0 
0 By Rebecca Palmquist
Medications are the most standard way to manage bipolar symptoms. Medications seem to be the best way to manage symptoms and hold them off. Some people do great on some medications, and other people do better on others. It is important to work closely with your doctor to find and maintain the medicines and dosages that work best for you. You need to work closely with your doctor, to monitor any side effects and the efficacy of the medicines. Sometimes several medicines are needed to manage the symptoms.
There are 4 principles of medication management.
Work with your doctor
Medicines should be taken as ordered by the doctor, that is, when and how much is prescribed. Any side effects should be noted and how your symptoms are affected.
Any developing side effects should be reported to your doctor as soon as possible so as to avoid any discomfort or damage.
Do not stop taking the medicine cold turkey without first consulting your doctor. This could cause even more discomfort and damage than the side effects and, even more likely, induce mood swings again.
Watch out for interactions
Alcohol, illicit drugs, and other prescribed medications may cause your medication for bipolar disorder to be ineffective and may increase side effects. You should report all other medications and substances you are taking to your doctor to ensure that none adversely interact with the medication prescribed for bipolar disorder.
Track your symptoms
Effective medical management of bipolar requires tracking your symptoms and reporting them and your side effects to your doctor. The doctor can then change your medications or alter the dosages to best manage the disorder. As an added note it is good to keep in touch with your pharmacist for the same reasons, and as a defense against side effects from over the counter drug interactions, as that can lessen the efficacy of your prescriptions also.
Stability first
The first phase of treatment is to eliminate any mania, hypomania or depression that the patient is experiencing. This could take anywhere from six weeks to six months, and it could take even longer to find the medications that work best to keep the symptoms away. It took about eighteen months for my doctor and me to find what worked for me so that I was stable.
Then, because I was either sensitive to the medication or desensitized quickly, it became an ongoing cycle to change medications now and then to maintain my stability. This second phase is one of continuation. The doctor and patient work closely together to find what works best for long-term stability, after conquering the initial damaging symptoms.
The maintenance phase
The maintenance phase is much like with diabetes or hypertension. It is most likely a lifetime of juggling medications to keep the symptoms away. Mania, hypomania and depression are important to avoid for the patient to function best in his or her daily life. Preventing recurrence is best for your mental health, because you avoid any risk of losing control of your choices or bringing on any serious consequences from poor decision making. You also avoid the possibility of hospitalization.
Medications for bipolar disorder are different from things like antibiotics. You need to take them on good days and bad to maintain the wellbeing they provide. The key is to understand they are for maintenance, not a cure like penicillin. They are like vitamins: you take them on a daily basis to give your body what it needs.
Which meds?
There are three basic categories of medications for treating bipolar symptoms. These medications are mood stabilizers, antidepressants, and antipsychotics. Mood stabilizers are the foundational prescriptions that help prevent mania and depression mood swings. They help bring the patient to a more emotionally centered place. They make it easier to make decisions without becoming overwhelmed by emotion. Depending on the severity of the symptoms, antidepressants and/or antipsychotics may help as well.
Mood stabilizers
Mood stabilizers are a maintenance medication, because they lessen or eliminate mood swings. They do not cure the cause of the mood swings, unfortunately, so you do need to take them daily. Even when you feel better from taking the mood stabilizers, you cannot stop taking them: they are just keeping you stable.
Lithium Carbonate, Carbamazepine, and Sodium Valproate are the most common mood stabilizers. A doctor can prescribe them either alone or together with other prescriptions, to eliminate the mood swings.
Antidepressants
Antidepressants can also cause a hypomanic or manic mood swing, if a mood stabilizer is not included in the treatment. But when a mood stabilizer is used, an antidepressant can be a powerful tool for the doctor to treat the severe depression that can come with bipolar disorder. There is no one better antidepressant than another. It is just a matter of finding the one that works for you without too many side effects and bumps in mood stabilization.
The three common antidepressants are:
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) – sertraline, paroxetine, fluoxetine
Tricyclics – imipramine, amitriptyline, dolthiepin, desipramine
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI’s) – phenelzine, tranylcypromine
Antipsychotics
Antipsychotics can often eliminate hallucinations or delusions, reduce inappropriate grandiosity, decrease impulsivity or irritability, or induce sleep if needed.
1in4 UK Book Store:
[amazon_link asins='1977009336' template='ProductGrid' store='iam1in4-20' marketplace='US' link_id='ffcb5f04-1297-11e8-8b2c-c721ea9703cc']
Some common antipsychotics are haloperidol, chlorpromazine, thioridazine, risperidone, and olanzapine.
Talk to your doctor
Your doctor might also suggest additional medications. Another often-used medication is clonazepam, which is classed as a benzodiazepine. This helps to induce sleep, reduce psychomotor agitation and also slow racing thoughts or pressured speech.
It’s so important to work closely with your doctor, to note how effective the medications are in treating the symptoms, and to make changes to eliminate side effects as much as possible. It is also important to keep taking medications as directed. Never stop taking them without talking to your doctor first.
Reproduced with permission, originally posted on bipoluv.com
UNITED STATES
UNITED KINGDOM
