Saying hello/script questions

[hamster]

My psychiatrist mentioned a while back that I might be BP. I have been taking lamictal which seems to have helped with depression and lethargy (a bit). Last week he seemed to insinuate that the dx was solid and added seroquel. (he seems a bit non-committal)

He started me at 50 mg and wants me to double it everyday until I get to 200 (?) I believe. The seroquel make me very sleepy at night which is a good thing. It also calms me down. During the day I am experiencing bookoo laziness but I have only taken it for 2 days. He said it would level out in about a week. I hope so because it will be difficult to get things done at this snails pace.

I would appreciate hearing about other's experiences on lamictal and seroquel if you wouldn't mind sharing.

I'm glad to be a part of your group. I have a lot to learn.

Thanks!:)

hamster

[Pamster]

Hi Hamster,

I'm glad to meet you. My son has taken both of those drugs for help with his autistic behaviors yet I can't really tell you much about them since he can't tell me how they made him feel. He still takes lamictal for seizure disorder. I wanted to say hi and to welcome you to the group. I do know we have a few people who can be more helpful to you about these two drugs as they have experience with them, but I just had to post to welcome you. :D

[martians8mybrian]

if you are functional on 50mg, even with drowsiness the your doc is probably right, that it will level out eventually. I have a friend who takes 1400mg of seroquel. Once his system got used to it he was fine. But for some people seroquel is next to impossible. I cannot take the stuff. I took a hlaf of the smallest tablet available, 25mg, and it would knock me out for 14+ hours. So, if you are able to wake up at all after just two days, i think you'll do ok.

lamictal is a good stabilizer esp for people who tend to be more depressed and who don't experience frequent hypo/mania. It does the best job when combined with an AP.

if you doubt your dx then you should seek a 2nd opinion.. and soon. It isn't an emergency, but you deserve a good answer and dx, and no one who isn't bp should take these kinds of meds. I would make an appt with a pdoc and i would tell him/her that you were given a tentative dx but you would rather not say just what, that you rather they came to their own conclusions.

just MHO.

[hamster]

Thank you for the kind welcomes. Pamster, I'm glad the lamictal is helping your son.

I appreciate the information about the seroquel, Martians. When I went back and checked the samples he gave me, he wants me up to 300 mg w/in the week. The sleep is welcome to me because it has been a problem for many years. I even welcome the groggy feeling. I haven't had this for a long time and it feels good. I am feeling less agitated.

I am not questionning the dx because I believe that I am bp. I just think that he is being cautious and breaking me in slowly because he's not sure how I'll react to the dx. I was a little shocked when he told me what he thought, but I have suspected it for quite a while. My mother was bp as well.

I've been in therapy with my psychologist for about 13 months and with my pschiatrist not quite that long. The dx comes with mixed feelings because I want to get better but the general public doesn't understand mental illness issues. And, of course, life would be much simpler not having to deal with it at all.

Does p-doc mean psychiatrist and t-doc mean therapist?:confused:

Hope to talk to you soon.

Hamster

[Pamster]

I have a feeling my son is going to get a dx of BP when he's a little older because he strikes me as manic at times. So even with the little bit of abilify he get, like 7mgs a day and the 200 mg tabs he gets twice a day of lamictal I think it's keeping him from having depression and he also takes topamax which also has mood stablizing effects. He has gone from being happy to crying and having a really rough spot in like a matter of hours or minutes sometimes.

Managing BP is no fun, but it's nice when you've found the right combination of meds to help keep you even emotionally so you can function properly. It took me a little while, she, my counselor, even tried risperdal on me but I started to gain more weight then I was comfortable gaining so I asked for something different rather then raising the dosage to get the moods under control using the risperdal.

Not sure what T-doc means, but P-Doc is psychiatrist. My son and I see a nurse practitioner and I've never had any problems with her at all. So if you're seeing one of them don't worry, they can be as good or in my case I feel she's better then the P-docs we'd seen for my son before. I hope you start to feel better soon Hamster, it's no fun fighting drowsiness like that. I thnk they've said BP runs in families and a parent with it is likely to have a child dx'd with the disorder.

So that is what makes me think my son is BP too because of his crying jags and how he acts manic like at times. He's only ten though so they don't like to DX a kid that young with BP and he's also got autism so it's kind of hard to know if he is BP since he's always been on meds, mostly the ones for the seizure disorder I think are managing the BP symptoms he sometimes exhibits. I definitely am NOT interested in trying to take him off these meds just yet, I hope he outgrows the seizures like my cousin did, but if not then so be it.

We'll do whatever needs done to help him. Same with me, whatever I need done I do because I do NOT want to go back to that sad dark place I used to exist in when my BP went unmedicated. Not a good story. :( But with a happier ending for the moment. ;)

[hamster]

I hope your son levels out soon. Crying jags are horrible. I've had them for months. Is abilify in the class of antipsychotics like the seroquel?

I'm going to have to do some research to familiarize myself with the drugs used to treat bp. I did see a post yesterday that helped me understand it a lot better, but my memory is not what it used to be.

I think it's best not to put a label on a youngster and that it's a good idea to wait until he's older to do that.

I think I read that your son's appetite was raveous on the seoquel? I'm like you and don't want to add on any more pounds than I already have. Seems like that would just add to the depression. If anything my appetite has decreased with the seroquel.

What exactly are the antipsychotics for? I have looked them up but it is not clear to me what their function is.

