Posted by Elizabeth on July 11, 2001, at 1:04:48
In reply to New to Psycho-Babble, posted by BobJ1961 on June 17, 2001, at 7:32:48
> Hello everyone!
Welcome. It's a pleasure to meet you.
> I've been reading messages on this site for a month or so now. I feel as though I've gotten to know a lot of you, even though you don't know me < g >.
You're pretty sneaky, aren't you? < g >
> Anyway, I came here because I suffer from severe depression. It's mostly treatment resistant too, and I've had it for 10 years now. I'm now 39 years old, and I can honestly say that I have not lived during my 30's! I guess that means that I've lost 25% of my life so far?
10 years (close to 11, really) since "official" diagnosis for me too, but I'm only 25. It's gotten a lot worse in the last few years, and I feelt like I've missed out on the best years of my life (cliche though that may be).
Of course, it's not strictly chronic -- it comes and goes, in what are known as "major depressive episodes," but the frequency of these episodes (which has incereased with time) has made it very difficult for me to function. Still, I'm managing as best I can.
> In the beginning, I had excellent results with Prozac (the benefits lasted about 2 years).
Prozac seemed to work for me the first time I took it, but it didn't to much later on. I have trouble deciding whether the original response was mere coincidence or whether the Prozac failed to work later in life for whatever reason.
After that point, it has been a neverending struggle to find SOMETHING that worked as well. Ironically, Prozac was the first drug I tried, and the LAST drug that worked! LOL
> I've tried all the tricyclics, and none of those helped.
*All*? In the USA, that's ten drugs. Can you list the ones you've tried? A lot of them are seldom used, and it doesn't really make sense to keep trying one after the other when they clearly don't work.
> In fact, most of them made me 10x worse (suicidal!)
This has been known to happen in a subgroup of depressives, particularly those with so-called "atypical depression" (a misnomer).
> The newer SSRI's either caused extreme anxiety, sleeplessness, or psychosis.
Psychosis defined how? Many times, the SSRIs and (to a lesser extent) the TCAs can cause increased anxiety at first (this is particularly true for people who have panic disorder).
> Wellbutrin didn't work either.
I'd expect this one
A couple other non-SSRI newer drugs that you may not have tried are Serzone and Effexor. Serzone is particularly nice for anxiety.
> I have not tried any of the MAOI's.
I recommend them, especially if you do have atypical depression and/or panic disorder. They often work where every other AD has failed. Another possibility is to reconsider your diagnosis.
> I even got desperate enough to try stuff that was illegal (like GHB!)
Hey, it was legal a year ago or so! Anyway, the anti-GHB laws (like so many US drug laws) are just bizarre. GHB is a substance that occurs in mammalian bodies. To make it illegal would mean
that we're all guilty of possession!I don't recommend trying to use GHB for depression. Although some people have used it in the long term (taken at bedtime) for sleep disorders without needing to increase the dose, tolerance is very common.
Tryptophan might be a better choice, although it's a pretty weak AD. IMO, it's best used in conjunction with other ADs. Also, it can help to take a second drug to prevent the tryptophan from being metabolised before reaching the CNS.
> I'd also like to try L-Deprenyl (because it has neural regenerative and/or protective effects on the striatal dopaminergic system). I feel this stuff might benefit me too, because I abused cocaine/crack in the early 90's. Perhaps I did some damage to my dopaminergic system?
I wasn't impressed by selegiline (the American name for medical deprenyl), although dopaminergic drugs have helped me somewhat. It caused a lot of activation and worsened my sleep and appetite (which were already diminished). A more traditional MAOI (or perhaps the Parkinson's drug pramipexole/Mirapex) might be more beneficial to you. (There used to be a dopamine reuptake inhibitor, Merital (nomifensine), marketed as an AD, but it was taken off the market for dubious reasons.
> I've also been reading the message threads on the use of opioids to treat treatment-resistant depression. I suffer from chronic pain too, so perhaps there's something worth looking into there as well?
If you like, I can talk to you about that. Tramadol and buprenorphine seem to have less abuse potential than other opioids, but they are very helpful for many people with depression. Given your background of substance abuse, I'd approach typical (full agonist) opioids (morphine, oxycodone, fentanyl, etc.) with extreme caution.
> I also have Lyme Disease (had all the classic symptoms between the ages of 10 and 14 years of age).
That's no good. You need to make sure that you are getting regular treatment for the Lyme disease (like, go back on those antibiotics, and start seeing someone regularly about the Lyme disease; also, consider getting tested for neurological damage and other possible sequelae of long-term untreated Lyme disease).
> When my depression is under control, all my other medical problems become more "tolerable" (and I can then engage in activities that are healthy, like eating right and getting regular exercise).
Yes, that's how it often works.
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:66847
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010708/msgs/69678.html