Posted by Shirley on October 1, 2000, at 18:35:40
Hi Folks,
I am a newcomer to these boards although I have been to the Tips Section many times. Before I begin, Cam W,
in looking at the posts, I found out about your daughter. I am so sorry.An introduction - Been on psych meds since 1995. Currently, I am taking zoloft, ritalin, and remeron which is for nightime sleep. Had a severe depression in 1995, which gradually inmproved but those dreaded thoughts that I'm sure alot of you have experienced only disappeared when I was finally put on Zoloft and Adderall. Have depression and ADD.
The Zoloft and Adderall worked pretty well for about a year and a half. But it seemed like the adderall was becoming less effective. My p-doc didn't want to prescribe ritalin because I was on it and prozac when I had those severe problems in 1995. As a result, he upped the adderall by a tiny bit.
Big mistake (I don't blame him) as I guess due to my body chemistry, I started getting agiation problems. Finally my p-doc was persuaded to try ritalin which worked great for a month and then the same problems.
Tried Wellbutrin but gave up on it after a few days. Went back to ritalin and had been doing pretty well except for montly agiation problems for a few days after my period started. This last month, when the problems were not as severe after my period, I thought I was home free. Wrong. Which leads to the Zoloft weight gain fun that I see alot of you are familiar with.
As long everything was working reasonbly well, I was willing to put up with the weight gain although I was not happy about it. But since I'm obviously going to be changing the ritalin, I'm willing to look at the possibility of changin zoloft.
John L, your information has been very helpful and I ended up ordering Dr. Jansen's book. I have never believed in staying with a drug that was bad news but I didn't know why I believed that until I read your posts. Thanks.
Besides the weight gain, another concern I have about Zoloft is the apathy. I had sort of accepted it but after reading everybody's posts and also remembering my experiences when I was off of it due to foot pain (I started feeling again but not depressed), I realize that I have been putting up with this side effect and no longer wish to. But since it is the best antidepressant at stopping suicide, I am wondering if I need something that is chemically similar to it. If so, what drugs would they be?
But as you say, John L., one thing at a time and right now, I have to take care of the ritalin problem before dealing with the Zoloft. Since I still have some adderall left over, I'm going to try that tomorrow to see what will happen? But that affranill that you take sure sounds interesting and is that a possibility?
I have tried dexedrine which didn't work and made my PMS alot worse. Cylert worked but only at doses that prevented me from going to sleep. Maybe Concerta is a possibility?
Sorry for all the questions but I'm just fed up with everything and want to take a more proactive approach to my situation. I see my p-doc tomorrow but am not going to say anything about the Jensen approach until I read the book. Something tells me he won't be open minded and I could be looking for someone else. But again, one step at a time.
Shirley
PS-In addition to having ADD and depression, I also have LD so please forgive any grammatical errors or misspellings.
poster:Shirley
thread:45608
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000926/msgs/45608.html