u/Training-Resident-29

I'm writing this because I've been lurking here for a while and have noticed that many of the posts are horror stories along with warnings to stay far away from this drug. My experience has been the opposite and I think it's important to say that no psychoactive drug will work well for everyone or even MOST people. It's about finding the ones that work well with your particular brain chemistry and it seems like psychiatrists are mostly throwing darts.

About three years ago I went through a very intense psychiatric episode around my divorce and all of the things associated with that. I had been going through intense ups and downs for the previous ten years (I was 44 at the time) and had a suspicion that I was bipolar but had never discussed it with a psychiatrist. My counselor had no real experience with bipolar and wasn't able to spot the signs. During a long summer I went through what I now know is an extreme "agitated depression" meaning that I had plenty of energy (too much) but was spinning out and ruminating to the point of suicidal ideation. I experienced something similar (though not as intense) the previous summer and was prescribed lexipro. It did not work for me and made everything much worse even one week in so I stopped taking it and went into a long hypomanic state about a month later where in I stopped seeking any treatment.

At the end of this depressive episode I was finally able to see a psychiatrist, was diagnosed bipolar 2 and put on 2mg Abilify and 200 miligrams of Lamotrigine (started at 50mg). Within DAYS I was back to feeling like myself, was able to function and even able to go back to work. It felt like some constituent element of my brain was finally evening out. I attribute this to the Abilify because it's far more fast acting than lamotrigine and can be used as a an anti depressant for psychiatric emergency.

Since then I have stayed at 2mg and have had no discernible side effects. None. I tried to go off of it twice with the help of my psychiatrist and within a couple of weeks went back into the same patterns of thinking I had before and went back on it. I have not had a major depression in three years. This is unbelievable to me because previous to this I had not gone a year without being depressed since my 20's and had accepted intense cyclical depression as a fact of life.

Again I'm not urging anyone to take (or not take) this drug just know that it could work with your particular chemistry and could save your life. It could also be a horror show. Psychiatry is an imprecise science at best. Take what works and leave the rest.

I'm the proud owner of a very new to me 2012 Prius V with 93,000 miles on it. We were able to get it for $3500 ($2000 less than asking) because we knew the hybrid battery was bad. Unfortunately right after I replaced the battery I noticed that the brake accumulator was running every ten seconds (if I knew these cars I would have checked for that on the first test drive but alas) and then on the shakedown cruise the accumulator code came up. I'm a competent backyard mechanic and will do the booster and pump myself which means it's still a fine deal (though not quite as sweet) for a pretty nice car (assuming nothing else major comes up right away).

We are taking the car from New Orleans to New England in a couple of weeks and I wanted to know what spare parts folks recommend bringing or other preemptive maintenance I should do. Apparently the car was sitting the better part of a year before we bought it (hence the bad battery). When I travel with my sprinter (370k) there are a handful of parts I bring that commonly fail and are difficult to source that I carry with me (turbo resonator, crank position sensor etc). Are there parts for the prius I should consider bringing on this trip for a car I don't really know yet? Based on research it seems like the inverter coolant pump is a good bet. Anything else?

Also would folks recommend an EGR cleaning on this car while the cowl is apart for the brake booster? I know it's needed but I don't want to dump too much time into the car before knowing what else it might need that's more urgent.

Many thanks!