New to BP for myself, but mom to bp kid

Needless to say this came as a reality check and has given me some insight. I have origionally been dx with cyclothymia, but after some periods of mania, more mild, I think we are looking more at BP. Problems I am having are mixed states, irritability where I am snapping my kids head off for no reason. Very irritable. Also spending more than I should and on a fitness kick. On Abilify 10 mg, Effexor 75 mg, Klonopin 1 mg, Ambien 10 mg Lamictal 450 mg. Have a pdoc appt on the first. Windering if Abilify is going to be enough for me. I need to be careful as I have high cholesterol and IBS. Also having many feelings of anxiety. Any advise is welcom

Sorry I don't have any advice about the Abilify but I do have one for snapping at the kids. I learned this trick from someone tat posted here ( I forget who) but it really works.
I have an ADHD son who may be bipolar instead and find myself snapping at him often. (I'm BP1) Now I wear a rubber band on my wrist and snap it whenever I snap at him to remind me how much my words hurt. I tell him I'm sorry for snapping and we talk things out.
I haven't been able to catch myself before I snap at him very often but at least I'm working on it.

If you are dealing with BP--from your description it sounds like BP II rather than BPone, I would really ask your pdoc( psychiatrist) about the Effexor. Sometimes it aggravates symptoms, its close cousin Cymbalta made my BPII worse.

Note: ASK your pdoc, DO NOT stop taking Effexor without his/her say so--you will need to be weaned off of it slowly.

And welcome to the forum--posting here has really helped me and I hope it helps you too.

I find it odd that you're on such a high dose of Lamictal combined with Effexor. Lamictal is usually used for Bipolar depression. Like Lizabeth said, Effexor can make symptoms worse.

I have been on Effexor for years and honestly, it saved my life. The Lamictal dose, I am not sure why it is this high as it has been years as well. I was on 225 mg of Effexor and we started dropping it down when I was getting Manic. I was very irritable on Friday and snapping everyones head off. I know that Abilify can take time to get the full effect. Effexor is such a pain to go on and off bc you feel so ill. I am waking really early the past two days. I hate it. Six hours is not enough for me.

Brandon, my son, takes Lithium, Lamictal and Risperdal and has acheived great stability for the fist time in years. He is on 100 mg BID of Lamictal, Eskalith 1350 am and 900 pm, which I know is a huige dose, but that is the only dose that brings him to theraputic, in fact I think his level has dropped again. I refeuse to go on Risperdal due to my weight and high cholesterol. Brandon already has high cholesterol from it. I am debating Lithium for myself as his combo would probably work for me, but that is such a strong med with many side effects. Brandon fortunately can handle it, I had a reaction from Seroquel 25 mg and Brandon did ok on 350 so I am cautious

I don't think you can base what meds will work for you by going from what works for your son. Just the hormonal and age difference will really make large differences in the meds. I know when I (finally) thank heavens, got post-menopause, a lot of my symptoms changed and if I hadn't had a misdiagnosis of Major Depression and the associated difficulties of getting off of Cymbalta and getting on to mood stabelizers (still ongoing) I would be much easier to medicate without the hormones sticking their noses into it.

There have not been nearly enough studies done on how the female cycle effects medications but I really think most good psychiatrists will admitt that it does---and thats something your son's pdoc does not have to deal with.

Who was prescribing your meds anyway? You say you have a pdoc appointment on the first but it sounds like a first appointment. The thing you will want to watch is that they explain what each med is for and what to watch for with it. You probably already do this for your son but remember you have to do it for yourself too---and again, you will be different from your son.

Let us know how things go for you, I know from my own experience a change in diagnosis is not fun to live with.