CLONAZEPAM vs TOPIRAMATE

Hi everyone, Hope you’re doing okay, or better. This week it’s been 4 years since my first manic episode. Since then, I haven’t relapsed. I’ll try to keep this short, but it will probably be a bit longer since I want to write everything that I would have wanted to read 4 years ago. **Here we go:** M

I’m a 33 year old female and have been diagnosed for 5 years now. I spent countless days, even years, trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I would be on google nearly every day asking questions and just thought I had bad anxiety along with my PTSD and ADHD. My head has been off since I was a

“I’m bipolar.” “I’m bipolar type 1” “I have bipolar disorder.” “I have bipolar disorder type 1.” “I have bipolar illness.” All those statements were attempts to describe myself after my diagnosis, Bipolar illness, at the ripe age of 25. The following years were defined by this list (this is not an

I just wanted somewhere to celebrate how good I'm FINALLY doing. I've been in and out of the hospital for three years now for reckless behaviour and all of the mania, and I knew that you guys would appreciate this. After 6 months of not being employed because my doctor said I just couldn't work, I'v

I hope you can understand me, since English is not my first language. So a few days ago I restarted my medication after like years of The Misery™, you know folks, being in a shitty state all day, drinking heavily and doing clonazepam to get away from the pain, losing all interest in things I used to

For context, I’m bipolar one, and had a gnarly manic and psychotic episode when I was 19 which got me hospitalized for two weeks. That’s when I got my diagnosis, and I’m now 23. I’ve now been through boatloads of therapy, have a very comfy and stable home situation, a therapist and psychiatrist I tr

I have tried Quetiapine, Olanzapine, Fluoxetine… I’m fucking done with the side effects, I gained so much weight was hungry all the time and no desire on anything like numb/zombie all the time. I’m now on 350 Venlafaxine and just quit Olanzapine and was prescribed Clonazepam 2mg and Ambien 10mg, whi

I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder almost 23 years ago. For me, the main clues that mania are approaching -- being keyed and missing sleep. Being keyed feels like I'm standing near electricity towers. I can almost feel a buzzing of current in my body and I have this overwhelming desire to be th

# General Info An Anticonvulsant may be used as a mood stabilizer to treat mood disorders characterized by intense and sustained mood shifts, typically Bipolar Disorder. Mood stabilizers suppress swings between mania and depression. The oldest and most studied mood stabilizer is [Lithium](https://ww

Hi all, I know this is a common question/topic of discussion here but I’m so frustrated and I’m looking for any help. I’m currently on 1200 lithium and 150 lamictal. Started 50 topiramate once a night 3 1/2 weeks ago, have seen no results, no change in appetite, nothing. I was diagnosed a year ago

So my husband turned 28 today. It's his first birthday since we got married, his first birthday in years when all our friends can hang out, he has the day off, we have our own place, and generally everything is good. Only problem is that this morning I woke up with my mania coming to a screeching ha

Hi everyone, if you’re reading this, thank you. From the deepest I can, I appreciate you. I ***finally*** got my diagnosis on the 30th of September after many years of confusion, seeing multiple counselors, therapists, doctors and psychiatrists. Earlier in the month I voluntarily spent a week in th

Hey all! I started noticing significant shedding of my hair about six months after upping my dose of topiramate to 75 mg/day. It seemed to get worse when I switched generic brands to Teva and right now about 2/3 of my hair is gone. Literally clumps were falling out on my floors and I was cleaning

It’s a mixture of bad choices influenced by a depression episode and reasons out of my control. I was fit last summer during a hypomanic episode then I went through a following depression episode last fall/winter and gained 30lb through binge eating. Hovered there. Then got meds adjusted to change t

As of late I have found it very hard to get out of the house. I can get up, shower, eat but when it finally comes time to leave; I just can’t. Going to the store is no problem, but getting out to go do something is seemingly impossible. I’ve recently went under some pretty drastic medication changes

I was prescribed it in the hospital because they didn’t think I was taking the lithium even though I was and they thought I was allergic to lamictal even though I’m not, and I refuse to take depakote, so they went with topamax, but I don’t hear of anyone taking topamax as a mood stabilizer. Everyone