Rapid mood swings symptoms and conditions

Hi. I went on Lamictal April 2007 after being diagnosed w/ BiPolar. The key issue that brought me to the psychiatrist to begin with was acute depression following a divorce, move cross country, losing my job and my only son going off to college. All the big stress factors - short of death in family. Nonetheless, I was nervous that one year after all these crises that I was, if anything, feeling worse. I had been able to handle all the changes during them, but now that they were over all I wanted to do was sleep all day.... Anyway, I had been on Paxil for years re anxiety, and my psychiatrist decided to keep my on the Paxil till I tolerated the Lamictal, then get me off the Paxil..... Well, the 20 mg of Paxil and the 100 mg of Lamictal worked great, I thought; the Lamictal really raised the bottom.... BUT, apparently Paxil fuels mania, so after a few months, I was taken off the Paxil completely and my Lamictal went up to 200 mg. Almost IMMEDIATELY upon going to 200 mg Lamictal my ankles / feet / legs got enormously swollen. Plus, I noticed that my hair started to fall out // thin out.... Plus -- and I don't know if this is the Lamictal or the absence of the Paxil, but I sob uncontrollably almost 24/7. The sobbing and anxiety and sense of dread and sadnessness has persisted even when the Lamictal was dropped to 100 mg and the shrink added first Clonazepam .5 mg, then when that wasn't calming me, changed me to 1mg Xanax -- each as needed. The Xanax isn't helping me either, and now I also feel paranoid. So, in short: Lamictal at 200 mg makes my feet / ankles / legs swell or suffer edema; Lamcital as low as 100 mg makes my hair thin out; and either the Lamictal or the loss of the Paxil or these anti-anxieity meds (Clonazepam or Xanax) are making me paranoid, profoundly sad and depressed, panicked, anxious, stressed out and, most urgently, make me sob uncontrollably 24/7... My shrink says that we should use anti-depressants with bipolar, and that Paxil fuels the mania, but I tell you, I'd rather be manic and screaming at everyone than so depressed that I'm fearful and sobbing constantly.... Any answers out there: Any anti-depressants for your bipolar?

I've been on 160 mg at night for most of this year. When my doctor switched me to a different anti-psychotic (Invega), I started having suicidal thoughts, so I went back on Geodon. I feel like I am happier and starting to do more things, but I have horrible physical side effects like brain zaps, energy running through my face and teeth, pins and needles in my eyes and on the tip of my tongue...It also gives me horrible insomnia. I have to take 25 mg of Ambien and 6 mg of Ativan at night just to get to bed! and then it makes me tired in the morning, so I take Provigil to stay awake during the day. I am confused as to what to do because I feel more sane and am becoming less preoccupied with myself daily, but these physical sensations are freaking me out!

I switched my birth control from the pill to nuvaring a little over five months ago. I am a graduate student/research assistant and have been in a great relationship for 3 years. I know myself and I know my body, SOMETHING WAS SEVERELY WRONG. I knew there was something happening inside me. I have been off nuvaring for almost two weeks and I feel significantly better. These were my symptoms:

PHYSICAL:
-severe leg pains
-pains in my arms
-chest pains
-shortness of breath
-headaches
-blurred vision
-weight gain
-rapid heart beat

EMOTIONAL:
-depression
-anxiety
-feeling of hopelessness
-easily discouraged
-rapid mood swings
-withdrawl from talking to people
-feeling like a burden to others
-paranoia

I had never felt like this before, and I thought I was going crazy. I could not explain what was happening. If you feel any of these symptoms, talk to your doctor immediately! Physical symtoms could be signs of blood clots, which can result in death. And even more painful were the emotional side effects. If you are feeling any thing like this please talk to someone or even email me! Nothing will happen if you take the ring out early, but definitely consult a doctor. If you do take the ring out, please be safe and use a condom. You are not alone! Everyone's body is different and sometimes we need to listen to what our bodies are trying to tell us.

