An Easy Recipe

There is no reason to panic if you have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, as there are many traditional and new bipolar disorder medications available to assist you with the bipolar condition. Whether you are in the manic or depressive phase, antidepressants, antipsychotics and mood stabilizers helps return your condition to normal and prevents you from returning to either phases.

Alternative treatments for bipolar disorder

Further to using bipolar medications, it is useful to undergo therapy and educate yourself about bipolar disorder to develop a self understanding about your condition and limits. This will help you tell the doctor if the bipolar medication you are on has quit working or is not working effectively; ultimately to help you cope with lifes stresses and therefore be less worried about the symptoms recurring.

Some of the most common bipolar medications

Mood stabilizers

Mood stabilizers help you handle mania and depression phases. They are generally prescribed to anyone who is diagnosed for the first time to control manic and/ or depressive phases and stay on them for long term stabilization. These drugs can prevent mood cycling or make them less severe if they do happen.

Commonly prescribed mood stabilizers are valproic acid and lithium. Lithium is recommended for individuals who have episodes of euphoric mania, while valproic is often the drug of choice for rapid cycling or mixed episodes.

Antidepressants

Individuals who spend far more time in their depressive phases would find antidepressant drugs a lot more useful than if they were in their manic phases. Having said this there is some recent concern that they may not be effective and may activate episodes of mania, making bipolar disorder worse over the long term. For this reason if you are already on a mood stabilizer there is not likely a need for antidepressants; however it is important to check with your health practitioner to make sure. It may be possible that your health care practitioner would prescribe an antidepressant for you only for the very short term to help you cope with a severe depressive phase. As soon as the phase subsides they would advise you to discontinue with antidepressants and continue with mood stabilizers.

Anti psychotic drugs

Older prescriptions are antipsychotic drugs such as Haldol or Thorazine. These have been prescribed and are effective in the treatment of bipolar disorder, however long term use can cause permanent movement disorder with involuntary tics called tardive dyskinesia.

This is the reason why, so called atypical antipsychotics are preferred; these are Zyprexa, Risperdal and Seroquel, among many others. These may also be used for bipolar depression.

Alternative bipolar disorder medications

Benzodiazepines

The average mood stabilizer and antidepressant medication often takes several weeks to work. However during the short term Benzopdiazepiness can be used to help with anxiety, agitation or sleeplessness while the mood stabilizers take effect. Some examples of these are Klonopin and Xanax. Since they are so hi highly addictive they should only be used in the short term.

Calcium channel blockers

These are typically used for disorders like high blood pressure, but they can also be used in the event you can’t tolerate lithium or other mood stabilizers. They have fewer side effects than do traditional mood stabilizers, but they are also less effective.

Thyroid medication

Those with bipolar disorder often also have problems with their thyroid. Thyroid medication can be added to the drug regimen to correct this situation. Lithium can also cause low thyroid levels, which is another reason thyroid medication may be needed.

In conclusion

Always bear in mind that no medication and therapy will be effective for you unless you adhere to the doctors orders. Further to this it may take some time and adjustments to find the right protocol for you. It is always wise to stay on your medication and go to your therapy sessions as directed by your doctor to stay well. Should you have trouble with medications never go off them without consulting with your doctor. They should be able to make adjustments so that you feel well.