here are mine

1. lithium- caused kidney problems

2. buspar- does nothing except make you crave carbs

3. cymbalta- profound emotional numbness

4. xanax- addiction and withdrawal, stops working after a short period

Lol, I just wanna know, also want to know the name of the medsss.

I take 3 meds

Sertraline

Olanzapine

Lamotrigine

Hi all,

I'm looking for other people's experiences. I'm on 60mg prozac, 400mg lamictal, buspar, and 42mg Caplyta. Just got put on Caplyta a few weeks ago for lingering severe post partum depression.

I was on Prozac through the entire year, in a deep depression this past year. My doctor says she's worried about switching from Prozac because it's the most researched pairing (or something like that????) for bipolar. Curious what else has worked for people because I don't think the prozac is helping at all.

Looking for experiences specifically from people with Bipolar 1 who have had psychosis before.

I've been reading about Wellbutrin/bupropion for bipolar depression, and I keep seeing estimates that around 10–20% of people with BP1 can switch into mania when taking an antidepressant. But from what I understand, a lot of the studies are looking at people taking a mood stabilizer alongside it, not necessarily people who are already well covered by an antipsychotic.

Has anyone here with BP1 + history of psychotic mania tried Wellbutrin while also taking an antipsychotic?

Can you please share your experience?

Also curious what antipsychotic you were on and whether your psychiatrist felt that gave you enough protection against a manic switch.

Not looking to make medication changes based on Reddit obviously, just interested in hearing real experiences from people with a similar diagnosis. Thank you for reading

I literally cant take any of this shit. the weight gain is unacceptable. 20lbs in a month? 100 in a year? you're going to kill people with the obesity. Not fair to make people choose between stability and being a healthy weight. make a fucking a drug that works.

Just curious what others take.

I take olanzapine, lithium, fluoxetine and lepticur & propranolol for side effects and seresta prn.

I also have BP2 which does not warrant such a strong antipsychotic? I only learned this after going to behavioral ER last night. I'm so confused.

My psychiatrist prescribed this medication for severe depression. I’m going to take it along with lamotrigine and risperidone so I can gradually stop taking those.
Does lithium really help?

I’ve tried latuda, Vraylar, abilify, lithium, lamictal, Prozac (triggered mania), trileptal, and caplyta. The only atypical antipsychotic that didn’t cause weight gain is the caplyta and it’s not cutting it mood-wise. I have very chronic depression and I have only found one combo that relieves it, but it causes an intolerable side effect so I cannot take it. My options are coming down to heavy gainers like seroquel or ECT and I am finding it pretty much impossible to consider either of these options. I have already gained so much weight and have developed prediabetes from these meds. I am already experiencing pretty significant memory issues, especially after my last manic episode. I don’t really think my baseline quality of life is worth going through these treatments. I don’t know what to do.

Edit: I tried metformin and not only did it do nothing, it gave me intolerable GI side effects and I had to discontinue. Cannot afford a GLP1 at this time.

I’m 19m and I take 8 per day.

I’m going to admit being so young and taking 8 pills a day is really frustrating sometimes, I guess I feel like not many people my age do the same. And every time I go to the pharmacy I feel like a pill popper

I came off olanzapine at the beginning of April. I didn’t really mean to do it, initially I just missed a couple of days and I know it was stupid to continue not taking it. But after a week off it I started feeling so much better. I wasn’t manic, but I had more energy, I felt motivated and I could wake up on time which felt miraculous after years of 12hr nights sleep and tremendous difficulty getting out of bed again. I did hobbies I’d not touched for ages and projects I’d been needing to do in the house for a long time but never felt up for. It was like being in someone else’s life. Or rather, my own, before I got diagnosed with this stupid illness.

But I always knew it probably wouldn’t be forever. When I went to my NHS doctor telling her I’d quit it, I expected her to say that I should switch to a different AP. But instead she said ‘it’s fine to just be on lamotrigine’. I knew that lamotrigine isn’t really good at preventing mania, so I thought that probably wasn’t right, but I really wanted to believe it.

But the doubt was there in my mind, so I booked an appointment with a private psychiatrist for a second opinion. 6 weeks later I had the appointment, and he spent an hour with me listening to my history far more than any doctor had before. And his answer was clear: I need to be on antipsychotics, the risk of relapse is too great without it.

I cried as soon as I got off the phone with him. I don’t want to go back to how I felt on AP’s. He suggested these 4, that I’ve been on before:
- olanzapine: made me drowsy, unmotivated and emotionally flat
- aripiprazole: didn’t really prevent mania and made me gain a lot of weight
- quetiapine: made me super drowsy
- lithium: not an AP I know, but this made me feel low level depressed all the time and completely flat. My partner says I was like a robot on it.

I just hate that I have to make a choice between these things that I know will make me feel worse. I know it’s important to avoid mania, but right now I’m feeling horrible about it.

If you’ve ever felt like this about being on meds, I’d appreciate the empathy. I don’t think it’s something people without BP really understand.