I first used the nuva ring in the summer of 2005. I was in a terrible relationship with an alcoholic and not living a very healthy lifestyle. I had good reasons to be depressed and did not link my emotional intensity to my new birth control. I remember, shortly after starting the nuva ring, my depression and helplessness intensified to the point of becoming suicidal. I did not even want to get out of bed and sometimes did not. Then, by some miracle or grace of God, I had a great job offer that took me to a new city. I finally broke from my relationship and bad habits and felt positive I was out of the funk I had been in. However, I often speculated that the nuva ring had something to do with my intense sadness.

In my new life I started dating a wonderful guy and have a great new career. About September 2006 I came off the nuva ring and have been using the rhythm method. We are getting married in May 2008 and my doctor recently put me back on bc so I won't end up huge and pregnant at my wedding. It has been 2 weeks back on the nuva ring, after one year of being off, and I am extremely depressed, full of anger, rapid mood swings (within the hour), crying uncontrollably, deep sadness and loneliness, and feelings of suicide. All in two weeks. Does that sound like a woman who is getting married and has a good career? NO!!!! I just canceled appointments at work and am jeopardizing my job because I feel so out of control. I don't want clients to vibe off of my freak-out, psycho mode. And, although my fiance and I are experiencing typical stress, none of my feelings are being taken serious by him because my behavior is so awful.

Two weeks ago everything in my life was wonderful. Now, it is un-threading. The power of these hormones is too much to handle. When I experience depression with out the nuva ring, I do a great job of countering out my depression with my cognitive behavioral skills. But, on the nuva ring, I feel powerless to control my depression. I am going right now to take out this ring. I do feel like I pushed through the depression the first time. But I had all of these positive things thrown my way. I don't have time for this damaging interference in my life. I'd rather have a baby! So, if you are prone to depression, or depression runs in your family, I would stay far away from the nuva ring. The company who manufactures the nuva ring should conduct more studies about the affects in patients prone to depression. My thoughts of suicide are so casual and vivid I am scared. I am scared a sweet young woman is going to kill herself if they are not educated that the severity of their depression is due to their birth control!

I really, really regret ever having started Lamictal to begin with. Even though lamictal has greatly helped me with my social anxiety/ocd/gad/whatever it is I have (lol), it has caused too many damn side effects.

I started taking it sometime July and now it's September 21st, so it's been in my system for a couple of months now. When I first started on the starter pack, the 25 mg didn't have any effect on me- and then it started making me really, really anxious. I'd have super big physiological reactions to stress, but then I was advised to take it at night. Of course that started insomnia, and when I increased it to 50 mg I was really sensitive to light. It also caused my eyes to twitch and not stay closed when I tried to sleep- which was really, really annoying.

When I was first doing the 100 mg, at one point I became manic (I couldn't stop talking, I had racing thoughts, energetic- felt like I was on top of the world) and then I crashed. It was really hard going from being manic to really depressed, but that's the shit that happens on lamictal lol.(for me at least)

Anyways, so finally the 100 mg started to level me out- but I still have the rapid mood swings. I also feel incredibly spacey all the time and have trouble focusing/concentrating. Oh yeah, and my short term memory is shot. And my libido- which is really important to me. I hate having freakin' vaginal dryness and not really wanting sex- so irksome.

My advice to anyone reading this: don't ever try lamictal- it's not worth it.

Hello Everyone, My name is chere' and i have been taking Yasmin for 5 months now and what i thought would be a good decition to take the pill considering that i'm older, would effect my life my health and my personality. Taking the pill i've noticed alote of change in my body and what i thought would be normal side effects turned out to be everyday. when taking the pill i had nausea, rapid mood swings, loss of appetite, losing wieght, anxiety attacks and just over whelming depression. i thought i was crazy. i had about 4 brake downs in the past month to where i felt like i couldnt control it. I never ever had an anxiety attack until i took the pill and every morning i feel nauseated, and had a hard time gaining appetite. what made me get off the pill was Rapid mood swings and my heart. hopefully now i will be me again :) i found the root of the problem and i feel sooooooooooo realived that i wasnt crazy.

