What is the best kind of medications for BP?

[Jester2005]

What do you think is the best medication and/or "cocktail" for Bipolar?

Please comment as well as to why (if you wish)...
I want to know what works (for others) as I need a change in my meds already  :(

[paranoid_cataclysm]

I picked G because some people with it need all three while some need just an antidepressant and a mood stabilizer and still others can get away with taking just the mood stabilizer lithium because it can have antidepressant properties in some people.

[Jester2005]

P.S. Who chose options G and H? what other medication(s) or combination(s) are there?

[Jester2005]

T Y e1 for your responses thus far... I have an appointment coming up in a couple of hours and this is the first time that I've done this much research. I plan on keeping track of my moods from now on as I can't remember the last time I was NOT manic, or severely depressed (maybe last summer or spring?). I'm pretty positive that I am BP (1) as oppose to BP (2), but I don't know much about rapid cycling and mixed state. From the titles I'd say I'm both, lol... so hyper in the morning and at work, then I crash hard at night... and most of the time it goes up and down throughout the day as well. So I know I need a mood stabilizer. From my violent outbursts of rage I'd say I probably need anti-psychotics, too (hey, if it makes me "normal" so be it, right?). I've heard many times that anti-depressants worsen manic episodes/frequency so I understand that I need to stay away from those, even I feel I want them when I do get depressed for a long time. So does that mean that those are the only three options for the kinds of medications for BP Disorder? I'm asking because I'm uneducated and I need to start researching this illness I have. It's not going to go away so I need to stop avoiding it. WOW! That felt good to say :) I need to post that somewhere, eh? hehe

Thanks again, everyone! I love this site ; )

[paranoid_cataclysm]

You are correct there.  I was told diabetes was also a good example because half the people with bipolar disorder/schizoaffective disorder/schizophrenia aren't even able to see it is happening and diabetes is the same way which is why they call it the silent killer.  There was also a guy who I read the blog of that said he had taken a medication for schizophrenia for 40 years and it was working good but then suddenly one day without warning it just stopped working.

[Xila31]

My psychologist told me that there are over 400 combinations of medications for people with bipolar disorder. That's how difficult it is to know what treatment will work. It is the same will many illnesses, but once again I can draw a close similarity to diabetes. Since type 2 is caused by mutliple factors there is no one end all combination of the oral medications on the market. Even for people on insulin it is not the simple "take this much and you'll be fine." It can take months and years of tweaking the dosage to figure out how to keep a person level. It is the same with medication for bipolar.

Plus, as we age, so does out body chemestry. The changes of life mean that even if you are on a treatment that works for 10 years, suddenly it isn't working any more.

[paranoid_cataclysm]

I third what ILADVOCATE said.  People also respond differently to each medication so I'm glad you didn't put specific medications.  I also firmly believe in what he said at the end and have told my psychiatrist this before that one day we might have a way of telling how a treatment works before a person takes it.

[angelmaybe2u]

I agree with whatILADVOCATE said-esp. when it comes to antidepressants which can cause mania. There are so many different symptoms of bp & I guess it is different for each person.

[ILADVOCATE]

That's complex because it depends on what specific type of bipolar a person's psychiatrist diagnosed. A person with bipolar with psychotic features usually requires an antipsychotic in addition to a mood stabilizer for example. For some people anti-depressents can worsen mania but if there is treatment refractory depression as an aspect of bipolar then a psychiatrist might use one. Some people have specific problems with rapid cycling or mixed states and respond specifically to certain types of medications. A psychiatrist would have to diagnose the subtype of bipolar and judge what combination of medications would work. For myself as a person with schizoaffective, regardless of some of the treatments being in clinical study both an antipsychotic and mood stabilizer is required. For a person with bipolar with psychotic features generally the same. But for the family member I have with cyclothymia they were prescribed Paxil as depression and ocd was the over riding concerns. I would say in the future as they understand more about how treatments work it will help them know exactly what treatment is right for each person beforehand and there is research in that direction.