Anti-depressants and mood stabilizers - Bipolar Disorder Message Board

kbell · 06-14-2004, 04:46 PM

I was wondering if anyone else who posts to this board was diagnosed Bipolar II and is prescribed to an anti-depressant AND a mood stabilizer. I always figured it was one or the other but not both.

apinecone · 06-15-2004, 06:14 AM

I wasn't Dx'd BP II but my pdoc went thru a phase to 'rule it out'. Sort of by definition-- BP has both an 'up' side and a 'down' side, which tend to 'cycle'-- a med that would help stabilize it would be a 'stabilizer' [not being

], but there's a somewhat different wrinkle with the anti-depressant aspect with BP II. Since BP II involves relatively less time spent in the manic mode and then 'hypo' or diminished level of manic at that, the main thing to work on is the depressive part. But the med shouldn't 'pick you up' (like an 'upper') lest you get 'hyper' or 'manic'. So the idea is to 'elevate' the level of the 'low' without driving or spiking you into an 'up' or destabilize your mostly non-manic mode into a manic mode. You know what I mean? If not, please ask for clairification, because this is an important concept for you to keep in mind while you're going thru the Rx phase of your treatment.

kbell · 06-15-2004, 07:55 AM

I took a number of different anti-depressants mainly SSRI's and felt completely hyper. It was really not fun. I know there are a lot of other AD's out there. I'd rather take as few medications as possible if I am able to control the BP with just one, ya know? The potential side effects involved with some of these things are scary and I'd rather not subject myself to that unnecessarily.

jbvalley · 06-15-2004, 10:10 PM

Think of it this way: Imagine a three story building. The bottom floor is depression, the top floor hypomania or mania and the middle floor is stability. Regardless of what kind of BP you have, the anti depressant is the up escalator from the bottom floor and the mood stabilizer is the down escalator from the top floor.

That being said it is possible to be stable with only an anti depressant or mood stabilizer depending on how you are cycling and the nature of your disorder.

kbell · 06-16-2004, 11:15 AM

Thanks. This is good to know. I don't want to be overmedicated if I can help it and being relatively new to being bipolar, I'd rather go with the experiences of ppl that live with it day in and day out.