Patient's Query
Hello doctor,
My 28 year old son is being treated for bipolar disorder and depression. He has been on and off antidepressants since he was 16 years old due to high anxiety issues. He just started with 50 mg Serquiler one to two tablets at night, 600 mg Gabapentin thrice a day, 20 mg Paxil once a day and Oxcarbazine 600 mg thrice a day. Is this too much? He was previously on 60 mg Paxil and had very hard withdrawal symptoms. Why is he still put on 20 mg?
Hello,
Welcome to icliniq.com.
Seroquel (Quetiapine) and Oxcarbazine (Oxcarbazepine) are indicated in bipolar disorder as both have mood stabilizing properties. Paxil (Paroxetine) and Gabapentine (Gabapentin) are used in anxiety or depression. As you mentioned that Paxil was used in the highest dose earlier with a difficult withdrawal, now your doctor may be using it for acute bipolar depression and wants to taper him off it as soon as the depressive symptoms clear. He will not have much of withdrawal symptoms as the dose is on the lower side. It is not uncommon to use two or more mood-stabilizing drugs in bipolar disorder when the person is not responding adequately to one drug. Also, in acute bipolar depression, antidepressants are used in combination with others drugs to treat it. Thank you.
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Answered byDr. Ramchandra Lamba
Medically reviewed byiCliniq medical review team
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