Posted by detroitpistons on February 3, 2006, at 9:53:34
In reply to Re: Depressed/agitated/wired - soft bipolar? » detroitpistons, posted by 4WD on February 2, 2006, at 21:59:35
> > I'm doing a little bit better, but I imagine it's going to be a few more weeks until I am significantly better...It takes 5 weeks just to get up to 100 mg of Lamictal. I was diagnosed as bipolar II and I guess I'm kind of rapid cycling with mixed state right now. I am taking my Effexor dose down from 225 to 150, and today was the first day on 150 (took 187.5 for a week). It's really hard to have patience waiting for these meds.
> >
> > I posted my complete update on the "When are benzos justified?" thread if you want to take a look.
> >
> > Take care,
> >
> > Marc
>
> Marc,
>
> I've experienced plain, deep clinical depression, straight anxiety, anhedonia and dysthymia. The only times I've been truly suicidal was during mixed states. I'm sure there are other people on this board who have experienced that combination of fear, horror and despair all at once but I hope not too many. What I'm trying to get at is that in the 25+ years, I've been depressed, mixed states is the worst feeling I've ever had. So I deeply sympathize.
>
> I truly hope Lamictal works for you. Depakote seems to be helping me a bit. So far side effects are headache and a slight skin rash. I wish I could have stayed on Lamictal. By the time I got to 50mg I could tell a slight improvement.
>
> I'll read your update.
>
> Hang in,
> Marsha
Marsha, I feel like I'm starting to make some progress now that I've been on 50 mg of Lamictal for about 10 days, and now that I'm going down on Effexor.
I've had some suicidal thoughs during this whole episode, but nothing like when I'm just in a plain deep depression. If I am indeed in a mixed state, it's probably more balanced on the spectrum, whereas yours may be further towards the depressed end of the spectrum (can you tell I've been doing a lot of reading?). Overall, I'm just very agitated, have racing thoughts, anxiety, and mood swings where I'll get depressed for periods of time, usually at night. My moods have been highly sensitive to my environment and what's going on around me.
Take care,
Marc
poster:detroitpistons
thread:596894
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060129/msgs/605846.html