Comments on: Managing Bipolar Medication Side Effects

By: Kim

Kim — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:00:54 +0000

I am a newlywed that just experienced for my first time – my husbands “low” after almost 18 mos of pure bliss. He said I was attacking him verbally but I was talking to our dog and when I tried to discuss this he decided to pack his clothes and leave. I was traumatized but spoke with his family and a mental health counselor about bipolars and I got him to return after 2 days and waited a day and good nights sleep before discussing things. For the past 18 months he’s been wonderful and we married 2 months ago. He’s been off meds (Ive found out) for at least 2 years due to side effects that were basically killing him health wise – we met a year after he’d been off. Now he has heart probs, kidney probs and diabetes as well as high BP so he develops chest pains and has to take a trip to the ER. This is why he’s not on any meds he’s been put on in his past. He seems fine cept for this first misunderstanding that I wasnt prepared for and he knows enough when he gets racing thoughts to focus on his PS3 Video games to settle them and we were without his game that week. Does every person with bipolar have to be on meds? Ive been reading some horror stories here and Im not sure I want to continue being signed up for this supporting role.

By: Marylou Ewen

Marylou Ewen — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:21:46 +0000

I was on lithium for 37 years and was stable. taught school effectively for 30 years. However, it turns out that the lithium ate up my kidneys, so I had to change meds. Depakote and aabailify have caused severe gastro problems. I wonder which meds do not cause gastro problems.
My shrink is getting upset with me. I have a high tolerance for pain, but simply cannot take either depakote or abilify.Marylou EWen

By: Dr. Fink

Dr. Fink — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:31:55 +0000

dustin -

You are absolutely right to contact your psychiatrist to discuss the panix attacks – those can be treated.
Are you seeing the psychiatrist for therapy too or do you have someone else that you see for therapy? If not, i would encourage you to seek out a counselor or therapist who can help you manage the panic attacks – there are some specific techniques that can be used in therapy – cognitive behavioral therapy in particular – to help reduce panic attacks.

You may want to think about talking to your boss or human resources department. Panic is a medical illness -and they cannot fire you for having the disorder. But if you don’t tell them you don’t have those rights.

By: dustin

dustin — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:54:52 +0000

i take limotrigine, lithium, buspar for my mental state n trazadone for insomnia…. i get horrinble panic attacks to where i breathe heavy n fast, my mind goes all over n i shake and sweat. its effecting my job, they even sent me home today. one more time n i get terminated. what should i do
? call my psychiatrist?

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 12:52:00 +0000

Hi, Jon- Feeling aggressive and angry on Depakote seems a little out of the ordinary to me... does your doctor think it's working? As Dr. Fink says in her post "Can My Bipolar Medication Be Increasing My Anxiety?" it's not likely that Depakote or Lithium will cause anxiety. The "melancholy feeling of depression" you describe would be a more common side effect. At 750 mg a day, you're still on the low end of the range for Depakote. We're doing a biweekly series on medications used to treat bipolar mania, depression, and other conditions on Bipolar Beat. We started with lithium and Depakote and are currently working through common anti-seizure medications used to treat bipolar mania and reduce mood cycling. In Bipolar Disorder For Dummies we cover the anti-anxiety medications. We'll be addressing those in our biweekly series (called Bipolar Medication Spotlight), but probably not until later in the year. Once we've covered several meds and I have some time, I'll be posting our Bipolar Medication Spotlight entries here as a quick reference to bipolar meds.