I have Bipolar 1, which I have had for 6 years and still suffering day to day and am on the pension as I can’t work. I have been taking seroquel for psychosis, sleep, anxiety but have extremely bad side effects from it. Does any one know of another drug that may be of help rather than seroquel. I need it for sedation more than anything and also I can’t sleep without it. Currently I take 300mg at night and 4mg of Xanax to sleep and I really need to look at another alternative. Does anyone have any other ideas (not xyprexa), Cheers Karen
Hi. Thanks for your message. Things have become quite hectic and I may not be able to read my mail as often as I’d like. I hope to be back soon.
Chuck
I am BPII and was on Seroquel, Zoloft and Xanax for quite some time. It didn’t seem to help much, but like you I have insomnia. The Seroquel worked wonders for sleep. After getting a new pdoc last year, he weaned me off Seroquel for side effects and weight gain. He replaced it with Lamictal (Google it) very slowly at a time starting with 25mg and now up to 300mg/day. He replaced Zoloft with Wellbutrin XL (which didn’t work) and Ambien, then Rozerem (for sleep which didn’t work). The Wellbutrin XL made me cry all the time and made my insomnia worse. He finally got the cocktail right with Lamictal, Prozac & Trazodone for sleep. Trazodone helps me sleep pretty well. If I didn’t have overactive bladder, I’d sleep all night with no interruptions.
Ask your doctor about Lamictal. Lots of folks with bipolar (on this forum and others) have had good results with it. It is approved by the government for treatment of bipolar but it is actually an anti-seizure med, like a lot of other meds for bipolar. I hope you find your answer. It sometimes takes a lot of trial and error to get it right. Good day…
Hi there I am currently taking Risperdal which is also a mood
stabilizer/anti-psychotic. In the past I have been on Zyprexa and Seroquel
with horrible side effects and no relief to my symptoms. I also take
clonazepam for anxiety 0.5 mg and zoloft for depression. I find this to be
a fairly good combination (it only took nearly 5 years to get it…haha)
Well hope this helps. Good luck!!
Lisa20cb
----- Original Message -----
From: “guy_interrupted_sf” bipolar-cpt2912@lists.careplace.com
To: Bailey1ca@syd.eastlink.ca
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 12:34 AM
Subject: Re: [bipolar] Medication for psychosis, anxiety