More change

I saw my family doctor yesterday and my hypothyroidism has worsened. Plus I needed real treatment for the constipation which has made my life miserable since starting Seroquel. So I once again have revisions.

Current meds:
Depakote 3000 mg
Seroquel 650 mg
Lithobid 300 mg
Atarax 30 mg bedtime, 10 mg twice daily
Ativan PRN
Imipramine 50 mg
Colace 400 mg
Miralax
B vitamin complex with Vit. C and zinc
selenium
Synthroid 88 mcg MWF, 100 mcg other days

Plus dried fruit daily and of course lots of water, which is just a part of my life. I would drink lots of water even if I weren't trying because of all these meds. Who knew fruit could be a prescribed treatment?:)

Another month, another change

Due to lingering depression and Seroquel not filling the gap, I'm going back on my past antidepressant, imipramine. I'm also taking a larger dose of Colace. In 2 weeks, after the imipramine is back to its old level we'll re-evaluate.

Current med list:

• Seroquel 650 mg
• Depakote ER 3000 mg
• Imipramine 25 mg, to go up to 50 mg
• Atarax 30 mg bedtime, 10 mg during day for anxiety
• Ativan .5 mg PRN
• Synthroid 88 mcg
• Lithium 300 mg
• B complex stress version (includes Vit. C and Zinc)
• Selenium
• Colace 150 mg (may increase to 200 mg)
• Provigil ON HOLD

Yikes, that thing is long.

As always, refer to initial post for my med history.

Tongue Thrusting

In response to anonymous, who wrote "Hi, Read from your list that you have tongue thrusting from taking one of the med in 2004. How long does it take for you to recover from the tongue thrusting? would like to know as my friend is suffering tongue thrusting from a medicine side effect":



your friend needs to talk to his/her doctor soon. This needs stopped or it can be the beginning of a more permanent issue. There are several bad things that can occur. At best your friend is suffering when there are treatments that can be tried. At worst these things can progress and he/she could face some scary medical stuff. Rare, but I did see one guy with it. I believe there are meds that can help; in my case I went off the culprit because I was doing better anyway. It did go away but it took time. The worst was over pretty quickly, as I recall. But then the rest gradually went away.

I wish I could remember more specifically, but it was many meds and several years ago....

Monthly update

I'm still increasing my Seroquel dose. My doctor would like to see it level off by 600 mg/night, but is willing to go up. I'm currently at 400 mg. I need to increase that, probably tomorrow. I'm off imipramine totally.

I added OTC Xantc due to heartburn from the Seroquel and am taking a few days worth of hydrochlorothiazide, a diuretic, to try to get my legs back down to human size. They are not that big in relation to a few years ago, but they are uncomfortable. Even my arms have enough fluid in them pushing down causes a dent. This is important because as long as I'm this swollen I'm at risk for hypertension. I really don't wnat to take meds for that again.

So hopefully that's all the major stuff for a while.

Slight Change

It feels like everything in the world has changed, but really I just keep increasing the dose of the Seroquel. 250 mgs and counting.

Also, I no longer take imipramine. I'm not sure how I feel about that because I was sort of psychologically dependent on it (it worked! For a long time!) but the time had come to not risk it causing mania.

Otherwise, see the last entry.

Changes

It's been a long time (for me) since I started a new med. Over the last few weeks mania grew and grew and grew. We tried using a quick hit of low-dose Risperdal, but it was too low-dose and I started having a reaction to it so the dose couldn't be increased. Too bad; I think 1 mg would have done it.

I am now on Seroquel. I'm off work for a while to adjust. I have a lot of leniency in how to get to the desired dosing, which helps. I am currently planning to stay at 100 mg at bedtime for a few days to see what happens as my body adjusts, then probably I'll add an am dose. Ultimately we're going to try to switch some of what my other meds do to Seroquel. So far, so good (day 2).

Current meds:
Seroquel 100 mg bedtime
Depakote ER 3000 mg bedtime (5 whole pills, one cut to allow immediate release). Level 127
Lithobid 300 mg bedtime
Ativan PRN (not taken often but have used .5 at bedtime some lately)
Atarax 10 mg BID, 20 mg bedtime
Synthroid 88 mcg (all messed up because I've slept through doses)
Provigil (firmly on hold until not manic)
Imipramine 25 mg
Zinc
Vitamin B
Selenium

Meds on the move

It's been a while since I've changed things. The only change in recent months was cutting a Depakote ER in half so it was immediate release so that I wasn't so sleepy. But now I'm manic and things are moving fast.

First, I tried Risperdal yet again. We tried the lowest possible dose, .25 mg. It wasn't enough to help, but it did start to have its usual effect and my legs are swollen. So that's done.

Now I'm on even less than the miniscule amount of antidepressant I usually take, and will probably start something else icky Saturday. Can't wait to see what it does to me.