Boy, that is a complex question. First, some psychiatrist are reluctant to use antidepressants for bpd due to the propensity to cause manic episodes. I think it depends upon each doctor's experiences with using AD medications that dictate the use of them. All the books I have read indicate this is not something that should be done.

The typical cocktail that is prescribed is an antipsychotic and mood stabilizer. You are taking a mood stabilizer now, lamictal. How long have you been taking it? Mood stabilizers can take some time to reach theraputic levels. Once you have achieved that you generally feel better. Perhaps you need to bring up the dose a bit. There is no one size fits all formula for this. Your doctor can guide you with dosing and what the maximum limit is for you. If you have been on the lamictal for 3 weeks you may want to let your doctor know how you are feeling. You can go on line and find mood charts. There are many options and some are simple and others go into great detail. See if you can find one that will work for you. You can keep track of the moods and show your doctor. This a very useful tool to most doctors. It allows you to track your own progress as well.

I hope this helped. Post again if you have more questions. I can always consult my home library and tell you what the books say. All the best!

antigone is right on. I started out on 100mg of Lamictal with the OK from my doctor to increase it up to 200mg daily if I felt I needed to. I am now on 150mg daily. I will wait 3 weeks and see how I feel. If not increasingly better, I will go up to the 200mg and let her know. She gave me enough to go up to 200mg daily if I needed to. After about 3 weeks I found a drastic difference in my cycles. Less mood swings and outbursts. But, I just did not fell I was where I thought I should be. It is all in the individual person what works for them.
I am on Klonopin, Xanax (for major anxiety), Lamictal and Lexepro. They all work together fine for me.

Hi,

I am on Desipramine (100 mg qd) and use Invega (6 mg qd) as my mood stabilizer. I have been rock steady stable for 5 years. I take other meds to help mitigate some of the side effects, e.g., a little Provigil to combat the drowsiness in the AM, and Aricept (10 mg) to effectively offset the cognitive impairment of my AD. Before you turn up your nose at my Desipramine, you should be aware of the fact that Lamictal has the worst cognitive impairment of any psych med out there bar none. It is so bad, in fact, that my psychiatrist WILL NOT use it.

Regards,

Bruce

WOW...we are in a similar position.

I was diagnosed with BP II last year and have been on 8 meds since. Nightmare!!!

Here's the list:
Lamictal
Wellbutrin
Effexor
Seroquel
Ativan
Lexapro
Trazodone
Wellbutrin (for a 2nd time)

I now take Lamictal (this is the one med I have consistently taken) and have taken up to 200 mg for a short time. I started Wellbutrin XL 300mg for almost a month now.

I have noticed basically nothing on Lamictal, like taking a vitamin. I have had bad side affects with anti-depressants...fall asleep 20 mins after taking. Wellbutrin seems to not do this.

However...since starting Wellbutrin, I have noticed no impact...if anything I am more depressed. Hard to tell if this is circumstantial or just the meds.

I tried to get off all meds and detox my system before starting Wellbutrin. I was down to 50mg of Lamictal and noticed I wanted to drink beer again after stopping for almost a year. This concerned me, so I stayed at 50 and up's to 75. Now I am at 100mg.

This med thing is a wild circus act. I have been greatly UNIMPRESSED with any of them thus far. I can't imagine doing this20 years ago. If this is progress, then there is A LOT of way to go. Then again, maybe it's just me.

Hey, I was told that anti-depressants weren't good for people with bipolar disorder... I suppose it kind of tips our manic-depressive scale. However, I have found that anti-anxiety meds work well with any mood stabilizer I have been on. No matter what it was - lithium, depakote, trileptol, or trileptol and lamictol (which is now) I always pair it with zoloft to help me with my anxiety, and it is wonderful.... especially since I can increase it when needed without complications.

Macindog - in regards to lamictal, my doc said it had little to no cognitive effects. She actually recommended it to me because even with depakote, lithium, or trileptol I have been in a major fog, suffered memory loss and focus. I also have a friend who takes it for epilepsy and she is great. Could I have some more info? I suppose we can't make generalizations with these things because each pill is different for each person.

A little Update for all of you.

The lamictal definitely works for me. It has no side effects at all for me. It evens out my mood. I still cycle but no where near the swinging that was happening before. I have started zoloft 50mg a day. Not seeing any effects right now. Still very depressed and anxious. We'll see what happenssssssssssss s s s s s

I am so glad to hear you are feeling better. How is the zoloft working so far? It may be too soon for you to feel any relief yet. If you start feeling manic and irritable be sure to notify your doctor. Antidepressants can cause you to swing in a manic state. Keep us updated on your progress. Hugs.