973:  Thorazine        *   1995:  Depakote       *   2000:  Zyprexa           *   2003:  Risperdal         *   2004:  Seroquel       *   2004:  Abilify       *   2005:  Geodon       *   2005:  Equetro (Tegretol)     FDA:Acute Bipolar Depression             *  2004:Symbyax                  (Prozac-Zyprexa combo)          *  2007:Seroquel

FDA:Maintenance (for use in managing bipolar disorder in general)                *  1974:  Lithium:both          *  2003:  Lamictal:                         depression          *  2004:  Zyprexa:both          *  2005:  Abilify:both

This list can be a bit confusing- especially [ Read More ]





Bipolar Disorder.. it’s always something!

I always know I’m depressed if I wake up and suddenly hear an avalanche of negative thoughts.  Sometimes I wake up and think- hmm,what fun things do I have to do today? Those are miracle days where I just get out of bed and look forward to the hours ahead.

I had extreme trouble sleeping last night. True insomnia- it’s so different from mania sleep issues. I had to take two ativan (A benzodiazepine/anti anxiety med) – two ativan means I will get really tired this afternoon. I usually stick to one. But at least I finally got to sleep around 2:30 AM.

This means I lost the hours of work I was going to do this morning. What can I do but just get on with it! I’m lucky I didn’t have a deadline this morning.

I’d rather be tired than depressed. I made a list of my plans for the day. I [ Read More ]





Bipolar Disorder Medications:What is Zyprexa? (Olanzapine)

 Zyprexa,also known as Olanzapine is an anti psychotic drug (also known as a neuroleptic) used to treat psychosis and psychotic mania.

It’s called an atypical antipsychotic as it is a new class of drugs with less side effects that the old anti-psychotics such as Thorazine and Haldol. Zyprexa is known for weight gain- an average of 20 pounds per person,but I definitely know people who don’t gain weight at all.

Zyprexa is used to treat bipolar disorder mania and psychosis – (and schizophrenia.)

I have seen it work miracles on people who are very ill.  It’s hard to find a balance between the benefits of the drug and the side effects- but for many,the benefits are what matters. I have a friend who was on the drug for two years to keep her mania and psychosis in check. It definitely kept her out of the hospital- but she felt over drugged and [ Read More ]





Bipolar Disorder and Pristiq (desvenlafaxine):a new antidepressant

I recently opened a magazine and saw an antidepressant (Pristiq) I had never heard of- so I asked my coauthor Dr. John Preston to explain the mistique of Pristiq!

Hi…Pristiq (desvenlafaxine)is a clone of Effexor…I like it because the starting dose is often the therapeutic dose (50 mg)…with Effexor you had to start low (37.5 mg) and gradually increase the dose (often up to 150-300 mg)…also Pristiq has somewhat less nausea than Effexor….but like all antidepressants is absolutely can cause mania…John 

**And as we all know…people with bipolar disorder can’t take antidepressants alone- and if they do take them- it needs to be in combination with a mood stabilizer such as lithium,depakote or tegretol!  Pristiq sounds like a resort! Who names these things!  Julie  

PS:If you view this blog from amazon.com,you can see the whole blog at www.bipolarhappens.com/bhblog

[ Read More ]





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