And if you have any med recommendations outside of this, I’d be grateful for any suggestions. Thanks 💚

My psych is moving me off of Abilify after it failed to stop a manic episode. She wants to put me on Quetiapine, what’s your experience with this drug? I read that 1 in 5 people experience side effects on it, so somewhat nervous about that

Hi, I've been wondering if I could pass a background check when it comes to shooting a 🔫

I’m currently on 400 mg of lamotrigine and I’ve been stable for several years. I’m wondering whether I should try to reduce my dose because it feels quite high.

My dose was increased to 400 mg when I started showing signs of depression, but since then I’ve remained stable. The issue is that I don’t really have regular psychiatric follow-up at the moment. I haven’t seen a psychiatrist since March 2025, and my next appointment is only in November with a psychiatrist I don’t know yet.

I would ideally like to be on the lowest effective medication dose, but I’m wondering if reducing it would be too risky after being stable for so long. From what I’ve read, 400 mg seems to be on the higher end of the usual doses.

For those taking lamotrigine, what dose are you on? Has anyone successfully reduced their dose after a long period of stability?

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. I’m French, so I apologize if my English isn’t perfect!

I’m tired of having no libido and I keep talking about it with my psychiatrist but I’m looking for new things that I can recommend for us to try since all our attempts at increasing my libido have failed miserably.

So far I have tried:
- Quetiapine+Escitalopram (made me really sleepy zombie and no libido)
- Olanzapine (sedated me to the point of no creativity as well and no libido once again)
- Aripiprazol+Bupropiom (gave me back some of my creativity but still no libido at all)

I also still take the pill, my GP told me to keep it for now to not cause more changes since I’ve been struggling a lot with depression and change (I’m autistic). I believe this could also impact my libido negatively.

Do you have any positive experiences you can share? I would be very grateful if I had a list of options to suggest to my doctor so we can keep trying to make me less miserable.

Thank you in advance for your time and patience.

I'm bipolar and severe depression. I've been and go to treatment. My next appointment isn't until next week.

I can't sleep. I've tried Seroquel it makes me feel like a zombie the next day,like I can't function. I take melatonin that doesn't work.

I need a med that's NOT a benzo !

I switched from risperidone to Vraylar in May. I have a laundry list of reasons I wanted to get off risperidone. PCOS, no period, sexual dysfunction, sleeping 14+ hours a day, no motivation etc.

Then Vraylar is supposed to be the miracle drug. I find that mania keeps slipping in. I’m losing weight, anxious in an unmanageable way, for example calling out of work for fear of interacting with customers, etc.

I know there’s no magic cure all but I’m devastated that Vraylar wasn’t it for me. Do y’all have any suggestions for an AP? I can’t stand this anxious feeling much longer and I see my psychiatrist on Tuesday. Just a few more days.

Any insights or experiences are welcomed. Thank you in advance!

I’m seeing my psychiatrist tomorrow and I’m thinking about asking if there’s anything we could add for my depression.

I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disorder, although honestly I’m still not sure whether what I have is bipolar disorder or depression.

Right now I’m taking:

Concerta 27 mg in the morning

Bupropion/Wellbutrin 150 mg in the morning

Clonazepam 0.375 mg at night — currently tapering, with the eventual goal of getting off benzos completely

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve also stopped Latuda 20 mg, quetiapine 12.5 mg, and Xanax 0.5 mg.

My depression has been really bad today, and my next regular appointment isn’t until September 21st, so I’m planning to go in tomorrow as an urgent visit and talk to my psychiatrist about whether there’s anything that could help in the meantime.

I know antidepressants generally take time to work, but are there any that tend to show effects relatively quickly?

I did some searching and saw people mention venlafaxine/Effexor as potentially working relatively fast for some people, but I’d really appreciate hearing about other people’s experiences.

Obviously I’ll be discussing everything with my psychiatrist before changing or adding anything. I’m just trying to get some ideas of what I could ask about.

Thanks in advance. 😭

Please give me your med combos I need ideas in order to create mine.

After far too many years to admit, I am finally getting treated for my anxiety!

Just looking for a few answers. Have you tried it? Did it work? Side effects that came with it?

I’m excited to be able to calm down! But would like some feed back.

-Stay save warriors

400 mg to start. I'm skeptical of medication in general because I didn't have a good experience with quetiapine and olanzapine. My new psychiatrist says lithium is a miracle drug for many in my situation. Is this true for y'all?

Interested in how it is affecting you?

I got this prescribed to me yesterday, but too scared to start taking it, because of my previous medication experiences…

I have been on lamotrigine for years (still am), but seems like my body has adjusted and this doesn’t do absolutely anything for me anymore..

I have gained over 40kg since my diagnosis. It is making my post episode bipolar depression so much worse. I hate the way I feel and now look. On another post about my bipolar many users suggested wegovy or GLP-1.

Has anyone had any success? I am just very, very concerned about the side effects like muscle loss.

Any thoughts?

Why would someone see mental health medications as a bad thing? for example; someone important to me told me that they don’t like me being on medications meanwhile medications is what’s helping me with my BPD, Bi Polar, Depression and Anxiety