Thank you so much for sharing your expertise. My daughter was diagnosed with bipolar a few years ago and after over 15 combinations of medications she is stable and enjoying her life. We are writing a book together on her experience (and mine as a mother). At one point in the midst of a huge suicidal ideation and hospitalization she told me that illegal drugs seemed to be a better choice because the drugs the doctors were giving her had twice almost killed her. It takes immense strength and support for a young person to make it through this maze when diagnosis and treatment so often takes awhile. Her doctors hung in there as did family and friends. Thank you to your profession! I teach about mental health conditions to graduate students but living it is a different matter. MH doctors are the best!
Cinda (www.lineacinda.com)

I have Bipolar II, and I can’t take Prozac or Wellbutrin. Both meds throw me into hypomania, but I tolerate other SSRIs fairly well.

The cocktail of meds that has worked best for me personally (and the one I am on currently) is a combination of lamictal, prozac, and adderall (I’m ADHD as well). It’s difficult finding medications that will work well together when you have bipolar disorder and ADHD, because certain medications by themselves will treat one disorder, and amplify the other, and totally throw me off balance. It took a long time to find stuff that worked well, but I think lamictal is probably what helped me the most.

i have bipolar I with rapid cycling..i take prozac and lithuim..i seem to be doing ok…is there anyone else who takes a combination like this..my new doctor is afraid to keep me on this..

don’t take this on it’s own if you are bipolar.
i did, and i went into a terrible manic episode that lasted over a YEAR. it was bad, and my behavior was out of control. take caution, this isn’t the kind of medication for people with bipolar disorder.

I’m bipolar I and I was taking Seroquel along with Lamictal. I started having issues with the Seroquel.I had horrible nightmares and the Seroquel helped with that tremendously. My doctor has just started prescribing Prozac along with the Lamictal. I’m scared now that the very vivid nightmares will come back. Does Prozac act as a sedative type SSRI? The internet is so confusing.

I have Bipolar II. I’ve been taking Lamictal for about 1 month. It has REALLY helped decrease the frequency of my hypomanic episodes. I’ve also been taking fluoxetine for 5 years. I believe the fluoxetine has worsened my manic episodes the past few years. I’m currently working with my doctor to get weaned off fluoxetine. For me, taking fluoxetine and being Bipolar is dangerous.

I have just started treating my bipolar and already been on 6 different medications!All my life i was diagnosed with depression and panic attactes I was on proziac for about 2 yrs and zanixe,valume,effexor and ..alot more medication none of the Dr.s I was seeing never diganoised me Bipolar un til last year I was switching meds. when had to me to a different state and start to relize we couldn’t afford the Dr.s in this state so I quite taking the bipolar drug GEODON that was not the good thing to do it caused a lot of husulations,insonomia,severe mood swings it was not pretty so don’t ever do that find a free clinic and get the medician you need!I am now on lithiem and proziac now and who knows what it might be next week but i do know this one day i will be on something that works for chemicaly!Its not fun hearing voices that no one eles can or just get realy moody and snappy and go off in public crowds and scare people!Being know as the crazy lady i got more depressed and drawn for everone…Thats my story alittle lone but wanted you to learn from my experances and maybe help someone eles that is thinking of doing what i did All I got to say is “DON’T” you will be sorry you quiet cold turkey!Good LUCK ALL OF YOU READING THIS!!!

I have recently been diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. My pDoc is not sure whether to classify it as I or II. At any rate, over the last twenty years I’ve been on over 20 antidepressants, 5 benzodiazepines and countless supplements – in various combinations. I always noticed that I like Prozac every time I would come back to it, but I never knew why. I’ve been taking Lamictal and Risperdal for about a month now. Currently at 3mg Risperdal and 150mg Lamictal. I must admit I am changed, with less manic symptoms. However, without coffee all day long I’m tired all the time. I’m thinking Prozac might be a good addition to my current regimen, so I will discuss this with my pDoc at the end of this month. If anyone else has specific experience with Lamictal, Risperdal and Prozac, I would love to see your comments and experience posted on this board. Thanks to the author and all commentors for some great info!

