I take epilim, venlafaxine and seroquel for my bipolar ...

[Fizzy74]

Does anyone else take this combination?  How are you finding it, do you still have mania periods, depressive periods, paranoia periods, hating yourself periods?

[monkeyc]

Pretty much all Atypicals (with the apparent exception of Abilify) cause increased appetite - these drugs are often given to cancer patients for that very reason, Zyprexa is the worst offender.

It astounds me how little information doctors tell their patients about drugs, here in Australia you generally always get a copy of the drug information from your doc so you understand what you are going to take.  It pays to ask lots of questions - remember the doctor works for you not the other way around :)

[Fizzy74]

thank you I have packed on heaps of weight since going on these meds!  My doctor has been hassling me to lose weight, and couldn't understand why I have put so much on.

I find I am okay with these meds, although not sure if we do need to tweak them or not, I was diagnosed 18 months ago with Bipolar II, and although given the diagnosis and meds to go on (I had been trying for years to figure out what the problem was, and had been on many medications for depression), I was never really told anything about bipolar, or what to expect, what things may happen etc.  So This forum is great!  

[monkeyc]

Effexor put me in hospital in a mixed episode, I was suicidal.  It appears there is no safe Anti depressant for me.

Seroquel on the other hand worked for a while perfectly, right now nothing is working on me but Seroquel was a dream and is a great drug, aside from weight gain :)  right now im working on trying to stay out of hospital and a drugs change as I like Seroquel and tolerate it well.

[ILADVOCATE]

I did take Depakoate (Epilim is another name for it) for a while and although it worked on mania it did not work on depression but that's common and probably why you were prescribed venlafaxine (another name for Effexor) which is an anti-depressent. As for paranoia, Seroquel is a very effective antipsychotic (for many people although each person reacts differently to each medication) with mood stabilization properties and while I could tolerate it I found it quite helpful. Try to think back when these symptoms started and at what dose and discuss this with your psychiatrist so they would know how to adjust or change your medications so they work.