Lamictal

YUp I tried both those two and had really bad tremors and thyroid problems... I went onto Lamictal and My cycling is slowed way down and I was/am a daily cycler with out meds

is lamictal effective for both depression and mania? and are there any terrible side effects? thanks!

How about Tegretol and Trileptal? Those two drugs are in the same family as Depakote, all being seizure medications/anti convulsants. I have known of people with Bipolar Disorder being treated with Tegretol, and I myself took Trileptal for a while, although not for the disorder. It done nothing for me...couldn't even tell I was taking it. Of course, these meds work different for different people. Ask our doc about these two meds, and the Lamictal too. Many people have a lot of success with Lamictal.

Lamictal

lamictal is good... takes a while to get on it right..rash is deadly if you get it but it is very rare, helps with both probably the best mood stabilizer on the market

thanks, i will look into it and talk to my pdoc.

valproate, abilify,risperadol,Geodeon

If you are REALLY unusual (like me. sigh. lamictal did squat, geodon and abilify gave me akathesia, trileptal I got the life threatening no salt in your body thing and nearly DIED, etc., etc...) They have me on atypical atypicals. I take Effexor, which is an SNRI (selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, atypical antidepressant, but it kind of kicks your butt out of the really bad depressions) and seroquel (an atypical antipsychotic/mood stabilizer). I also take topomax as an additional atypical mood stabilizer because this keeps the seroquel weight off.

It took them five years to come up with this combination, but I have been stable for two years and it's the ONLY thing that has worked for me.

GOOD LUCK!

Lamictal didn't work for me either, but then, neither did Effexor, but Effexor is a whole different kind of med.

Seroquel has been mentioned, and that's definitely one I forgot about. At high doses, antipsychotics work as mood stabilizers, which is why I'm on nearly the max dosage of it. You should definitely mention all this to your doc. I mean, he/she will already know all of this, of course, but let him/her know you're concerned and are anxious to find the right med combo. For me, it's Depakote and Seroquel, combined with a few others, but again...different ppl need different meds.

Good luck!

I had to stop lithium because my hair started falling out. I am on lamictal, seraquel, and now depakote, been on the depakote for several weeks. I don't have any side effects from it at all. It seems to be working well, too.

Lamictal and Effexor worked great for me. Just remember...we're all going to react differently to different meds, but you've heard that umpteen times! Just had to repeat.
Good luck!!