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Originally Posted by Descartes
tentatively diagnosed as ultra-rapid-cycling bipolar. She cycles between euphoric episodes that escalate into anxiety and finally full-blown panic attacks, and episodes of what she calls "depression." The reason I put it in quotes is not that it's not severe--it's plenty severe--but that she tells me "I was depressed for 45 minutes today" or sometimes even "in small spurts of ten seconds." So it's not what most people mean by "depression." Or maybe it is, I don't know. She cycles through these states all within the same day.
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Hi, Abby,
She cannot go off Celexa cold turkey. That withdrawal is awful. How long ago did she stop it? Did the psychaitrist tell her to do or did she go off it by herself? Perhaps the pharmacist or psychiatrist would tell her to get back on a small dose of it.
How long has see been on the Lithium? It is good that it has helped with the panic attacks but it does not seem to be helping with the cyclilng.
The symptoms and the diagnosis sounds about right. But she should not have been on anti-depresant and she might need to be on a different mood stabilizer.
The short answer to your question about the withdrawl effects is that there is not much she can do. At one point, some psychiatrists would prescribe Prozac because it is longer acting. I do not know if that worked for everyone or if the pdocs (psyhciatrists) are still doing that. She really needs to get in touch with her pdoc and stay in touch.
M