BP Husband-medication - Bipolar Disorder Message Board

jewelies · 06-08-2007, 07:44 AM

Hi there-I wanted to ask if anyone might be able to give me some advice on my BP husband and his renewed quest for the right meds. Unfortunately, he doesn't have health insurance so this could be costly but I wanted to try and sort out a good direction before going to the pdoc. He is 36, and has not been on medication since oh, gosh...2003. At that time he was on Lithium and Prozac. It seemed to work pretty good for him, he did feel the typical feeling of being flat and lifeless-he soon stopped taking it because his life was boring. A little bit of background-He was diagnosed about 8 years ago, we went through a battery of medications-Lithium with Lamictal, depakote, zoloft, many of the anti-depressants. There was always that one reason he stopped taking the meds-he felt no excitement in life. It seemed to work for him, he stayed stable while on it-I LOVED IT. I really think the mania is the dangerous part of BP for him, and the Lithium really helped with that. The depression part was not dialed in though. He is manic typically 2x per month. We separated in 2005 and 2006, but got back together Dec 2006. He has experienced his 2nd obvious mania in 6 months-this last one was scary for both of us-he left in the middle of the night and went to smoke marijuana with some friends. This scared him, knowing that he could slip back into a life he doesn't want. That brings us to now in a nutshell-lol. He really wants to get medication-therapy is the easy part. I don't know where to start, except by not trying the meds that didn't work. Please help! Thanks.

4support · 06-08-2007, 08:49 AM

Hi jewelies,

I know it is a struggle to find the right medications - like you, I am married to a bipolar husband who also has ADHD. He was dx 4 yrs ago and we are also still looking for the right med combo for him! He takes Lithium, Adderall, and just started taking Lamictal, but still has a score of issues. It's been our frustrating experience that these medication adjustments, etc...can take a long time, and the road is long. We've gone thru other meds with him, 4 pdocs, he's become irritated and almost stopped taking the meds (not a good idea), yelled about how all pdocs are full of it, denied that he has an illness, had mania in between, and still complains that the meds 'don't cut it', although there has been some progress as well. He seems to struggle a lot and has been in therapy for 3 months on his own. Everyone is different and has their own situation, but for me, this illness has created lots of instability and damage at times. The most devastating part with my hubbie is his unpredictable behaviour.

It sounds like you are on the same mission to find some sort of med combo that will help ur husband. Not having health insurance will just require him to be more resourceful about public clinics or other services that are out there to help you. I know there are several in the area where we live that work on much lowered sliding scale fees and those places will usually have a pdoc and therapist on staff. Some generic meds are now available on the Walmart generic drug program for $4 so it would be worth checking into that once he sees a pdoc. You can also contact your local **** chapter ([url]www.****.org[/url]) and they should be able to help. A support group can also be a good idea. Sometimes the behavioural health departments in some large hospitals are conducting studies for bipolar where your husband would have access to a pdoc and receive free meds and treatment for a while.

The lithium helped my husband for a long time, until it was increased so high that he started having side effects. Therapy has helped him understand this illness a little better, and he is working on managing the behaviour, but as I said before, it has been a long road and I keep praying that he will feel 'stabilized' soon so he can feel better, and as a result so we (his family, we have 2 small children) can feel more relaxed around him.

I'm sure you'll receive lots of great insight!

We're all here for support!

4support