{"id":1210,"date":"2010-08-27T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-27T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/?p=1210"},"modified":"2018-05-15T10:00:11","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T17:00:11","slug":"bipolar-medication-side-effects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/bipolar-medication-side-effects\/","title":{"rendered":"Bipolar Medication Side Effects"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lamictal (Lamotrigine):\u00a0 Anti-convulsant used as a mood stabilizer in Bipolar Disorder.\u00a0 Lamictal is a great drug for depression and rapid cycling. It’s not an anti-mania drug.<\/em><\/p>\n

I have been on Lamictal for five years- with very few side effects. When I raised my dose I had an odd reaction. My eyes became dry and the area under my eyes became very puffy. I actually just did a few videos for\u00a0my blog and I look ill! It’s a weird side effect. As I write this, I feel like I have been lightly punched in the eyes. I will have to put the videos here just so you can see what I mean.<\/p>\n

Lithium: The only true ‘mood stabilizer.’ What many don’t know is that lithium is used to treat bipolar mania and not bipolar depression. It’s the same with Tegretol. Tegretol is an anticonvulsant like Lamictal, but it’s used to treat bipolar mania.<\/em><\/p>\n

My friend\u00a0Alice just upped her lithium and definitely feels better. But.. .she just called and said, “Julie! My hair is falling out again!” Hair loss is a typical side effect for Tegretol- but I have not heard about it for lithium. She is also experiencing the very common lithium fog and I can hear that her talking is a bit slower.\u00a0 This is all sad because she feels better. It’s ALWAYS a trade off with medications. If my Lamictal works, can I live with dark and puffy eyes? Can\u00a0Alice deal with hair loss? What a choice. You would think that our mental health would be so much more important than any non fatal side effect- such as losing your hair, but we are human and the beauty and health of our physical body means so much- so side effects are hard.\u00a0Alice is getting her lithium levels checked tomorrow. I will keep you posted on my eyes!<\/p>\n

What side effects do you have that you simply live with?<\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

I invite you to visit\u00a0www.BipolarHappens.com<\/a> \u00a0and read about the Health Cards Treatment System for bipolar disorder. I recently gave a talk to a group of mental health practitioners here in Portland, Oregon-\u00a0 I was asked how I do so well despite being ill for much of the time- I said,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ” I use my Health Cards every day.” There is a sample card on the site- I think you will find it interesting<\/p>\n

Julie<\/p>\n

Julie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lamictal (Lamotrigine): Anti-convulsant used as a mood stabilizer in Bipolar Disorder. Lamictal is a great drug for depression and rapid cycling. It’s not an anti-mania drug.<\/p>\n

I have been on Lamictal for five years- with very few side effects. When I raised my dose I had an odd reaction. My eyes became dry and the area under my eyes became very puffy. I actually just did a few videos for my blog and I look ill! It’s a weird side effect. As I write this, I feel like I have been lightly punched in the eyes. I will have to put the videos here just so you can see what I mean.<\/p>\n

Lithium: The only true ‘mood stabilizer.’ What many don’t know is that lithium is used to treat bipolar mania and not bipolar depression. It’s the same with Tegretol. Tegretol is an anticonvulsant like Lamictal, but it’s used to treat bipolar mania.<\/p>\n

My friend [ Read More ]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11831,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1210\/revisions\/11831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}