Do mood stabilizers help swings of anxiety and depression?

[mamayaya]

I have major mood swings with tons of anxiety and depression... usually swinging the pendulum between the two. Will a mood stabilizer help this? I have an appointment with pdoc tomorrow and want to mention it to them.

[resonance]

I think I mentioned in response to a different thread, but I found them to work for me. That's anecdotal, though. I have not heard of anything widely-known about it. Jim Phelps at http://www.psycheducation.org talks a lot about anxiety and bipolar, and he may say something about it there.

[AirMarshall]

Yes mood stabilizer help with mood swings.

Now, anxiety by definition is not a mood. So one would not swing between depressed and anxious.

Anxiety can certainly be caused by or exacerbated by being either depressed or manic. It's possible that you might be misinterpreting a mixed state for anxiety.

Getting control of mood episodes thru meds, be they mood stabilizers, AD's, or antipsychotics, can reduce anxiety. IMHO its the best way to approach anxiety since benzos are only a band aid.

a.m.

[Guest BPisNotPetrol]

I actually mistook a mixed state for Anxiety. I went to an HMO pdoc, he prescribed Effexor. It threw me into full blown mania an hour after I took the first pill. I was actually on it for 4 days, but went off it when I realized that what I was in seemed like mania, and getting hooked on this stuff was very bad. That and being manic yet unable to cum was not fun. Going off the effexor didn't help much. I was euphoric at times, dysphoric at others, completely irrational at all times. By the time my dad took me to another doctor who prescribed me Geodon for acute mania, I was really out there. I tried to pick up one of the drug reps at the office. As I was following the rep out, my dad reminded me that I was going home with him, not her. Not that I really had a chance with her anyway. Reps pushing psych drugs can recognize a case of mania from a mile away.