Hello Everyone! I am so happy that I found this site. I was considering getting off yasmin, for about 2 months, but my fiance begged me not to. I used to have a very high metabolism. I was actually struggling to maintain my weight, but now, after gaining about 25 pounds over the course of 2 years, I decided that it could be related to Yasmin. I was happy with my new curves, but sadly, they just keep growing. I have also been prone to depression, which I link to my wonder pill. I have been off for about 2 weeks and have never felt better. I've read that many of you are having problems with your heart beats, and honestly, it scares me to death. I've experience leg cramps, which subsided after about 1 1/2 years on the pill, weight gain, increased acne, and rapid mood swings, which doubled during the week leading to my period. I also used to get pains during that week, after sexual intercourse, that is when I was in the mood, which was never. As long as I didn't climax, I would have no pain, but who wants to have sex when you are huddled over in pain, on the toilet, and throwing up. It felt like I was in labor. I hated having sex. Every time I enjoyed it, I was punished, by my own body. I told my OB/GYN about this and he said that he had never heard of that reaction during intercourse. He said that I could be allergic to my fiance's sperm. What is that? It must have been my sperm, because he had no issues climaxing. I thought that there was something mentally wrong with me, but I guess not, right? And, as an addition to my problems, as if there was not enough, I went to my Gynecologist about a year after I started takin Yasmin, and I was surprised to to find that I had, within 1 year of a healthy pap, been diagnosed with cervical displasia, which was only 1 stage away from full blown cervical cancer, yeah for me! I have never had any issues with my paps. I have a 5 year old daughter and was on a low dose hormone pill, until I stopped nursing. I had break through bledding, so they recommended Yasim, because, as I understaood, it was the Fort Knox, of all BC's. Funny, Right? 2 weeks post yasmin, I felt an increase in my libido, and I fell less puffy, if you know what I mean. I know that I am probably missing something, but these are the most detrimental issues. If anyone has had an issue with pain and nausea related to climaxing, please let me know, and please, everyone reading this, stay away from Yasmin. I have a friend that just starting taking it, and I plan on having her read all of the posts on this site, so keep them coming.
Thanks,
Lizzibug

I repeat what I've seen here in so many posts. I can't believe it took so long, how did I not realize, my poor child has suffered etc... etc... His side effects were: restless sleep, night mares, NEVER slept through the night. Less and less willing to go to bed at all. Combative, aggressive, began biting, short tempered. Extreme and rapid mood swings, physical, throwing toys and household items. Disinterested in socializing with other children, afraid to be with anyone other than immediately family. Poor self image ("I'm a bad boy"). Plus others.
I have a similar story to many. My 3 year old has been on Singulair for over a year. He had sleep disturbances early on, but the doctor changed the time to administer the dose and it improved... at first. The unfortunate thing I have realized with this medication is that the side effects are gradual and varied. This makes it difficult to make a connection especially in small children. It wasn't until he had a frightening 4 hour night terror episode last week that something clicked, I did a web search, found this website and realized it was probably the singulair. I stopped giving it to him immediately. Within days his behavior improved. Within 2 nights he began sleeping through the night, his personality is completely opposite of what I've dealt with for the last year. He is evolving each day and while I feel guilty for not catching it sooner, I am so elated to watch him shine. I thank all of you for sharing this information, without it I may not have yet realized that my son was suffering.

I contacted the company and they said that all these things have been reported "after marketing" what this means to me is that salespeople can market this to the medical community and not mention theses side effects because they did not occur (or were not documented) during the trial period. I suggest that you share your story with your friends and get the word out. If this medication works for a patient that's great, but I think patients/consumers have the right to know what they may be getting themselves into.