Side Effects of Bipolar Meds!

Many diagnosed Bipolar patients such as myself take multiple drugs to manage our disorder. While modern medicine has created drugs that help stabilize our moods, these drugs have a myriad of side effects, some really strange. I am going to talk about mood stabilizers I've tried and their side effects and mention some of the problems I've had with them.

Seroquel

I've had a great experience with this drug as far as stabilizing my mood. I've experienced weight gain over the past 5-6 years on it, but it's been manageable with diet and exercise. It helps me sleep, and I don't have that zombie feeling that many complain about.

Depakote

Depakote has been great in slowing down my manic and hypomanic states. However, in my latest go-around with Depakote, I gained 30 lbs in 3.5 months despite vigorous exercise and eating well. The weight gain has brought on a whole host of problems such as high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. My GP is the one who yanked me off Depakote ASAP, while my PDOC wanted to give it some more time. Ultimately, I sided with my GP that there were other avenues worth exploring, and that Depakote was ruining my body. I am cutting my dosage in half each week. I have 6 more days before I am off of Depakote completely.

Lamictal

Lamictal is apparently a very popular Bipolar drug. I took it for a year and saw no improvements or differences to my cycling moods, and my hands started to have involuntary tremors at a high dose. I quickly tapered off of this med for that reason.

Gabapentin

Gabapentin is now being used in the psychiatric setting as both a sedative and a mood stabilizer, according to my psychiatrist. The primary reason I started Gabapentin last week was to take the place of Depakote's sedating effects. I am on a fairly low dose now (200mg) and I have not experienced any side effects in the past week. I'll have to give this one more time, though.

Abilify

I took Abilify for about 6 months, and it made me so depressed and suicidal I was almost hospitalized. I gave it that long for it to "kick in," but it turns out that it was already "kicked in" and kicking my ass. So that one's out.

I haven't tried Lithium or Risperdal. My psychiatrist doesn't like Lithium due to the potential for toxicity. I know people online who have taken Risperdal and gained a ton of weight, so that's out for me.

As a goal, I'd eventually like to be taking as low a dose of an atypical mood stabilizer as possible. Feel free to leave a comment if you've taken any of these drugs and experienced side side effects.