Question:
Myself, and a number of other people I know with MD, find that Carbamazapine stops mood swings solely on the basis of flattening your emotions and turning you into a zombie. A friend who has epilepsy finds that Carbamazapine stops his fits and leaves him feeling like a normal human being - which is not surprising as it is an epilepsy drug, but MD is not the same as epilepsy and needs to be treated in a different way. Does anyone know of any drugs for MD (i.e. mood stabilisers) that have been developed for MD? We appear to be "fobbed off" with epilepsy drugs (i.e. Carbamazapine etc) which are not satisfactory solely because no one can be bothered to research MD properly and develop a suitable drug.
Answer:
Myself, and a number of other people I know with MD, find that Carbamazapine stops mood swings solely on the basis of flattening your emotions and turning you into a zombie. A friend who has epilepsy finds that Carbamazapine stops his fits and leaves him feeling like a normal human being - which is not surprising as it is an epilepsy drug, but MD is not the same as epilepsy and needs to be treated in a different way. In the UK we only appear to have Carbamazapine and Lithium - neither of
which are satisfactory. I am currently fighting this illness without
medication as I can no longer tolerate the side effects and emotional
numbing caused by these inadequate drugs, but realise that this course of
action could be hazardous in the long term. What I need is a drug that will stabilise my moods but still enable me to
feel like a human being with full emotions. As the NHS is wholly inadequate
when it comes to dealing with mental illness I am more than happy to pay for
any drug that will help if it is not available on the NHS. You should be able to get Neurontin (gabapentin) from a neurologist in the
UK. Or you can purchase it via an Internet pharmacy. Neurontin should
leave you with normal emotional capacity but with potential cognitive
enhancements. But you will need a cooperative psychiatrist to monitor your
progress. Lamictal (lamotrigine) is another new mood stabilizer that
should not flat line your emotional response as the ones in the UK
commonly do. In fact Neurontin-Lamictal makes an excellent mood stabilizer
combination IMO. But it is expensive! Please see my article on 22 mood
stabilizers for my suggestions on how to properly take these BP meds.
