Iceberg

You could, many docs like 8-12 weeks to be sure an antidepressant isn’t working. In the meantime, are you in contact with your doc about it not working?

@dancesintherain my insurance offers one directly through them, and billing is automatic cuz, being my insurance, they have my payment info, I just put in my first order and I’ll see how it goes

Do you have a current doctor?

Seems reasonable, good luck!

Good news. What dose does she want to go with?

what are you aiming to treat?

that is an extremely broad question(s)… are you looking for one for yourself?

No sorry, it’s fine for long term use at low doses, but for me it was sometimes too strong depending on my mood/episode status

Just a couple “off the top of my head” ideas, not saying they’d all be good for you: for a time, I had good luck with Valium. Also, halcion, which isn’t really common anymore but I found it the most effectively benzo for knocking me out. I’ve had good luck with low dose Thorazine (as more of a last resort) but not sure I’d want to be on it for too long of a time. Some people say a pm dose of saphris is good for sleep. Low dose remeron. You could also start with a super tiny (25 - 50) mgs of seroquel, which actually helps some for sleep and then go from there

I didn't think anyone used seconal anymore Edit: for sleep

I’ve needed prior auth for the last few new aps. I think it’s more of a cost issue

I had my lithium level up to 1.5 at one point, which was knocking on the door of toxicity. it was good as a stabilizer for awhile, but once I got into an episode it couldn't get me out (on multiple occasions) I do back off on the Adderall when I'm not in focus-intensive situations or situations that require me to be alert (ex. driving), but not typically a full "break" and my pdoc gives me some discretion about when to back on the does depending on what my situation is

Complicated it is. No, lamictal was later but it was a retry. I had been at a much lower lithium dose when I originally tried it, so we thought there might be more combined effectiveness when my lithium was significantly higher. It was added more to help maintain stability after an episode than to actually treat it. I don’t really get any side effects, so now it’s more of an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” type of thing. Unfortunately Lithium as a lone mood stabilizer, even it super high doses, has proven to not be enough to keep things stable in either direction. the “possible ADHD in my sig was actually from a complete psych evaluation done years ago, I’ve never explicitly taken a med for it. The adderall is for a couple reasons. One; while I may not have ADHD, there are certain parts of my illness that make it hard for me to function cognitively in some settings, such as academically. Second, clozaril sedation is heavy, but apparently I get it even worse than most. Once it helped settle down the episode I was in, we used the adderall so I could function while things stabilized dose-wise, finally making the cost/benefit choice that cloz + adderall is better than no cloz at all... considering it’s been highly effective for me. Third, I have tried almost every strategy deemed safe to treat my depressive episodes. At the time, nothing had worked so we’re hoping to get some relief from depression as a side benefit. We did, it helps me feel driven and motivated through the day. You’re correct, it’s not a common option, but we were basically out of choices

Remeron didn’t really do anything, Zoloft never got a chance to do anything cuz pdocs disagred about. Using it and it got pulled after only a few weeks. Only 1 of the 4 main docs I’ve had was a believer of using SSRIs with BP 1. The other three ranged from “bad idea” to “it won’t work (for me)”

@Skeletor the common term is “mixed mania” meaning that you get some elevated classic-mania symptoms but also get some symptoms that don’t exactly resemble classic mania, such as severe agitation among other things. It is often described as having mania and depressive symptoms at the same time, which is very dangerous because situations can result where a person can be suicidal and more likely to act on it because they have excess energy. In the latest DSM it is called “mania with mixed features” and it is horrible. I have been hospitalized for it before