Posted by julesvox on July 7, 2000, at 12:10:17
In reply to Re: Starting on Remeron.../tried dexedrine?, posted by allisonm on July 6, 2000, at 20:30:49
jane & allison--
i have been on remeron for over a year. i take 30 mg at night. i take 5mg dexedrine twice a day, at breakfast and at lunch. some days if things are feeling ok i'll skip the second dose, and some days i'll skip it altogether. most days it feels like the second dose is needed, bcs the med doesn't pace itself throughout the day. i started on 10mg 2x day but even one dose of 10 made me too jittery.
about six months in on the remeron, i think, i remember the side effects getting more fierce and i felt severely depressed again. i considered switching meds but decided to hang in there. things evened out again. my doc suggested lithium w/remeron--i'd taken lithium with effexor, i think--but i haven't tried that or any other augmentation w/ the remeron.
> Since my last post, I've talked with my psychiatrist a lot about my recent slump. He and I have come to the conclusion that it has a lot to do with the time of year (three anniversaries marking bad stuff coming up this July). I don't think the drugs are pooping out.
i was going to say too that the same thing happened to me in march, always my most catastrophic month.
>
> Jules, I wonder what dose you're on with the Remeron. Maybe it would help to decrease the dose by 15 mg. I also wonder how many hours of sleep you are giving yourself. I find if I take the Remeron, I have to crash, too. But also find if I'm not getting enough hours of sleep in, it's a lot harder to get up and I'm a lot foggier. Don't cheat yourself on sleep. It's EXTREMELY important.all very good advice. my problem has always been too much sleep. i know outside of the meds i definitely need more than a lot of people--at least 9 hours--and i am usually good at giving myself that. i tried decreasing the dose of remeron, but it both made me more tranquilized and seemed to be less effective w/the depression. other things i have done to help with both side effects are (these are kind of obvious, but) exercising every day, having a really simple diet (mostly vegan, mostly raw foods, low-sugar), and playing with herbs and amino acid supplements. and the appetite stuff for me has been a real double-edged sword, since it's challenged me to confront my eating/body image stuff (and helped me stop starving myself).
>
> I also wonder how long did you take the Wellbutrin?not very long at all--a week or two--but i was suicidal and working with a TERRIBLE unethical psychiatrist and unfortunately my association with wellbutrin is that experience, which contributed to me going into the hospital.
you say you wonder whether you were bothered by symptoms that you might find tolerable as long as you knew they were short-term--i agree, and more than 'short term' for me was the sense that nothing seemed to be helping my pain, so none of the meds seemed worth it. i had the best experience on effexor for a few months. i tried it with a bunch of augmentations and then started remeron. for me, meds have always been about helping me get to a place where i can do work in my therapy, and my experience starting a new med has usually been in a state of desperation.
hope this is helpful...it's nice to be in touch. j.
poster:julesvox
thread:37881
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000630/msgs/39681.html