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

I need help with a book chapter!

My coauthor Dr. John Preston and I are writing a new chapter to be added to our book Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder. It’s on the topic of medications as I didn’t cover it in depth in the first edition of the book. I spent more time on medications in Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder.

I really could use your help with this new chapter in two ways. I need to hear some medication success stories from partners of people with bipolar.

How do medications help your partner and your relationship?

Then, I need people to finish this sentence:

I’m thankful for my medications because…….

I have plenty of stories in the chapter about the difficulties of taking bipolar illness medications, but I want some positive as well!

I will start….

I am thankful for my Lamictal because it takes the edge off all of my [ Read More ]





Do You Have Tips to Remember Your Meds?

Hello Readers- I’d love to hear your tips on how you remember to take your meds. I have been on my Lamictal for years, and I STILL have problems taking it at the right times. Please send your ideas and I will post them for all 30k plus blog readers to see! Julie [ Read More ]





Generic Bipolar Disorder Medications

As may of you know if you’re a regular to this blog- I had a very bad reaction when I changed from brand name Lamictal to to generic Lamictal (lamtrigine.) Others made the switch just fine. If you have switched over from your brand Lamictal to generic Lamtrigine and have noticed a difference in the efficacy of the drug, there are many blog entries under the Lamictal tab to the right that explain generic bipolar drugs in great detail. You can also ready my story- it was quite a saga! But it has all worked out.  My mother who takes Lamictal had no problems and has stayed on the lamotrigine. I went back to brand Lamictal and am very happy with the results. No matter what you take, knowledge of generic bipolar disorder drugs is essential!

Julie

 lamictal

 viagraThis [ Read More ]





A note about the bipolarhappens.com bipolar medications category

All of my blogs are divided into categories- you can see the list on the right- I’ve been consolidating them for the past few weeks. Here’s an example of what’s included in the medications category:

Medications: Abilify, tegretol, depakote, lithium, lamictal, lamotrigine, zyprexa, serequel, anti depressants, medical treatment of bipolar disorder, medications used to treat bipolar disorder, side effects, anti convulsants, anti psychotics, mood stabilizers, mania medications, depression medications, anxiety medications, talking with your doctor about medications, family members on medications, family members who refuse medications, medications in the news, what medications should a person with bipolar disorder take, etc etc!

Can you believe there is so much to learn about medications and bipolar disorder! If you just take an hour to read all of the  blogs in this category, you will know more than most people on the planet about the drugs used to treat the illness. It’s fascinating information. I have learned it [ Read More ]





Posted on May 14th, 2009 | Tags: , | Category: Medications

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 ]





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