Been given a Bipolar diagnosis and asked to read about drugs

[roslily]

Pysch has given me stuff to read about Lithium and a couple of others.

I know I need to stabilise my moods, but I am concerned about the side effects.

Anyone else bipolar?

Hi rosily I have recently come off lithium (Priadel) after being on it for 2 years.

I wasn't diagnosed with bipolar but with a mood disorder. On the positive side I didn't really get any side effects from the lithium.

The 3-monthly blood tests got annoying though I'm glad I won't need them anymore. And I had to have an electrocardiogram when I first started treatment.

Generally lithium is much better to take than some of the others eg. sodium valproate. SV can cause birth defects in babies - horrible stuff.

I was also on olanzapine for quite a while but that can have weight gain issues and I found it a real pain to get off because it messed with my sleep.

Friends I have who are bipolar have all been helped hugely by lithium

My Dad has bipolar. He takes tegretol (carbamazepine) which is an epilepsy medication really but also works on bipolar that has rapid cycles (my dad's moods go up and down within hours, if not minutes sometimes) and on people who do not respond to lithium.

It has turned his life around.

Are you well supported outside of the offer of drugs? Do you have an assigned CPN? Family support?

Lithium is really the only thing there is good solid evidence for - have just gone back on it after quite a long break (during which I took antipsychotics and epilepsy med lamotrigine and sometimes tiny tiny bit of antidepressant). It suited me very well before but had a big toxicity incident, desperate enough to try again in conjunction with lamictal and various benzos and hopefully a better antipsychotic.

Was stable on lithium alone for quite a while, with just occasional blips dealt with by as and when anti-p - seems to work for majority of people with bipolar. It's worth looking for the NICE guidelines (google?) which explain best approaches depending on your mood cycle.

If MDF still do them the self management courses are great, worth joining and getting some of the self management literature as elsewhere there is v little information on how to stop a high or prevent one or cope afterwards. There's a message board on their site too.

Thanks. I have another appointment with consultant psychiatrist in 2 weeks, when we are going to talk about approaches.

Thanks for your experiences.

Good Luck with your appointment Roslily x