Which is best?

[Marshallsbaby12]

Which bipolar medication works the best? I've tried Abilify at age 12, not supposed to use it under age 18; so it did not exactly work right. Seroquel? Abilify again? Lamotrigine? Carbamazepine? Others or generics of any of them?

[Anonymouse88]

While seroquel does interact with a lot of things (including wellbutrin), ibuprofen isn't one of them, according to the drugs.com interaction checker.  Wellbutrin is an antidepressant, not a mood stabilizer, although it's one of the least likely to send a bipolar person (hypo)manic.  And everyone's different--seroquel is a marvelous drug for some, and absolutely horrible for others.

[srdrpd241]

dont use seroquel u cant take motrin like ibprofin with it not even advil it has adverse effects on it triliptol usually works so does welbutrin and depicoyte

[Anonymouse88]

Well, as thatquietgirl said, it really depends on the individual.  Part of it also depends on whether you're BP I or II, and whether your main problems are depression, mania, or a lot of both, and whether you have psychosis in the mix.  Lamotrigine and carbamazepine are generics, for the record, and Abilify and Seroquel are still under patent and so there aren't any generics yet.

Anyway, lamotrigine (brand name Lamictal) is one of the best for BP II where depression is the main issue, although it's approved for BPI.  As long as you don't start getting a rash (benign rash making you stop is about a 1/10 chance, dangerous rash is more like 1/4000 I think), it's got one of the best side effect profiles.  Lithium is the gold standard for BP, especially BPI.  Multiple antiepileptics are used in BP, and don't tend to cause weight gain, which the atypical antipsychotics can do (depakote's an exception).  If you have psychosis, you'll need a typical or atypical antipsychotic (Seroquel and Abilify are both atypicals).  Carbamazepine interacts with a lot of other things, and oxcarbazepine (Trileptal) seems like a better choice, even though it's off label.  

In the end, there's a huge number of meds that can be used in BP, and it really depends on the individual how well any particular one will work.  Check out the crazymeds page (just google it) to see a lot of info on different options for BP.  If the side effects look scary, go look up the full side effects profile for an OTC drug you use often (like ibuprofen), which will give you an idea of how scary the full side effects profiles sound.

[thatquietgirl]

That's hard to say.  Truthfully, which medication works the best depends solely on your genetic make-up.  Each medication regiment has to be tailored to the patient.  There is no single "med cocktail" that works for everyone, unfortunately.  It can take a few years to find the right mix for you or you may luck out and find it quickly.