After about 5-6 years of prescribers guessing/throwing medication cocktails at me, I happened to find a psychiatrist that immediately suggested that I have gene testing done for my medications. This happened about two years ago and some stuff’s gone down since then (I’m depressed rn and looking to get back to the same system of shrinks so I can get access to my records and have the gene testing information once more to tweak my meds as needed), but as I remember it was a cheek swab set up through my psychiatrist’s office that was sent in, and then they sent back a set of data that analyzed brain enzymes (maybe more information—I’m fuzzy on the details) and basically how the medications are chemically processed by your particular brain. My information had three lists (“best” “good” and “worst”) dividing the medications prescribed by their efficacy in your particular system, separated by uses (I.e. antidepressants, mood stabilizers, benzodiazepines).

My doctor was able to take the side effects I told her I was okay with and not okay with, pick a medication off of my “best” list, and prescribe it to me first thing. It was the slowest med taper anyone’s ever given me because the lady wasn’t messing around, but when it finally kicked in, I felt better than I had in my entire life without being fully manic. Since then, I haven’t really been manic (or hypomanic, boo, lol). I’m pretty sure my baseline is depressive, and stress has made things harder, but I fully intend to go back to the drawing board and find a new medication based solution for my instability that won’t involve pure guesswork.

If anyone is searching for their right medication, ask your psychiatrist if gene testing is available for you. It’s incredibly enlightening and empowering and helpful.