By-polar disorder breaking point Posted: 03-30-08 18:47pm
I am at my breaking point! Looking for
advice. Here is my story. My wife was
diagnosed by-polar, over 1-1/2 years ago.
Up to that point life seemed great! Have 3
children, 7, 5, & 2 . We were able to find
a highly recomended Psyciatrist and have
been using him eversince. Started out
putting her on Lamictal & Abilify- seemd
to work for a little while. Still had huge
mood swings!! Doc. keept upping the
dosages. Got so depressed we put her on
Cymbalta, that worked but put her in a
manic state every time! Still got worse.
She has a family history of By-polar, and
Lithium is the drug of choice for the rest
of her family. So we tried Lithium! At
this point she was on Lamictal, Abilify,
Lithium & Cymbalta. Tried this for a month
or 2? Didnt seem to help. Doctor said we
only have one more chance. So we started
ECT(electro-convulsive therapy) We did 12
sofar. Didnt seem to work. Doc. took her
off everything except Abilify. Still no
better!! She is a Zombie!! all she does is
sit on her butt!! Cant be trusted alone
with my kids. Gained at least 50 lbs. My
family is falling apart! Just wondering if
by some miracle someone might have some
lifesaving advice!!
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antigone
Moderator
Joined: 27 Jan 2008 Posts: 1017 Location: IL
Thanks: 50
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Posted: 03-30-08 21:29pm
Find a new doctor! There are MANY other
meds that could be tried. What about the
atypical antipsychotics? Risperdal,
seroquel, abilify are some of the newer
drugs. There are many anticonvulsants that
work as mood stabilizers - depakote,
topomax, lamictal are a few. It takes TIME
to find the right combination of drugs to
stabilize a person with bipolar disorder.
The cocktail of meds may need to be
tweaked many times. I know my children's
psychiatrist does not use anti-depressant
drugs to treat bipolar disorder. This is
due to the propensity of antidepressants
to cause manic episodes.
Get another opinion. There are many
doctors out there. Your wife is sick and
needs some treatment. I would look
elsewhere and see what other options are
out there.