I actually love being on Paxil. I'm also taking another anti-depressant called Remeron, along with the mood stabilizer, Abilify. I like a little bit of mania!

I actually just came off Paxil and started Cymbalta instead. Titrated down one week and up the cymbalta the next no side effects. I love the Cymbalta. I didn't have a problem.

If you're BP, antidepressants taken alone can make you manic. You still need a mood stabilizer, like lithium or lamictal....lithium usually works better for people who are more manic, and lamictal, for people who are more depressed (it also has some antidepressant effects) There are other meds, too that can be used, but those two are usually the cornerstone meds for BP. I used Cymbalta too, which really helped a lot, but my ins. changed and could not get that covered, and can't afford it myself. Overall, everyone responds differently, so you'll have to figure out what works best for you. But a mood stabilizer needs to come first.

Yes, that is a prevalent view, Hannah- that antidepressants & bipolar don't mix- or it is at this juncture anyway. Thing is, I don't think it's Gospel, if you get me..there is so much that is yet to be understand about bipolar and it's treatment & there are always fads in what current beliefs about it all are.
Plenty of Bp's are on antidepressants. If they help you, great..wouldn't go off them merely because of article...especially if they made positive difference in first place.
that's all.

I am on a really low dose of Zoloft for OCD. We will not go higher though & I am not on it for depression, the lower doses are more effective for OCD versus the higher doses for depression.

But I am on 3 things that can be used as mood stabilizers as well - Lamictal, Topamax, and Seroquel (although I don't use Seroquel for mood stabilization)

It's not black & white, exactly.

paxil made me sleep for a week. wellbutrin sent me into a manic episode. was on cymbalta, it was alright. now im on prozac. but going thru a lot, dont think anything will help me now. sorry i wasnt much help. im rambling tonight.

I did a 16 week taper off of Paxil,and still ended up in ER...be really careful.

And yes,certain BP people do not do well on anti-D's.
I'm BPI and do not take anti-D's.

I take Klonopin and BuSpar for anxiety

in some cases I heard it can make it wrost.
Paxil yuck my docter put me on that i lasted two days then stopped takening them and told my docter that I Refuse to take it.
then he put me on effeox witch i heard is the same kinda thing when it comes to weening off of..and if it is Oh ya its hell..sorry :/

yes the ssri,s are the bad ones ans alot of the tricylic are as well...hi hanna

I am BP1 and take wellbutrin with lamictal to stabilize mood.. my pdoc tried to stop wellbutrin but my energy level decreased so much that he added it back.. his own concern with anti depressants was his reason but I seem to be tolerating this med rather well... ((hugs)) polar

Bad time for me, effexor was the worst. I am on lithium and cipralex and it seems ok for now.
I went through the rapid cycling and on and on. Anger to the point the wife and I seperated, we are together now, just had a baby boy.
I found out about that here on DS. I researched the snot out of it and questioned my doc. He had heard about it too. Which pissed me off more as I had just been hospitalized 5 times in 6-7 weeks. I went off everything he had me on and went on lithium. Been good ever since. It gave me the toehold I needed to wrestle with this. Check out me profile, the story is there.

Anti-depressants ar BP uppers. They will induce mania in some patients which is why most p-doc prescribe a mood stableizer to offset it. If someone has a depressed baseline they usually need an SSRI.

They put my husband on Zoloft and he went into a manic rage. Then he ran away and refuses to believe he is sick. He was never given a mood stablizer with it.

I went off paxil but did it slowly with my pdoc. He was switching me to Cymbalta. I didnt have a problem.