Thank you for your support. I am currently on disability and don't have much contact with the "outside" world.:(

[martians8mybrian]

yes, a T means a therapist and a pdoc is a psychiatrist.

I am glad you are ok with the dx and feel certain. My caution was only meant in case you weren't..it sounded like that (maybe to me?). It's a whole lot easier to face a dx when you feel sure about it. Having a T will be of such a help at this point. From your second post I got much more of a sense of you being in a pretty good place treatment wise.

i am glad pamster that you have had good luck with the nurse practitioner. You are definitely one of the lucky ones in that case. We don't use those in Atlantic Canada and the ones we dealt with when living stateside were a nightmare. I feel the same way about them as I do about seeing a gp for psych issues.

[Pamster]

I agree its better not to be putting a label on my little guy just yet, heck I still have trouble wearing the BP II dx myself, but I know it's true. I don't get out much either and I know it's hard when you really only have an online social life. I get out only to go shopping and dr. appts. With the price of gas these days it's not like I could go out more even if I wanted to.

But enough of that, I am unclear as to what antipsychotics are intended for too, I will have to ask at the next P-Doc appt for my son, just to get a idea of what it's aimed at helping. I know he takes abilify for aggression and he's doing a lot better now, so I am going to see if she will want to taper him down some to reduce the potential of weight gain.

Seroquel is in the same class as abilfy though, I remember asking the pharmacist about that and it is an anti-psychotic. What those drugs are aimed at helping, again I don't really understand it either. Odds are when I ask the P-doc I will get a good answer but forget it by the time I get home. I have trouble sometimes with remembering things but I attriubute that to pain and pain meds. :p

I'm on disability too and I totally understand where you're coming from Hamster. You have come to a great place for support, Brain Talk has been here for me for a long time and I only recently began posting in the BP forum because like I said above, I am still having a little trouble wearing this DX. I do accept it, but it just makes me look back at my life and wonder how different it might have been had I had this dx sooner and gotten medication sooner. Oh well can't live in the past. :)

Glad you found us! :D

[Pamster]

i am glad pamster that you have had good luck with the nurse practitioner. You are definitely one of the lucky ones in that case. We don't use those in Atlantic Canada and the ones we dealt with when living stateside were a nightmare. I feel the same way about them as I do about seeing a gp for psych issues.

I defintely feel lucky that we've gotten good Nurse practitioners, his neurologist is also a NP. I know some people have had bad experiences with NP's but we've been pretty lucky and gotten good care from them. :)

[hamster]

Hi Martians. Yes, I am okay with the dx and have suspected it for some time. I think I made a couple of posts to this board before bt crashed. It is still a little odd to hear the doctor come right out and say it. I never would have guessed that at some point in my life I would be taking something called antipsychotics.:o But I am glad that the problems have been identified and are now being treated.


Pamster, I never posted more than once or twice for the same reason you didn't. Also the dx had been suggested but not solidly (is that a word?:p ). I was emabarrassed but with you guys and gals I feel right at home.

Thanks:)

[Bdix30]

I guess I have always looked at it like if my son was diabetic, would I have any problem labeling him as being diabetic? Nope. Same with the bipolar. There is zero doubt he is bipolar, none whatsoever, and the treatment works for his bipolar issues. Why would I call it something else? The label is accurate.

I'm doing my dammedist to teach him that having a medical diagnosis is not something to fear or be ashamed of. It makes me feel great when he is able to look at his teacher and say "Sorry, feeling a little manicy, need a break" and excuses himself.

To each his own, and I do not think there is a "one size fits all", but I am greatful for the bipolar label, and greatful that my son is learning what that means and is not ashamed of it. :)

[waves]

hi hamster!

welcome to BrainTalk! I hope you will stick around!

And hi everyone else too :) its nice to find you guys here when i do manage to pop on myself, which lately i'm afraid i can't do. :(

hamster, in answer to your question, i took Lamictal and Seroquel at the same time, but it sounds like you are starting meds, where as i was changing them.

For about 6 months-ish I took
15 mg Zyprexa
100~ mg Zoloft
200 mg Lamictal (100 bid)

I am in Europe - in the US there is more tapering/titrating of meds. Here they do things differently. Ok, so I was then switched from Zyprexa straight to Seroquel... at a dose of 600mg. The rest the same: Lamictal and Zoloft. Keep in mind Zyprexa was a major knocker-outer too, so, i suspect i had some "resistance" as far as the sleepiness as I had become used to that already.

Ok, so with that, here's what happened:
at 600 i was sleeping like 16 hours or something and was useless during the day
lowered to 400 - i had parasomnias w/ and w/o hallucinations
lowered to 200 - tired in the morning, yet by afternoon convinced my coworker was hacking into my pc and stuff... paranoid (i.e. med was ineffective)

well, that's m' story. success is also relative to what you need out of the med - sedation or AP properties... and the dosage would vary.

i am glad the dx was not a total surprise to you. accepting and understanding the illness is part of managing it.

well, welcome again and i hope you start feeling better soon.

~ waves ~ from across the ocean

[waves]

i never did manage to reply to your post some time ago... sorry not doing so great here, plus dialup.

Just right now, I really had to say... It makes me feel great when he is able to look at his teacher and say "Sorry, feeling a little manicy, need a break" and excuses himself. :)That is toooo precious!!! :D :D :D

waves