resistant to medication--what to do?

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-28-1999
resistant to medication--what to do?
3
Sat, 10-15-2005 - 4:33pm

Hi everyone:

I am usually on the "families of mental illness" board, but I thought I'd try here to see if anyone had any ideas.

My DH has bipolar II which is apparently resistant to medication. His nurse prac. keeps increasing the dose and she said that his lithium levels are going down. She doesn't understand it. He is almost at the max. dose. I don't know what to think if that doesn't work. I have a hard time keeping track of his meds now. I know he has Paxil also and I think Wellbutrin. He has basically tried every kind of anti-depressant alone or in combination and nothing really works all the way, although it's better than if he isn't on the meds.

It makes me nervous to hear him say he feels very depressed. what else is there? He says he would even be willing to try ECT although I don't know if insurance would pay for it.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-01-2004
Sun, 10-16-2005 - 1:59pm

Welcome to the board!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Mon, 10-17-2005 - 7:40am

Hello and welcome! I'm Keli and I'm the one who is also pretty resistant to meds. I've been on the medication roller coaster for about four years now, give or take. I've been on just about every single med there is for Bipolar, depression and anxiety...along with most of the anti-psychotic meds out there thrown in as well. Now, I hesitate to describe my situation to you, for fear of discouraging you, because I have had some luck with SOME of the meds for some of the time. Please DO NOT look at my situation as normal, it is NOT at all. I also have other dx's that tend to throw off my meds at times.

When I was first put on Lithium, it was WONDERFUL and worked well. Then I got toxic on too high of a dose (1200 mgs) and had to go down to 900 mgs and it didn't work as well, but still did the job on my manics...didn't work well at all on the depressions. I was also on Cymbalta at the time and it worked really well. I am very hyper-sensitive to anti depressants, meaning they will cause me to cycle at the drop of a hat and was taken off them (unnecessarily, as I ALWAYS cycle) and was thrown into one of the worst depressions of my life. It lasted about 2 and a half months. I was literally begging for ECT. I know others who have had ECT personnally. Half of them, it worked for, but they had major memory loss and lessened cognitive ability. The other, it just didn't work AND they had the memory thing, etc. So, my pdoc said NO, only as a very last resort. I thought it WAS time for last resort. I finally begged enough and got low enough that she put me back on a low dose of Prozac. Its worked on my major depression. I am now on a major cocktail of meds:

Lamictal (50 mgs, but titrating up to 200 mgs)
Prozac (20 mgs)
Risperdal (1 mg anti-psychotic - really really helps a LOT)
Topamax (mood stabilizer 200 mgs)
Ativan (1 mg 2-3x a day anti-anxiety)

The different meds all work in different ways, but together, they help keep me together basically. This cocktail is new, about a month on so far, and its working pretty well. Have had some minor cycling, but nothing major. The depression is NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING like it was before and I am so thankful for that. I could NOT handle that one again.

Talk to your nurse practitioner, I'm assuming its a psych NP, about getting on some different meds. Your dh shouldn't be suffering like he is. It does take a long time to regulate on psych meds with BP, but he still should NOT have to suffer with the Depression. I've learned, the hard way sometimes, that YOU HAVE TO BE VERY VERY VERY FIRM WITH THE PDOCS/PNURSES about your meds and what you will and will not take.

But its your life, and your QUALITY of life and you don't have to suffer. Please learn from what I've gone through.

I hope you feel comfortable enough to continue to post here. We'd love to have you and we can totally relate to what your DH is going through and also to what YOU ARE GOING THROUGH because I know what my family and dh and son have gone through. We see it from all sides, ours and theirs.

I know its not easy. For you, but especially for your dh.

Best of Luck.

Love and Hugs,

Keli

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Mon, 10-17-2005 - 3:15pm
bumping back up