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Overwhelmed

Hi everyone. You all gave me such wonderful replies the last time I posted but it took me forever to respond to them. In case you all didn’t see them, I wanted to say a huge thank you right here.

I am still struggling and one thing that’s made everything even more difficult than it has been already is that I havent had my bipolar medication since early November. The last time I got it I had a bad reaction and had to go to the ER, and discovered later that the manufacturer of the medication was different than the one Ive always had. It’s been a nightmare trying to get the meds again because none of the local pharmacies has had it in stock or if they did, it was from the manufacturer that made the one I reacted to. My doctor wanted to try something different and I will be able to pick it up tomorrow, but I can’t say Im looking forward to it. Only because it’s a new drug and usually I either have bad side effects or an allergic reaction to the newer meds. 🙁

I hate feeling so negative about this, but honestly I’m worn down to a nub and feel like I can’t take anymore. I had the flu in December and seemed to get better, but now its hitting me again and Im wondering if it might be covid. Im going to get tested to be sure, but damn Im tired! I also have no heat and one of my cats is sick, and it’s going to be awhile until I can get the money for either of those things.
All of this on top of the usual stuff (depression, grief, chronic pain, chronic fatigue) is just making me feel like Im going to fall apart. The sad thing is that Im alone too and I wish I had people around to “catch” me, but I dont.

Sigh!!!

I don’t know what I’m going to do. I guess I just wanted to get it out of my head and not feel so alone with these problems. Please keep me and my lil guy in your prayers. I/we can definitely use them!!

#Grief #Depression #Medication #ChronicPain #ChronicFatigue #ADD #sick

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Medication, Medication, Medication 💊 #BipolarDisorder #MentalHealth #Medication

I take a mood stabiliser, an antipsychotic and an antidepressant. If you imagine how a bipolar scale works, it’s 1-10 with 1 being the deepest depression and 10 being the highest high. I take a tablet to stop me going lower than a 3 (antidepressant) and one to stop me going higher than about a 7 (antipsychotic) and then a tablet to stabilise myself between the 3 and 7. That’s it in a nutshell. However getting this established is
a laborious process. I was originally on Quetiapine, an antipsychotic, and progressively worked my way up to 750mg per day. Literature dictates that the dose can range from 200mg-800mg yet when I collected my 750mg from the Chemist, the pharmacist pulled me to one side to double check it was correct and why I was having so much. They’d never dispensed so much to a person before. Subsequently I switched from Quetiapine to Olazapine. It’s a second generation atypical antipsychotic like Quetiapine. That’s the difficulty, drugs work for one but not the next.

So I initially started of on the mood stabiliser Sodium Valproate (Depakote). This is an anticonvulsant and prior to the prescription of it I had experienced 3 seizures. Depakote is used for migraines, epilepsy and bipolar in increasing dosages. I was prescribed it due to the fits. When I started it I was on Mirtazapine (an antidepressant) and together these two will exacerbate the bipolar mood shifts to mania. Further to this I researched both drugs and I read that Depakote and Quetiapine interact and they have the potential to make either of them not work as efficiently as they can. After speaking to my Psychiatrist about this, I switched to Lithium instead of Depakote. Lithium is a great medication but it brings with it a catalogue of potential side effects. You have to have regular blood tests and monitoring. I’m lucky to have no adverse reaction to it whatsoever.

I stopped the Mirtazapine too as I was having a prolonged period of mania. I’d been taking Mirtazapine for nearly 10 years and had a great, positive relationship with it. Everything has its limitations though and I changed to Fluoxetine (Prozac) which is clinically proven to have a brilliant interaction with Olazapine. I have to report, so far so good.

