Anti Psychotic Information

I am 68 year old female.  I took Lithium with tricyclic antidepressant from 1974 until 2004 at which time my kidneys failed to excrete the lithium and I went toxic.  I recovered and was placed on Seroquel and minimum amount of Zoloft (SSRI, I believe).  I have been taking 600 mg. of Seroquel and 50 mg. of Zoloft since 2004 and have had no problems with it.  I do sleep well on it which I definitely needed!  I do need to lose a little weight but have not gained because of this.  I am not diabetic, but I do have other conditions that are treated:  acid reflux, high cholosterol, hypertension, hypokalemia, and hypothyroidism.  The lithium, over the years, had caused goiters on my thyroid and enlarged my hyperparathyroid glands (which was causing me to produce three times as much calcium  as I needed to) and I had to have those (except one hyperparathyroid gland) removed.  I have not had Tachycardia or Tardive Dyskenesia.  I do have lab work done annually.  I do believe that Seroquel is the best medicine for bipolar.  You should start on a small dose and work your way up to a maintenance level.  You should have lab work done before you start it and after you have been on it for a while.  Good luck.

Hello,

Well, I'm not a physician but I know an extensive amount about Mental Health drugs and treatments.  I'm wondering if you are psychotic most of the time (as in schizophrenia), or if you are having a manic episode?  It makes a big difference in how the condition is treated.

In a manic or psychotic episode, essentially the brain has overheated - there's a flood of dopamine and the brain is running in a manner that it wasn't 'meant' to, which is essentially the reason for the paralyzing anxiety and trauma, and generally it gets worse before it gets better, and the patient is disconnected from (unable to percieve) reality.

If that is the case, then you basically need a temporary solution to get your brain operating in a non-psychotic state again, which requires some hetfy drugs and you feeling like crap for awhile.  I reccommend Zyprexa (Olanzapine) in that case because it is longer acting and more potent than seroquel.  You'll probably sleep for a few days straight.  However, what you need to do is resume a more mild medication once you have calmed down.  In my opinion, life sucks on anti-psychotics.  I wasted a year and a half of mine taking them, until I discovered that I actually didn't NEED them, and taking the minimum amount of medication and working on my thought processes as far as anxiety helped immeasurably.

The key is to treat the acute condition (psychosis), then figure out a long term solution.

Given all of that, if you can 'break' the episode with a week or so of heavy meds like Olanzapine (even thorozine can be effective), I know of a few good drugs that are far milder and can greatly improve anxiety symtoms:

Trazodone (sedating, but has anti-depressive and anti-anxiety properties and few side effects - it's mild)

Vistaril (Hydroxyzine) - similar to plain benedryl but has some good sleep promoting and anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) qualities

Propranolol (Inderall) - depending on your blood pressure (it tends to run high in people with anxiety) this is another mild drug that actually helps block adrenaline and other stimulants, and can help immeasurably with anxiety without clouding your mind or interacting with other meds too bad.

I just wanted to give you my advice and some options, hopefully some encouragement.  I tend to always advise the minimal amount of medication you can get away with (once you are stable)  Life's too short to spend it overly sedated and in a fog, if there's any way you can remain stable on less mind-dulling meds.

I say avoid anti-depressants (SSRIs) like the plague.  They can make you miserable.