Aswad
Posts: 9374
Joined: 4/4/2007 Status: offline
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Mood stabilizers aren't usually supposed to cause mania. That said, things aren't always all that simple with bipolar, particularly if there are other disorders around at the same time. For some bipolars, amphetamine makes an excellent mood stabilizer, oddly enough. For most (IIRC), it'll reliably induce mania right away. You mentioned diabetes, for instance, which can have a definite impact on some things, and changing your diet, which can affect the plasma concentrations of drugs. Your doc can do a blood test to see whether this might be the issue. Lamictal has a rather "impressive" range of side-effects, including insomnia, irritability and agitation among the more common ones, which makes me think this might be part of what you're experiencing. It also makes me think that it isn't entirely unlikely that it can, when used by itself, induce a hypomanic state. What you're describing doesn't sound so much as a manic state as it does a hypomanic state to me, as you appear to still be acting rationally and mostly in control. Of course, I've heard different docs give different definitions of the boundary between the two, so your mileage (and terminology) may vary. I'd have to go with what others here have said; most bipolars I've heard about require more than a single drug to reach a state which is both stable and fully functional. A lot of what you're describing could just be your "true self" coming to the fore, i.e. remission of symptoms. Being outgoing and social, for instance. But some of it is clearly an excess of energy, if you will, and that's something Lamictal can cause. It may pass in time, or given the right dosage, but it may also be the case that you'll need to add something else to the mix. If you haven't previously reacted badly to GABAergic compounds, you might want to consider trying a benzodiazepine or barbiturate for short-term management of these problems to see if they go away on their own. But that's between you and your doc. In short, have the doc check your serum levels of lamotrigine, and explain the problems. S/he will probably take the appropriate steps, whatever they might be.
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"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind. From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way. We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.
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