“Increased risk of mania” – On November 7, 2010 my grandmother commit suicide after being on a high dose of prozac for a long period of time. She was BiPolar and had been hospitalized for suicidal attempts 3 times prior to the final tragedy. She had been diagnosed as BiPolar for several years by a couple of different doctors. Her latest doctor refused the diagnosis of BiPolar and therefor ignored the high risk potential of prescribing Prozac and increasing the dose significantly with each bout of depression. This sent her into rapid cycling and more and more suicide attempts. During the day she was high and late at night she was low. The shifts in extreme mood changes happened daily. She felt that nobody understood except for me. She was right. My grandfather is a farmer who doesn’t know how to work a computer, one of her daughters a raging and non functioning alcoholic, and another daughter dead from suicide. For years I was her “midnight counsel” from 1,000 miles away. In her last month she was alive I noticed drastic changes and attempted to contact her doctor about my concerns but he would not take my calls unless I was planning on reporting an incident. There were incidents I could’ve reported but I was the ONLY person left in her life that she trusted. This trust had enabled me to save her life more than once in the past so it was not something I would risk losing ever. When the doctor refused to even listen to me, I tried so hard to explain to my grandmother that he was not the correct doctor for her, he did not have the correct diagnosis, and that she was not on the appropriate medication. I went to the extreme of finding another doctor for her with great references and ratings, a difficult task from 1,000 miles away. Alas, it was too late. Days later and becoming increasingly more and more manic and rapid cycling so fast that nobody knew what to expect from minute to minute she calls me at about 9pm. Locked herself in the basement with a gun in one hand and a knife in the other. She was not crying nor was she completely depressed. She expressed herself as “simply tired and ready”. 3 hours later, playing on her mania, I convince her she should go skydiving instead of kill herself. Does that sound rational to you? Well, in the increased manic state she was swaying in and out of due to the high doses of prozac this sounds very rational. 7 days later she has what seems to be the best day ever. She gets her hair and nails done, goes out driving with her drunk daughter to take pictures of barns, plans to make a calendar, and is unknowingly to those around her completely and classically euphoric. She then makes a simple supper and serves it to herself, her husband, and daughter. In the middle of supper she excuses herself to use the restroom, then with a smile on her face she walks into her bedroom, pulls out a gun, and shot herself. She was still wearing fresh wounds on her wrists from her suicide attempt nearly 2 weeks prior to this.

Conclusion- PROZAC CAN BE FATAL TO BIPOLAR PATIENTS AND IS NOT WORTH THE RISK!

It would all be easier and cheaper for everyone of the drug industry would pushing expensive antidepressants and atypical antispychotics for depression and bipolar disorder and just allow people to take natural alkaloids from the earth that god made such as codeine and morphine for a more pronounced affect on the illness. After all these were the first line treatments of depression 50 years ago. Years and years of synthetic drugs taken day after day cannot do anyone good.

I have practiced psychiatry and been involved in research. I don’t make one penny prescribing Lithium but it is without any doubt the best and the only drug for bipolar. This BS that Prozac is better than Lithum was based on one study by the same company that gave us Zyprexa is only interested in money .Just money, money, money. Their behavior border on or is criminal . This study is laughable I have treated thousands of patients with bipolar and only about 5 years ago I realized nothing but Lithium will prevent future episodes which is the key to staying well if someone is suffering from bipolar. I will agree there are many psychiatrists who are poorly trained.So there may be some who are skeptical of anything psychiatrists say. Prescribing Lithium is much more work for me so I not only am not benefiting from advocating Lithium it makes much more work for not a penny more in income. I hate to see patients suffer. After you have seen tormented individuals who are setting in your office over several decades hoping they can get relief I just want to see them well. That is enough of a reward (I do make money but psychiatry is one of the lowest paid specialties). No one is psychiatrist if they want to make a lot of money.