Taking anti depressant without mood stabiliser...

[Swaddlebrow]

I have been diagnosed with manic depression, i am not currently on medication.. I was on lithium, then a combination of Epilum and pristiqe but neither helped... I have been extremely depressed and anxious for the last two months so much so that i have hardly left the house.. I have heard that the anti depressant Cymbalta works well to combat both and im considering taking that even tho its only an anti depressant and not a mood stabiliser.. Will it bring on mania???

[adel_ezz]

after long readings and i came up with the conclusion that antidepressants are the worst among the series of drugs for psych illness in general. i.e. among the tranquilizers (except for addiction) , the AP's the MS lithium etc.. it seems to me that the AD's not only that they bring mania for us the BP pts but induce all sort of other feelings. Mixed states is one of them. Of course the SSRI are the softest among the others like the tricyclics etc..but still all the AD's are unsafe. Of course what else, i.e. this is easily said and unfortunately they did to me a lot of pain, at least for the last 8 months i didn't have any feelings of revenge like i did when i used them. I tried all sort of lexapro/cipralex, cipram/celexa, paxil/seoxat, etc..etc..all of them caused mania.

As to mania one misses it, yes at the beginning of it i.e. once euphoric but soon it turns dysphoric. then you say i wish i had depression it's better. Then when comes the depression you say this is the worst thing and i wish to be manic. Bipolarity is the illness of mania, i.e. this is the differential diagnosis, because all other [psych illness almost without exception will get you depressed including the OCD. If you keep washing hands continuously you get fed up and get depressed eventually. Pts go to the pdoc when they are depressed only this is evident. i.e. they start consulting medicine when they are clinically sad and of course not hypomanic unless a friend advised them to do so for his own safety. Now all can be written AD's except the BP's unfortunately otherwise the illness would have been resolved easily, and that is the trick

now people resort to AD's for an easy solution. it's like saying i wish to be rich for a few weeks then poor again, or the proverb grant me life today and kill me tomorrow, this is what the AD will do, UNLESS you take along a strong MS. The last research i read it isn't really better than a placebo. But again what other solutions can be resorted to when depressed that's the clue and till now nobody knows

[Seph1212]

My doc is of the school that people with BP should NOT be on ADs...or only rarely and with the addition of a mood stabilizer or anti-psychotic, and greater supervision. Other docs are of the other (older school). So I think both positions are now considered controversial.

As for myself, every AD (including St. John's Wort) and with the possible exclusion of Wellbutrin has precipitated some form of mania...mixed, hypo, or full blown.

I was on Lamictal alone for a while and my mood was pretty good, but because I became a smoking fiend after taking it, I asked my doc for Wellbutrin. I gave her my puppy dog eyes and said it won't make me manic. She relented...and well after about 4 weeks, it's possible that I'm hypo-hypo-manic, which is something I don't think anyone would shun. But I'm keeping my eye on my temper (a sign of an impending mixed state) and my spending/impulsiveness (a sign of coming mania). I am a little more impulsive, but (at least at this this time) nothing concerning.

If I see the need to stop taking it, I will after a 4 day taper, and I have a prescrip of Seroquel on hand, which my doc calls my "panic button"..."It'll stop mania in it's tracks". And even if do stop taking it, I'll just tell her that I didn't like it and leave it at that.

[wj74]

If you mean that you just want to try Cymbalta by itself, that is risky. I know mania feels good, but it could backfire and you could end up worse than you were to begin with. I'd def. talk to the doc about your options.

[Swaddlebrow]

Thanks clive, that does help.. I wonder if the cymbalta alone would get rid of the depression, as i also miss the mania.. I hope things get better for you clive.
Rach.

[ukcliff]

Hi, I am at present on Lithium and Cymbalta plus Lamotrigine This combination seems to work well for me... I can be 100% sure this does not bring on Mania for me as it is something I miss..... the only issue I do have still is Depression but I know this is caused by some personal issue which is going on in my life at present.
I hope this helps in some way.
Clive.