Author: tearj3rker

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 8:57 pm

These days it’s Lithium SR 450mg at night.
Lamicttal 100mg morning & night (ie 200mg)

It’s been the most effective mood-stabiliser regime. My doc wants me to have 675mg lithium, but I really can’t function or study well on that level. I almost feel like a 28 year old with Alzheimer’s. Lithium has been the preferred mood-stabiliser, mainly because rates of suicide drop significantly on lithium over other mood-stabilisers.

The real revelation has been the St. John’s wort and Inositol, and to a degree the fish oil. When I started taking the high doses of fish oil, the first thing I noticed was I started having dreams again. And I was remembering my dreams too. I can literally remember all my dreams as vividly as I remember my waking hours. Weird?

After Interferon tx my mood was haywire. Rapid cycling even mixed-states, at stages off the scale. Then it settled into mostly gruelling depression with occasional hypomanic spikes. Then I reached out for St John’s wort and Inositol. St John’s wort because it’s proven to be effective for mild depression with almost no side-effects. But having bipolar, I’m sensitive to anti-deps. For me it boosted my mood out of the darkness without making me too happy like the SNRI’s. The inositol seems to have a stabilising effect, but how much I can’t tell at this stage. I’m too wary of stopping it to find out how useful it is, just because I haven’t felt this stable and trusting of my feelings for … years.

If you’re ever struggling ex, you could always give them a try. There’s little harm in trying. But St John’s wort shouldn’t be taken if you’re on other anti-depressants, and none should be used to replace existing medication.