Question:
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. Myself, and a number of other people I know with MD, find that Carbamazapine
stops mood swings solely on the basis of flatening 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
suprising as it is an epilepsy drug, but MD is not the same as epilepsy and
needs to be treated in a different way.
Answer:
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. Myself, and a number of other people I know with MD, find that Carbamazapine
stops mood swings solely on the basis of flatening 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
suprising 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. If you wish, I can email you an article on the 22 mood stabilizing meds
currently being used in the US. That's not quite true. You also have sodium valproate available in the UK.
But I do not recommend it -- due to its adverse side effects. 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. Well before I ramble I should say I'm basically in the same boat and
also think of trying it sans-drugs just to be me again for a bit. To be
fair though there are people out there that these do honestly return to
at least semi-normality, they're not without merit. As far as research
goes there's not a lot to go on. What is actually going on in MD (as in
depression) is still largely unknown. The drugs we do have for both
conditions were basically discovered by accident. Deppresives got
lucky, their drugs are relatively complex organic molecules, and they've
been able to synthesise new drugs by pulling functional groups off one
and adding it onto new molecules, very hit and miss but better than
nothing. What did us MD's get? A bivalent ion (lithium). and it's all
we've had for years, there's nothing for the researchers to really go
on. And now we've got carbamazepan and one other whose name I've
forgotten - the researchers have something to go on now, unfortunately
they're twenty to thirty years behind the depression researchers now and
it'll take a long while to catch up. it's a shitter but so's life. On a side note a lot of doctors are coming to admit that Lithium and
carbamazepam are anti-manics. They dont actually help depression much
and therefore most people need an antidepressant along with it.
Both myself and my father-in-law are cursed with this illness (unlucky for
my wife!!) and have both been down the carbamazapine and lithium road and
simply cannot and will not tolerate the side effects and the general
zombification.
We have both decided to go without meds and so far it is working fine. We
both get days where we become a little hypomanic but control this by
"knocking ourselves out" with nitrazepam and simply sleeping it off.
I am not a doctor, but just another "nutter", so my advice is simply my own
opinion - but if you decide to take this route I wish you all the very best,
and please keep me informed of your progress if you feel like it
that is not true get in touch with the manic depression fellowship and they
will supply you with a booklet of medications which are avaiable here. from
my recolections of other posts made by yourselves tony has decided that he
can do without medication? why teh sudden change of heart there are just as
many effective meds in this country as there are anywhere else put your
point to your Pdoc and he will listen and prescribe accordingly.
your future is in your hands
