Straight Talk on Managing Bipolar Disorder

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Craig Hamilton – My Story part 2   (Click here for Craig Hamilton Part 1)  

Bipolar Disorder effects more people around the world than many people realize. When Bipolar  makes the news , it’s usually a bad news story.

 The suicide rate in Australia is a disgrace and by simply ignoring the issue or making out that it is someone else’s problem isn’t going to get people who are suffering from a mental illness that can be treated the help they need.

In 2004  I published my story in a book called “Broken Open” with friend and journalist Neil Jameson.

 The story was more than anything a plea to society to drop the stigma associated with mental illness and make it easier for those that needed help to be able to reach out and get it.

You see, there are two groups of people in Australia:

 1.Those that believe they will never be affected by mental illness and

2.Those that are in the grip of a mental illness and struggling to deal with it

I reckon I can speak on behalf of both groups because I have been in both groups.

If you had said to me prior to 2000 , who would be the LAST person in the world who could be so badly depressed that getting out of bed in the morning was impossible and that level of depression would lead to thoughts of suicide, I would have said me. Yet there I was, in the  deepest , blackest , darkest place I have ever been in my life with basically no real hope of getting out of there.

Click here for part 3 of Craig Hamilton’s story 

Bipolar Disorder Medications: Depakote (Divalproex Sodium)

Depakote, like Tegretol is an anticonvulsant drug used to treat bipolar disorder MANIA. It’s a misconception that Depakote is a complete mood stabilizer as it’s not as effective for depression treatment- it’s often used in conjunction with other medications that do help depression in order to fully treat bipolar disorder.

When I was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I started with lithium (considered the only true ‘mood stabilizer’ ) – I had really severe side effects with lithium and had to try the next in line drug for people initially diagnosed with bipolar disorder – Tegrotol. When that didn’t work I tried Depakote.

This was a very normal treatment plan in 1995. These days, for those of us with bipolar II (we don’t have full blown mania), Lamictal (Lamotrigine) is often the drug of choice instead of Depakote or Tegretol.

For people with bipolar I (full blown mania), Depakote is still a common drug. Depakote works for many people, but the problem is often weight gain.

It’s estimated that the anti psychotic Zyprexa can lead to around a 20 pound weight gain- but  it can be more for Depakote. NOT FOR EVERYONE, but for some. Depokote side effects completely depend on how well your liver can process the drug. Some truly can take Depakote with no weight gain.

These days, you have more options than Depakote alone if the weight gain is bad- talk with your health care professional and explore Lithium, Tegretol and anti psychotics. All are anti mania drugs- even the anti psychotics such as Abilify and Serequel are used for mania control.

If you’ve had a lot of weight gain on Depakote, you definitely need to check out your options with a health care professional. If it’s working with little weight gain- that’s fantastic.

Drug side effects are a trade off. Weight gain is really hard to deal with.

These drugs seriously alter our brains which leads to side effects, but they also save our lives. 

Julie

PS: I love my Lamictal!