Prozac: I was given Prozac in May of 2001 while in the hospital after my suicide attempt. I was started at 20mg I believe. I had been diagnosed with depression instead of bipolar disorder. It only took about a week for me to begin showing signs of mania. I would stay up all night writing in my journal and was super excited about how I was going to solve world hunger and save all the homeless animals. My psychiatrist at the hospital saw this improvement in mood as a sign that the medication was working and released me. Shortly after leaving the hospital I started being very angry most of the time. I remember feeling paranoid like everyone was against me. I'd often lash out at my family in anger. When I was actually in a "good mood" it was like when I was in the hospital where I'd be very full of energy and unable to sleep. This is very common for people with bipolar disorder. Taking an antidepressant without a mood stabilizer triggers mania. So remember to take ALL medications that are prescribed to you.
Side effects experienced: nausea and vomiting, difficulty sleeping, tiredness
Topamax and Welbutrin: I began taking this combination sometime around August in 2001 when I was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I was taking 25mg of Topamax and 300mg of Welbutrin. I'm not sure what my doctor was thinking exactly giving me such a high dose of antidepressant and such a low dose of mood stabilizer, but the effect was about the same as when I was on the Prozac alone, except now magnified with the higher amount of antidepressant. I began throwing things, screaming at everyone and my friends and family had to tiptoe around me not to set me off. After taking these for three months, my parents determined that none of these doctors knew what they were doing and took me off the medication.
Side effects experienced: tiredness, difficulty sleeping, strange dreams, inability to tell dream from reality, bed-wetting
Lithium and Celexa: I began taking Lithium for the first time in September of 2007 after running away from home. I was set at 450mg of Lithium and 20mg of Celexa. I found that while this did stabilize me, it stabilized me at a feeling of mild depression. I didn't have extreme highs or lows, but I never really felt happy either. I stopped taking my medications in mid July of 2008 after accidentally taking my medication twice a day (comes with the confusion, I'd forget I'd already taken it). I started taking it again at the end of August when I started dating since my boyfriend insisted I take it.
Side effects experienced: confusion, disorientation, dehydration, potassium deficiency, anxiety
Lithium and Welbutrin: By September of 2009 I had developed a tolerance to Lithium so my dose was doubled to 900mg. Since I was still feeling depressed, my doctor also changed my antidepressant to 100mg of Welbutrin. I was a little nervous about taking it due to my past experience, but I was assured that since it was such a small dose I would be fine. In some ways it did help. The depression was now gone, however now I began having a feeling of apathy. I didn't feel happy or sad or angry, I just felt nothing at all. Although this was sometimes frustrating and upsetting, especially when it came to my boyfriend at the time, it did really help me to focus on school and maintain a regular sleeping schedule. I completely stopped taking medication again in October of 2009 when I started spending time with my with a different ex-boyfriend who disapproved of psychiatric medications. (Note: do NOT allow boyfriends and ex boyfriends to talk you out of taking medications that you NEED)
Side effects experienced: confusion, disorientation, dehydration, potassium deficiency, apathy, anxiety
Lamictal and Welbutrin: In October of 2010, I began taking 50mg of Lamictal and 100mg of Welbutrin. I found that these worked pretty well for me. At the time I was struggling after having a miscarriage and these really helped to pull me back from the brink of suicide. I was still feeling depressed a lot for a while, but I blame the miscarriage, not the medication. Eventually I stabilized and found that these worked better for me than any other medication I had taken so far.
Side effects experienced: difficulty sleeping, nausea, rash, anxiety
Ativan: I began taking .5mg of Ativan as needed in November 2010 to help with the anxiety I felt from my other medications. It was great if I took it before a stressful situation, but if i was already starting to feel panicked, it didn't help at all.
Side effects experienced: drowsiness, confusion
Klonopin: Since the Ativan didn't work for me I began taking .5mg of Klonopin as needed in December 2010. So far this seems to work a lot better with my anxiety.
Side effects experienced: confusion, disorientation, irritability
Abilify and Welbutrin: Since a rash with Lamictal can be really bad news, I was just recently switched to 5mg of Abilify. Turns out this one made me a lot more irritable and feeling little hypomanic. It also gave me severe anxiety which made me want to move constantly and made it difficult to sit still and do anything including standing in line, typing or waiting for anything really. I couldn't sleep through a whole night without waking up multiple times. It was really terrible, Abilify really let me down.
Side effects experienced: irritability, upset stomach when not taken with food, tiredness, disorientation, severe anxiety, constant need to move, difficulty sleeping
Depokote and Welbutrin: So far no side effects or really anything to report since I just started this a few days ago. Let's cross our fingers and hope this is the end of the medication game.
Just had my dosage of Depokote increased and I've been switched to a longer lasting Welbutrin, but I still feel depressed most of the time. Still spend too much time crying...just waiting for it to start working....maybe it never will.
Side effects experienced: drowsiness, upset stomach when not taken with food, excessive sleeping, loss of appetite, weight loss
