Posted by judy1 on March 23, 2001, at 13:12:26
In reply to Re: Geodon - What is a fair trial? -all » SLS, posted by Chris A. on March 22, 2001, at 12:24:40
Dear Chris,
I am still amazed at the similarities we share. I, too, cannot handle akathisia and even though risperdal has helped more than any other AP I have taken, I told my pdoc no more. (and that was with 5mg of xanax and 6mg of klonopin on board) Is your dx strictly rapid cycling bipolar? Do you have regular therapy? My dx is so muddled with panic and dissociative disorder, that I also get incredibly frustrated with the med cocktails. What has helped me the most is my main psychiatrist who does therapy and meds- I have spent up to 2 hours in a session with him. I can't conceive of anyone understanding the complexity of symptoms I have in a 15 minute med visit. So I hope when you see your expert you spend enough time with him. I, too have done drug 'washouts' When you did, did you taper very, very slowly? Was it done under the care of someone very familiar with this? I got my referral from Peter Breggin so it was properly done. I remember how sick I initially felt (I think a lot of it was withdrawal) and then this blessedly wonderful period where I had no drug side-effects before climbing to a psychotic manic state. Oh, well, I tried. Right now I am determined to have the simplest medication regime I can, and load up on therapy. In addition to my shrink who does therapy, I have a psychologist who also experienced abuse and has incredible empathy and really neat tricks for dissociation. I wanted to add that I talk or e-mail my shrink every day and that has really helped lately. I don't know if you have gotten anything out of this, but know my prayers are with you- judy
poster:judy1
thread:56412
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010319/msgs/57281.html