What's the best medication/treatment for Bi-Polar/Mania?

You need a thorough evaluation by a board certified psychopharmacologist working in tandem with your psychotherapist to design a treatment modality that is correct for you. There are no valid generalities in this scenario.

There is no one best medication. There are between a dozen and two dozen medications used for bipolar, and no one knows which ones will work with any given person until they try them. I know people who have gone through a dozen and still haven’t found anything that works. Personally, I went through three. I’m still on two.

Depends on you, as an individual. Everyone reacts differently to different meds.

It changes with everyone. Some people need to be brought down with heavy duty anti psychotics like Zyprexa. Others can be controlled with lithium. It is a blend of medications you and your doctor have to work together with to find the right combination that works for you.
It is also such a difficult illness that once you think you get things under control, the current regime stops working and you have to try again to figure out what will work. You can help make things easier by practicing as good of sleep hygine as you can, and eating a healthy diet and getting regular exercise.

This is a question you should be asking a medical professional.

Well sometimes people who have this condition know things. Uh, don’t assume they haven’t, what like I have this diagnosis and I go running to fluther before a doctor. Looking for new info not a flair for the obvious

[Mod says:] removed blank post

Everyone has a different reaction to different medications.
I stayed on Lithium and Lamictal for six months, which was my goal. seems short, but not to someone who is constantly taking themselves off meds
One of them ruined my memory, and made my ability to read completely destroyed. It took a while to build it back up.
I’ve also tried Zyprexa, which was scary. It made me sleep all day and night, I could not even function.
Seroquel was nice. If I ever have another episode, I may go back on that one. It definitely made me very tired, so I took it at night.

I think those heavy duty drugs like Zyprexa and Seroquel should be used for crisis management. My son turned into a zombie on them. They were good to avert the crisis, but I was glad when I saw a glimmer of his personality come back when he got off of them.

@casheroo – did you know they used to put lithium in 7-up?!?! (in the 30s)

Exercise has been shown to be just as effective as drugs in treating bi-polar and depression. link and link

@bumwithablackberry: People frequently come to Fluther for medical advice before they’ve gone to a doctor, and those that have gone to doctors tend to phrase the questions differently.

But just in the interests of openness, I’ll ask directly: Have you seen a doctor about your question?

A doctor isn’t Fluther.com your assuming the question pertains to me, aren’t you.

@casheroo I had a similar experience with lithium. Side effects were annoying. Memory loss. Shaking hands. Inability to read books or to concentrate for more than a few minutes. Inability to plan or see anything through.

As I got better, my first priority was to get off lithium as soon as I could. I’ve been off for five or six months now, and am still doing pretty well, I think. But I’m taking nothing for granted. Still, when I start to feel depression coming back, I am really motivated to fight it off on my own, because I really don’t want to have to take Lithium again.

@daloon I took it for six months, I think to prove to everyone I was getting better…I should have came off sooner. I did still struggle with anxiety, but coming off Lithium was the best thing I did. I had all those side effects as well, and it was devastating :( They do go away, but the reading/concentration takes a lot of time. It’s been since April 2006, and I do still feel my memory has been affected.

@casheroo yikes! still, so these meds permanently dulled your noggin, crap. See I have HepC and I get Mania type symptoms, as a symptom of HepC, confustion, panic. I was wondering if I should take something for these, but I’m thinking maybe no. Might be overkill, my doctor is kinda neutral, because I start HepC treatment soon, which will ultimately solve the problem, hopefully. For now I get by on a chill pill, as needed, so I don’t have to take that often. Sweet, Thank you all that gave real answers this has been helpful.

There really is no best treatment. I had to try a bunch of different things to find the best combination that works for me.

@casheroo Ack! Don’t tell me that. I came off around half a year ago, and I’m still feeling like my memory isn’t what it used to be. It would be scary if this lasts for many more years. Although, I’m also at an age where this happens to a lot of people, anyway. So I might be blaming the lithium for something that has another cause.

In any case, I’ve been able to read a few novels in the last couple of months. That’s a good sign. Really, the only remaining symptom or side effect is the memory issues.

I’m tired of not being able to read.