General question about medication

[starbunny]

Can
a person develop new side effects to a medication even though they have been on the medication for months?
or if side effects are going to occur will they be obvious from the beginning of the treatment?
If a person develops side effects later on it will be difficult to link the medication to the symptom, is there any way to tell whether the medication is causing it without discontinuing it?
I battled through side effects of seroquel from the beginning of treatment which have now improved and are more managable, however now weeks later and feeling much more stable, I have started to develop persistent disabling headaches, and am wondering if there could be a link. (On 500mg seroquel/1400mg tegretol)

[starbunny]

I had depression from an early age too. My migraines started suddenly after the birth of my second child, and progressed to being almost evey day, and it co-incided with post- natal depression. I have had gynaecological problems on and off throughout life and have had several operations but no hysterectomy. Migraines improved dramatically on BP medicaton, almost disappearing until now (?) / periods are normal. I am so glad that you do not suffer them now, there seems to have been a definate connection with yours. I've heard that some AP's can mess around with hormones but not sure if seroquel is one of them. I think bipolar disorder does link in with hormonal fluctuations for women without a doubt, my paranoia etc increases noticably before /during a period.  Thanks zz

[zzzmykids]

I started depression about 11 years old. And my "woman's week" about the same time. And...MIGRAINES! At age 34 I had a hysterectomy and within the year I no longer had....at age 11 about 1-2 month, by twenties 1-2 a week and near the end late twenties to the rest of time before hysterectomy I had 5-6 a week. they woke me up arount 3 and ended near the end when I was taking migraine meds till around 10 pm. Did you have them first when you were younger and now maybe hormones changing and changing the chemistry again to have migraines?

[starbunny]

I agree, and as always find your information informative and interesting. You are right not to look back in regret, but I am mindful of things now that I was not before joining medhelp. It is good you are raising awareness of these issues through your posts. Thanks again :-)

[adel_ezz]

1st a GP in my view is a kind of good nurse. In British films, a woman screaming in late pregnancy they call the village doctor who is a GP. in other films, when the boy fever subsides, the GP will tell the parents your son will live, etc...when In wars they have the liability to do minor operations. So a jack of all trades but a master of none.

As to antidepressants, there is no definite answer to its use good or bad until very recently when it was established by Nasser Ghaemi and Akiskal et al that it's the worse thing for BP pts in worsening the symptoms. HOWEVER, since medicine handles the symptoms and not the cause and this applies to all branches of medicine, then suppose i give you an AD and the next day you become well, I consider myself to have succeeded. No need to worry about the future, who can guarantee anything later, who can tell that curse will follow you later, who will care.

antidepressants is the reason why 70% of all the BP folks here subscribing to medhelp. The problem is not only that it can trigger mania, but when you become manic the next time you will not know is it from it or that the kindling effect is the reason where worse symptoms appear and higher frequency is the case with or without it. The brain becomes programmed that under any fluctuation in the drugs, triggers etc.. and here it is. My 1st mania took a month and i was euphoric, i succeeded to abort 2 later this time i am at week 10 and still in it struggling and i am using 4 different AP's and still high. FURTHER, the 1st manias you seem euphoric but since there will be a cycling effect, the gap widens between your mood and energy (the wave theory sent to us by moonpanda, i find it very relevant as it clarifies many things) and you get your mixed states.

So beware from antidepressants. Especially in your case, you don't seem you need them really, because at least you write posts etc.. whereas thanks to my stupid pdoc who put me on typical AP's my symptoms of depression worsened so that when i am depressed i am dead almost.

They say omega3, B12, vitamin D, I read there are centers where you make all your diet natural, i think if we go back to mother nature then many things will improve within us. in your case avoid alcohol, etc..sleep early. Having BP one should behave differently.

so forget about regret, if and if so and so, what happened happened and think for the future. i am just curious how by all means, how come a GP is entitled to describe meds, If already a pdoc does serious mistakes.

have a nice day

[starbunny]

Hi there! I am so glad that you're feeling better, I have been thinking of you! Wow it ***** but most bp meds have some unwanted side effects unfortunately. I saw the GP today and he suggested that they could be migraines. I used to suffer from them when I did not rest adequately and I have been going through such a period where I have had little sleep/on the go etc. I think I might be a little manic as I have been doing some silly things, like spending my savings on a flashy boy racer car with fairy lights and now my bank cards have been suspended :-( Oh well.

Adel - thought you might be interested. I went through some old notes of years ago with my GP whilst looking for something else and on the screen I saw the name of an SSRI antidepressant, and tagged next to it was a warning: Medication withdrawn: Patient became far too elevated and went on to describe manic features. This was maybe 10 years ago - why did the GP not get me assessed for bipolar then? If I would have had mood stabilisers then perhaps the illness would have not progressed so badly. Another manic episode caused by antidepressants!!!

[zzzmykids]

Dear Friend,
I have not had the side effects several months after stopping the meds. I have had side effects from almost all meds I have taken for bp. The best med I took, Wellbutrin started with side effects a year into treatment. I developed anxiety driving. Prior to that I drove everywhere. Anytime. After being off the Wellbutrin, the anxiety went away. There is one that is attached to most antidepressants and after time, I always get it. Only one did not have that intimate bother but it made, Geodon, my ankles swell beyond recognition.
Hope this helps and that you are finding help. I will be thinking of you and write me privately if you need to.....I am so much better. x zzzmykids

[paranoid_cataclysm]

I actually can't remember which side effects I had that showed up in the middle of treatment out of nowhere.  Well sometimes the medicine made me feel stoned or drunk when I was on Geodon but I think they show up in the middle of treatment because they seemingly pop in at random.

[starbunny]

Adel -wow I did not realise this could happen, I am going to see the doc tomorrow if there is a spare appointment. I sure hope it's not the meds, I haven't been this stable for a while.
Xila I haven't been to the dentist for a long while but I have only one wisdom tooth left and the rest seem OK but you never know I guess. This last headache lasted 8 days in a row
:(  I used to have regular migraines but they stopped when I went on medication and had better sleep.
Paranoid_cataclysm what side effects did you have? and how did you find out it was the meds? If you don't mind me asking.
Thanks everyone for replyingx

[paranoid_cataclysm]

Yes I have found side effects can appear suddenly after you adjusted to treatment.

[Xila31]

Yikes. Definitely talk to your doctor right away, but also I wonder have you gone to the dentist recently? Starting suddenly and for no reason in Sept. 2008 I started to get debilitating migraine type headaches that did not respond to treatment. Sometimes the headaches would last for 14 days at a time. (Yes, 1 headache for 14 days..... o.o) Anyway, I struggled with it for about 8 months, and then one of my back Wisdom teeth a chunk fell out of it. It turns out I had 2 infected teeth and didn't even know it, because my teeth didn't' hurt at all. Only my head.

I had the teeth removed and have not had a migraine type headache since.

[adel_ezz]

i am sorry but it's the tegretol. I am not positive of course. but tegretol did this to me