#MightyTogether #BipolarDepression

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Poll

We all live with Bipolar Disorder but we all have unique and individual ways of coping with it. That’s why there’s different medication for patients. Let me know what you are prescribed…

10% ●
Lithium
4% ●
Sodium Valproate
12% ●
Sertraline
4% ●
Mirtazapine
11% ●
Fluoxetine
7% ●
Olanzapine
17% ●
Quetiapine
1% ●
Amitriptyline
5% ●
Citalopram
29% ●
Others please mention in comments
136 votes
136 votes60 reactions42 comments
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Experience with Bupropion / Wellbutin / Elafontil

Hey🌻

Can the side effects of antidepressants change over time?

Disclaimer: English is not my native language 🙈

My experience:

I´ve been taking bupropion for 7 months. Two month with 150mg were hell and my psychiatrist was nearly to end the medication but we both wanted to know if it gets better with 300mg. When the dosage was increased I felt much better. I got my motivation back and I started too feel real happiness. The side effects decreased. The only ones that stayed were dry mouth, insomania/nightmares, sometimes short time memory loss and panic attacks.

But for a month now, I've had new side effects that are very unpleasant. I´m derealising more than usual and I got increased Sweating(especially at night), Anxiety Attacks and many unpleasant/embarrassing memories of my old self for no reason. Most of those memories are from many years ago and I haven´t really thought anymore about them. I know that those memories are kind of normal but in this case they are repetitive and intrusive. The memories will come to me so vividly as a daydream and I start to fall in a Thought spiral. They make me feel anxious, depressed and awful. I´m really suffering and I feel like I´m losing my mind. I´m having a appointment with my psychiatrist next week and I´m unsure if I have to change the medication.

Do you have a similar experience with bupropion or with another medicament?

#BPD #Depression #DepressiveDisorders #OCD #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #Medication #ADHD #meds #Bupropion #wellbutin #Antidepressant

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10 reactions 5 comments
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Medication treatment

My Doc think I may be on the low end Bipolar spectrum and prescribed me a low dose of Latuda but I’m scaired to start it. I’m scaired of being tired or it bringing me down too much. I already feel down, tired and anxious. I have always been on anti depressants and something for anxiety but this is new. I have always wondered if I have some bi polar because when things are finally good they are really good. I told him I feel like Wonder Woman lol which may be a bit of an exaggeration lol and now here we are. I am ready to feel better. Any advice would be appreciated.
#BipolarDisorder #Medication

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Today…

Today, I woke up a little anxious. I’ve been trying to play with my anxiety meds. And instead of taking 3 throughout the day, I have been taking all 3 in the morning. It makes me SUPER tired, but I felt like I’d get used to it, as I have done with my Wellbutrin XL, but last night, my heart rate dropped to 37 while I was sleeping. I promised my wife, that I’d switch from 3 all at once, to 1 1/2 every 12 hours. I just know myself, and I know splitting them every 8 hours will be a struggle for me. I know what I NEED to do, but I don’t have much faith in myself to do it. Maybe, once I get my meds, I’ve been out of my Wellbutrin for 5 days, and I’m waiting to start Olanzapine for my paranoia, but maybe, I can set alarms and try to get on the right track. Take them as prescribed.

Has anybody else struggled with the responsibility of taking their meds as scheduled? Idk what it is with me, I struggle with doing certain things that I know are good for me. And then I wonder why my moods are all over the place 🤦🏻‍♀️
#BipolarII #BipolarDepression #BipolarDisorder #Anxiety #PTSD #MentalHealth #Medication

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What’s been your experience with online pharmacies?

In the past year or so, Mighty staffer @xokat has had one of her medications specifically filled through specialty pharmacies, and some of the time her prescriptions are even filled through online options like Amazon Pharmacy (you can look into it here: pharmacy.amazon.com/)

What’s been your experience — positive or negative? Do you refill your meds online and have them shipped to you?

#MightyMinute #MentalHealth #Anxiety #Depression #ChronicPain #ChronicIllness #Disability #RareDisease #Medication #ADHD #Migraine #BipolarDisorder

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15 reactions 16 comments