I'm taking Wellbutrin, but of course along with Lamictal and Abilify. I guess it depends how stable your stabilizers make you. I was very flat and stayed in a just slightly depressed state on stabilizers only.

Oh yeah, took Paxil by itself once, crappy Pdoc. It made me very psychotic.

I was in firefighter school once. Overheated in my bunker gear and it made me snap. My temper was already flaring from being so hot, I lost it and beat some fat guy up :-( Another dream crushed.

My new Pdoc says he is weary that SSRIs might be too strong for bipolars. But you may be different.

My Pdoc keeps me away from antidepressants and chooses rather to keep me on Abilify, a mood stabilizer. When I go to a depressive state I've never found an antidepresant to be very helpful. With us BPs he says that antidepressants can cause manic episodes and that using the mood stabilizers/antipsychotics is a safer way to readjust mood. I've been with him for nearly 15 years and really trust his judgement. Of course, each person's chemistry is different, but in the big picture, antidepressants and BP just don't have a good track record. Hope you find the right med soon. It makes all the differnce in the world. Hugs. Beth

Just curious, it does not say on your profile, what stabilizer(s) do you take?

I took paxil for one summr and was super manic. Went thru money did activitie galore. Mad woman.

I take anti-depressants - SSRI and and SNRI. My doc is trying to wean me off of the SSRI, Celexa. When he'd lowers the dose I crash hard, so he usually ends up raising right back up. When I go back on them I almost go into an instant hypomanic state that lasts for a couple months, but then I start to get low again. Makes me wonder if I am even BP.

Does anyone know if you can become resilliant to anti-depressants over time?

I'm on wellbutrin and doing quite well. I do take a stabalizer with it though.
I had taken Paxil in the past. That is one of the few meds I remember coming off of because I had to do it slowly and the symptoms I had were quite annoying. I was glad to finially be off of it. I'll never go back on it again.

Wellbutrin by itself makes me seriously manic but at low doses along with Lamictal and Lithium It's ok. My psychiatrist won't let me try other anti depressants because of my tendency to become manic.....

Zoloft ruined my life for a while. Never went on another anti~D. Get off that devil paxil ! xoxo

My Dr won't put me back onto anti-d's l became progressively more depressed on the last one but l wonder how long l can stay off them as l am bp2 and get depressions more than highs....

I've got a history wiht antidepressant of all sorts, because before they ever decided I was bipolar they thought I was just major depression. None of them realy helped. Going off of some of them I thought I was gonna die and really for what. I know it works different for everyone but for me the antidepressants are not the way to go.

I'm on two anti-depressants...but I tend to be on the depressive side of bp. I don't even know if I have had a manic episode maybe when I was first ill 20 years ago (my sleep was disturbed, I was irratic, paranoid, delusional...diagnosed as a major depressive episode) The bp diagnosis came a few years later for reasons I don't understand. My current doctor has never seen me in a manic episode in 15 years. He did discuss with me a year ago about not being on anti-d's and almost took me off to leave me on lamictal (has anti-d properties to it) and an anti-psychoitic but decided against it at the last moment. I tend to get psychotic under stress rather than manic.

I think it just depends on the person. I take anti depressants, Wellbutrin XL and just recently Lexapro. They have never made me manic.and have helped with the depression

I have taken Paxil but it was so many years ago that I don't remember what it was like to come off of it. I take Effexor 300mg for depression and anxiety along with Geodon and it works well for me. I have always needed antidepressants and they seem to work better now that I am on a mood stabilizer for bp.

was never on paxil. was on celexa, then lexapro, then effexor.
each worked for a short time except effexor. so the pdoc, doubled, tripled and i got worse and worse mentally and physically. finally switched pdocs, and he took me off without weaning. was the most mentally / emotional excrutiating experience i can remember. But at least you are being weaned which is the proper method. But be prepared anyway with crisis line available, and your fiance being prepared that it could be a bad time for you.
I hope that it is not bad. goodluck.