# Struggles and Support > Medication >  >  Personality disorders and Medications, which ones are good and which ones are not?

## PurpleRose

*Which ones are best to steer clear of?
Which ones are best to take?
Which ones have you tried?*

this is for people with a diagnosed condition of either a personality disorder, schizophrenia or bipolar as its all very similar
remember avoid ant personality disorder is an extreme form of social anxiety 

Apparently people with *BPD* (borderline personality disorder) tend to become addicted to medications that treat short term anxiety very quickly and yeah I have had issues with addiction especially to meds that work

the thing is, long term non addictive medications for anxiety and insomnia caused by racing thoughts and erratic behavior do not tend to work for me, instead I tend to get the nasty side effect's without the benefit for example
I was put on a list of anti-psychotics for BPD and surprise they did not work 

Halperidol, gave me terrible Ataxia and made my skin feel it was crawling
Risperidone, did nothing but make me unable to step out into the sunlight and it made me hallucinate and eat
Seroquel, yeah they worked at first but knocked me out cold but then they stopped knocking me out and making me sleep and just gave me dry mouth and weight gain, so much weight gain  ::(: 

So far the only long term antidepressant that has worked for me is the SNRI Effexor in a high dose as a dose below 300mg has me jumping up and down with anxiety and shaking profuslouly 
They were briliant for the first year as i lost tons of weight and kept it off for three years until something circumstantial happened but over all they do not cause intense hunger. 

So for me the only things that work and work well are BENZO's 
diazepam is not strong enough
Klonopin was on and off but not very effective for me long term and the withdrawals were a living hell
Lorazepam, the best, always have been and i think they always will be

so yeah its lorazepam, zopiclone and effexor that helps me right now

what about you???

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## Equinox

According to what I've seen *Abilify, Lamictal* and *Topamax* show good efficacy in treating borderline personality disorder.

"When prescribed at lower doses than usual, atypical antipsychotics have been found to be quite useful in the treatment of many patients with borderline disorder. This class of medications is the most rational starting point for pharmacotherapy in patients with borderline disorder who have cognitive-perceptual symptoms such as a suspiciousness, paranoia, split (all-or-nothing) thinking, and dissociative episodes. The size of these therapeutic effects are often moderate to large. Studies suggest that *Abilify* has the largest effect size in this class, and that the effects are sustained over an extended period of time"

"Another class of medications, referred to as mood stabilizers, has been shown to significantly reduce certain symptoms in patients with borderline disorder. These symptoms include impulsivity, anger, anxiety, depressed mood, and general level of functioning. The size of these therapeutic effects range from moderate to very large.
Mood stabilizers do not reduce suspiciousness, split-thinking, dissociative episodes and paranoia in borderline disorder. When these symptoms persist after others improve with mood stabilizers, the addition of an antipsychotic agent is indicated.
The most commonly used and effective mood stabilizers for borderline disorder are *topiramate (Topamax) and lamotrigine (Lamictal)*. These medications are also referred to as antiepileptic drugs because they are commonly used for people suffering from partial complex seizure disorder. Partial complex seizure disorder has its origin in the temporal lobes of the brain, a brain region important in the generation of emotions and control of impulsive behavior."

http://www.bpddemystified.com/treatments/medication/

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## Coffee

*lamictal* really, really helped me with BPD. the difference in my behaviour is significant. i might just be lucky.

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## Misssy

I've heard good things about abilify from a relative though I have not taken it myself.

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## teenie

Yay, I am taking Abilify and Trileptal. I think that is close enough. Lamictal does as good a job as Trileptal I think. I also take Welbutrin XL. My mood has improved so much.

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## PurpleRose

> *lamictal* really, really helped me with BPD. the difference in my behaviour is significant. i might just be lucky.



Thanks coffee, I feel it would benefit me greatly, but they are very weary of prescribing it due to the minimal risk of it causing a rash, i mean the percentage of it happening is so tiny I wish they would let me try it out, because it can be used alongside Effexor and is not addictive. Its also not a weight gainer I read, have u found it weight neutral?? Ablifiy is a weight gain med though and I dunno if i want to go down that road yet again, they also wont give it to me, as its just been approved for use of bipolar and other disorders in NZ as of 2010 even though I am now in the UK, I would need to see a psychiatrist to get any form of mood stabilizer, that is what I was told by the doctors here In surrey.

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## Coffee

> Thanks coffee, I feel it would benefit me greatly, but they are very weary of prescribing it due to the minimal risk of it causing a rash, i mean the percentage of it happening is so tiny I wish they would let me try it out, because it can be used alongside Effexor and is not addictive. Its also not a weight gainer I read, have u found it weight neutral?? Ablifiy is a weight gain med though and I dunno if i want to go down that road yet again, they also wont give it to me, as its just been approved for use of bipolar and other disorders in NZ as of 2010 even though I am now in the UK, I would need to see a psychiatrist to get any form of mood stabilizer, that is what I was told by the doctors here In surrey.



You're right that the likelihood of you developing a rash is very very small. I haven't experienced any weight gain with Lamictal, but even if I did then i'd be okay with that because putting on a couple of kgs is a small price to pay (in my opinion) for not having your moods swing all over the place all the time lol. 

You do probably need to see a psych to get mood stabilisers (I did) but that's the best course of action anyway because they can evaluate which med will be the right one for you, and you get support while using it so you can ask any questions you have. have you been officially diagnosed with a personality disorder or bipolar disorder?

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## PurpleRose

thanks coffee  :Hug: your advice has been really helpful  ::):  I spoke to my doc in england and they would have to refer me to a psychiatrist but i am off to NZ to live in three weeks time and my doctor back there is fantastic, she is putting my mother on it actually as she has similar issues with mood and personality disorders as I do so I am hoping and praying to get it without seeing a shrink although If I need to they should be okay with it, I mean its okay to take alongside an antidepressant so its not like I need to detox/withdraw from effexor and if it means lowering my lorazepam the doc would be most happy with that. I am just going to keep reading these threads and look at other peoples reactions, its interesting to see how much more effective it seems to be for bipolar/mood disorders than the old depatoke type lithium drugs :/ 

to answer your question, yes I was officially diagnosed in 2011 by a psychiatric therapist with BPD and other comorbid disorders such as anxiety and bullimia with depressive episodes as heh did not believe i had major depression and that it was brought on by the BPD as you know, erratic mood swings and bipolar like highs and lows are very common in BPD sufferers, its nice to have a name to something I spent years getting therapy for

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