BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Mental Health Bipolar - fatigue, meds, weight - vicious cycle

Hi everyone! I've just found this forum so I hope no one minds me barging in everywhere.

It took me years to find the right doc who could find the right combo of drugs for me (bipolar). I take 225 mg of Effexor, plus 100 mg of Lamictal. Both those drugs have been a godsend for me. I know lots of people are kind of scared of Effexor - there's a lot of scary stuff out there on the web - but I think it's a great med. I also take Seroquel (100 mg) at night to sleep, but it gives me horrible muscle twitches in the first hour or so, so I take 1/8 mg of Xanax with it, which puts me to sleep right away so I don't feel the twitches. Sometimes I take the Seroquel about an hour before I plan to go to bed, and just stay awake and deal with the twitches, but then I think, why should I torture myself when I can take the Xanax? An eighth of a milligram is a pretty darn small dose. I've been taking this combination for years and years now and have not become addicted to the Xanax, so I think it's okay.

None of these things have caused weight gain, but I think that's because of the Effexor, which often causes weight loss. I think that that may cancel out the weight-gain effect of the other drugs.

I still get lethargic and sometimes take naps, but I plan them so that in a certain amount of time, I have to do something - go to the post office before it closes, for instance. Then I can't just stay in bed for hours.

another thing - be kind to yourself. Yeah, my house isn't as neat as it should be. Yeah, I get really behind on laundry. Yup, I still have my Xmas tree up because I haven't gotten around to taking it down. But that's okay. it's a cliche, but really - don't sweat the small stuff. Give yourself permission to take care of yourself.