Bipolar Meds

[imbleu]

Hi all,

First, this forum is wonderful -- I've been lurking here since I went off gluten at the end of May. So much information! It makes my life so much easier, so thank you all for your mountains of advice.

Along with the gluten thing (not yet diagnosed but clear positive response to elimination, have an appt with a dietitian on Tuesday), I have bipolar disorder. I did a quick search and saw that many others seem to have bipolar, or had bipolar-like symptoms before going off gluten. Gluten definitely messes with my moods, but the bipolar thing is still around even when I'm completely gluten-free. Alas, it seems I really have bipolar disorder.

My problem is that I don't know which meds are safe and my psychiatrist is no help (I'm looking for a new one). I was on Trileptal for a couple of years but even though it's on the gluten-free list, I seem to have trouble with it. I'm not sure yet, but it definitely does something to my intestines. I challenged it recently with (circumstantially, of course) bad results, so I'm wary of it now and haven't been on it for a couple months. My stupid psychiatrist prescribed me a new drug without even checking its ingredients, then pulled a little magic act to get me out of his office without asking questions. Never going back to him.

This is all complicated by the fact that I think I have a problem with corn in addition to gluten. I know corn is in *everything* and that there probably isn't a bipolar med without it. However, I don't know that I'm sensitive to it down to the derivatives, so I don't know that it would be a problem in a med. But I think I do react to things like corn starch.

Anyway, to get to the point, what meds do other gluten-free people with bipolar disorder take? Are there any whose companies issue gluten-free statements? I did a little research and the only statement I could find was for Keppra. Does anyone else have the corn problem too and still take meds? I really need to be on meds and I'm not right now. That's probably why this post is so convoluted! Pretty depressed today

Thanks all!

[confused]

Lithium is gluten free