I've been on so many med combos. I used to be the same....no in between days. What has finally worked for me is a lower dosage of seroquel (200mg) as a bp maintenance drug, with prn Ativan or prn Ambien, or if mania starts appearing I make an extra appt with my psychiatrist and we've succeeded with increasing my seroquel by just a bit to curb it. For now, anyway.

For years I was on a med cocktail of four or more drugs which just made me sleep alllll the time and I wasn't functioning well. For others though, that's the best solution. We all respond differently.

It's not easy, but keep trying and consider hanging out with a supportive community like this one. Knowing you aren't alone is half the battle, I find.

High and Welcome llightfoot....... What meds have you tried?.... There are several that should be able to help with mania
This is a great board.... I'm glad you've found us.... Big hug.....xo

as Sun says, what meds have you tried?

other question, how fast are these mood changes - if they are very rapid and you've been on alot of different meds there may be some other factors at work as well as the bipolar.

Have you tried lithium? That's got me pretty stabilized. Though I'm also in zyprexa and Prozac for depression.

Lithium took away my mania. Depakote is also used as a mood stabilizer. You don't have to suffer.

Seems like I've tried so many antidepressants, I feel flat on them. Deoakote makes me gain tons of weight. I'm going to try Lamictal again. I can't remember which drugs I've even been on there have been so many .. Some were too expensive like Ability.

Anti-depressants don't work for a lot of people with bipolar - some make the mood swings worse.

have you thought of lithium? you've got a couple of people here saying how good it is and it's great on treating mania and without the mania there aren't the depressive crashes

I tried lithium before but can remember why I stopped. I was on Lamictal but got some really weird thing going on in my brain. It's like a constant sing song tune that goes around and around but no words. Just all thoughts , reading, writing all have this rhythm to them. Almost like obsessive thinking pattern, I don't have OCD. That's why o stopped the Lamictal, but it hasn't gone away. I also have chronic pain and fibromyalgia and take Percocet and ambien for sleep.

There are other meds that are more 'calming' the Lamictal... It wound me as well.... AD's are something that many people with bipolar can't take
Sometimes the older meds are used to bring people out of a manic state... Some of the 'zines' or Haldol
I'm on Tegretol now and was on Valproic Acid.... both of these meds help with calm along with Seroquel for me