Bipolar + taking antidepressants without a mood stabilizer

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Just recently I was hospitalised for 4 weeks for hypomania followed by a horrific mixed state caused by an SSRI. It is not the first time that I've had a bad response to antidepressants, but it was the worst. Since I came off the medication I have been rapid cycling. Really not fun.

Now I've been put on clomipramine (anafranil) with only 25mg of Seroquel as a mood stabiliser. I do also have OCD, but does this seem right for someone with bipolar? I really don't want to end up back in hospital.

The psychiatrist wants to see if this works before going on to mood stabilisers, because of their potential serious side effects. I appreciate her cautiousness, but am very concerned about being on a tricyclic, given that they are even more likely than SSRIs to cause problems for people with bipolar.

Anyone have any experience?

I'm not bipolar but I been through a bad psychotic depression & was originally diagnosed with bipolar by my GP. I tried Anafranil at one point which as you probably know is an antidepressant that's mostly used for OCD which was why I tried it because I had bad OCD problems. It made me feel out of it & shaky & jerky but my OCD was better for a week after the side-effects had worn off when I quit taking it. It's common for people with bipolar to be on antipsychotics in addition to mood stabilizers especially if it's rapid cycling but I would give the plan a chance. If you have problems with antidepressants you could try the newer antipsychotic Latuda/Lurasidone. It's approved for bipolar depression because it has some antidepressant effects.

I took Zoloft for a long time without a mood stabilizer. I'm diagnosed Schizoaffective/Bipolar and BPD, as far as I know. It threw me into a manic episode. I wasn't hospitalized, but I did some very stupid things. I was put on Epival (Depakote in the US) and I haven't had a manic episode since. Sometimes I can't sleep for a week or so, but nothing more than that. Good luck to you, the Seroquel might be enough to help a little until you can get onto a mood stabilizer.

I just take an antidepressant and I'm bipolar,but I've never had full blown mania.I still have some mood swings,all the mood stabilizers gave me side effects.Cant take them.

Were you tacking any recreational drugs at the time? IF you dont want to answer that perfectly ok. The reason I ask is because if I couldnt sleep for a week I think I would be dead soon if its just the mania.

When I was a teenager I would go for a week with no sleep while in a manic state but there was usually copious amount of drug use involved. Sometimes I would be perpetually high for months and not even realize that I was using the stuff. When I get full blown mania its as if the drugs are barley noticeable but going off the deep end usually caused me to crash a lot faster.

I was on seroquil for nearly 6 years and for me it did worse things than the coke meth and booze ever did. I slept for 14 hours a day consumed anywhere from 5 to 10,000 calories a day or more by the end of it. Needless to day I became severely obese began having heart problems at the age of 24 and was prediabedic. Now I am in amazing shape thanks to raw foods but I also have an eating disorder and still have blood sugar issues. Mind you I wasnt taking any of the fun drugs during that period.

Im 28 now and feel my first manic episode coming on since I was 20. I have kind of a free wheeling rock and roll life style(professionally, long story) and I am hoping I dont start using a lot of hard core drugs again and ruin my life all over. At least I know I will have fun

But seriously, if I was just manic and couldn't sleep for a week I would consider that to be an extremely severe symptom and be very worried about my self! lol. That can be just as bad for your health as hard drugs mang. I hope you are able to do something about that. Maybe we are different and for you its not such a big deal tho, I cant tell. Whats serious for one person might not be a big deal for others and that the truth. But take care of your self.


@OP

I have never been on real anti depressants to my recollection. The seroquil did a nice neat job of keeping me in line but I had an over reaction to it. I was on your dosage when I was talking about all the problems it caused me. If you are ok with Seroquil there is a strong chance you can get by without the AD. It did a really good job of keeping my moods in line, both the mania and depression.

I've never taken recreational drugs before in my life. When I was manic, I didn't sleep for two to three weeks. When I'm not manic at all sometimes I'll just have issues getting to sleep, staying asleep, I can function on two or three hours of sleep. But only for about a week. Usually less than that.

What kind of BP are you?

I'm not bipolar (that I know of) but SSRI's and other anti-depressants have really done a number on me in the past.

it seems weird to put a bipolar person on antidepressants with out a mood stabilizer. Personally, that is a recipe for disaster for me.
Lithium, and topirimate have done wonders for me. That and managing sleep to keep the mania at bay. If I can keep the mania out-- it took about 6 months-- I am golden.

I have had great luck with wellbutrin for the hard times depression wise. I also have anxiety and it helps with that a lot.
one time I was on lexapro without a mood stabilizer and I went crazy-- that was when I was still just hypo-manic and not in the full swings.

I would be very cautious and make sure someone is really keeping an eye on you. anti-depressants alone after a hypomanic episode just seems dangerous to me. But that is just my personal opinion.

They just changed my diagnosis to bipolar 1, mixed.I was bipolar nos.I think I tolerate Lexapro because I have always had mild hypo mania and more severe depressions.