Did AD's make you manic

[sonicwhite]

Okay I am on three AD....I haven't seem to go manic on any of them. Am I just a lucky one or does it effect BP people the same?. Either your going to go manic on a AD or not. I find it confusing when people say AD's just make them manic when they have never done that for me.

[forgetmenot220]

When I took an AD, my first one (Celexa), it was pretty much useless at the low dose I started out on but when it was increased to 40 mg, I started having mood swings and getting hypomanic and all over the place. At one point, maybe a year and a half a go, my previous pdoc put me on Effexor XR which means I was on that AND Wellbutrin XL. I went through-the-roof-manic and ended up in the hospital. He said that confirmed my diagnosis (BP 1 at that point).

 

Everyone is different. Some people are manic on any amount of AD they touch but others respond well to them, along with a mood stabilizer. Doesn't mean you are or aren't BP, it's just how ADs work for you.

[Odetta]

I did on Wellbutrin. Not noticeably so on Prozac or celexa, beyond my normal swings.

[Parapluie]

I have never become hypo/manic on ADs. ADs just generally don't work for me. I currently take 300 mg of Effexor and I feel it does nothing.

 

However, when my pdoc increased my Effexor to 375 mg, I started having crazy mood swings. I would swing from depressed for 2-4 days and then hypomanic for 2-4 days, then back to depressed, then back to hypomanic. This went on for a month, until I finally just went back down to 300 mg. I've been fine ever since. Plus, we added Lamictal, so that may have helped cut the mood swings. 

 

Not every person with bipolar goes hypo/manic on ADs. It seems ADs either make BP people manic or they do nothing. At least from what I've heard. 

Edited December 19, 2013 by Parapluie

[hagar]

Some have, some haven't. There seems to be no rhyme nor reason to which do and which don't. My current AD, amitriptyline, hasn't made me manic, but I'm on lithium and an AAP as well. 

[crtclms]

I've only tried 3 ADs, the first non Tricyclic/MAOIs, as they came onto the market. Prozac sent me through the roof, full blown euphoric mania, I can't believe some of the things I did. So I was taken off of that.

 

The next one out was Zoloft. It didn't send me through the roof, but it made me feel jittery and irritable. It felt speedy. The good thing was I couldn't sleep 14 hours at a time, but my pdoc agreed it was not doing it for me.

 

Then Wellbutrin came out, and that seemed to hit the sweet spot. Not that I have never been depressed since I was on it, but maybe one or two SSRIs came out during that period, and my pdoc didn't want me to try it. Then I went into remission, but still stayed on Wellbutrin just because.

 

This is why I only rarely have something to contribute to the ADs forum in general, I've been on the same AD for almost 25 years, and have no further anecdotal experience.

[CeremonyNewOrder]

I respond well to Effexor despite the fact that it makes many of my fellow BP patients manic. Just random luck of the gene pool.

[forgetmenot220]

<3 Wellbutrin

[melissaw72]

ADs have never made me manic.  I've been manic while on ADs, but the AD itself I don't think was the only factor.

[mcjimjam]

What I have read is that it's common for ADs to cause mania in some with BP and in others they just don't work. I'm in the catagory where they tend not to work. Wellbutrin possibly made me hypo. It was a long time ago and before diagnosis so I'm not sure. Most that I tried didn't work. Cymbalta seems to work now, probably because I take a mood stabiliser, other AD and stimulant alongside it.

[KeepGoing]

Yes, but I was "pushed" into hypomania, and not full-blown mania. I went from a depressed can't-get-off-the-couch wreck to a high-energy, money-spending, shopping spree'er, big-project-do'er kind-o-guy in the course of a few months. The hypomania was on-and-off for 5 years, and I still live with its detritus, both financial and physical; all the piles of "why did I buy all this crap" junk in my house. I'm still digging out.

I'm not anti-SSRI, and I'm not on any right now, but I treat them cautiously now, and if I go back on one, then I'll start with a low dose and try and be vigilant regarding my behavior. I think it's a mystery as to why some people are susceptible to that side effect and others are not. Brain chemistry is still not well understood.

SSRIs are of huge benefit to most people, though. I think the risk of getting pushed into hypomania or mania is less than the risk of not getting treated if you need them. Like I said, I'm not against them. They helped me a lot for a long time. I don't have a good handle on exactly when, or why I slipped and fell--psychically speaking--but it happened. I'm just glad I managed to put a stop to it after the negative effects starting piling up. I may try easing back on one this year, because their effectiveness in treating my nagging, now-moderate-level depression is worth another look to me.

[Savannah]

Prozac made me flip into mania. Zoloft has always worked just fine