Posted by sl on July 19, 2001, at 21:57:37
In reply to Re: Tell me about Buspar? » sl, posted by Elizabeth on July 19, 2001, at 17:29:57
> > Not necessarily...cuz the Prozac INCREASED the metabolism of the tricyclic.
> Nope. Prozac inhibits the metabolism and clearance of tricyclics. That's (probably) why you were getting more side effects: because the nortriptyline wasn't being transformed into inactive metabolites.Ooooohh....I just went back and re-read the interaction info. If you don't know what cytochromes are, it sounds like it's INCREASED, but since you said that's the break-down stuff, then I understand.
In a nutshell: If it's in the plasma that means it's not being broke-down/used, right?
> >anti-anxiety med that works for me, in the next 6-8 wks.
> I hope so. I tried living in the fast track for a while, never taking breaks; it ended up not working out.Yeah, I've tried that too. That's why I'm only planning on 12 credits. That's the minimum required to be full-time.
> > I'm almost positive it was RN. And can't Registered Nurses prescribe?
> No. Nurse practitioners can, though.Hrm. She must have done more than I thought when she left the room. Cuz I suspect it's a government-funded type thing and couldn't afford to mess around. (might lose funding!)
> > [poor people] don't stop needing meds just cuz some doctor would rather play golf, and I'd hope the rule-makers would realize that and allow for it.
> That's what Medicaid is supposed to be for. HMOs try to use nurses and physicians' assistants to cut costs too; that doesn't make it right.*mock laughter* oh, you're funny.
You don't even want to get me started.
Since I wasn't dumb enuf to have babies [I wouldn't be able to care for], I don't get public assistance. You gotta be disabled (on SSI, I don't qualify) or have kids to qualify for almost anything. Can you belive that my lousy $888/month disqualifies me from food stamps? Even tho my rent is more than HALF that!?The public systems are a joke. They take care of people being stupid and promiscuous and leave those of us who do our best to stay independent out in the cold.
> Ahh. You just said that she'd said it was "too addictive." That made her sound pretty benzophobic. :-)
Well, I got the feeling she is, but mostly through the kind of people in there. She never even smiled or made a face except once ...it was like she'd seen eVERYTHING and nothing _I_ could say would phase her. On the one hand, she looked me in the eyes and was paying attention, but on the other hand she seemed distant. But she'd have to be, in that position.
> > I suspect that once she's gotten to know me a little and perhaps called for my records, > Yeah, being open and honest, letting them see your records and talk to past docs, etc. really helps them feel like they can trust you.I hope she does call. My doc and her nurse know me pretty well, they know my financial situation is precarious at best, and they know I'm intelligent enuf to know when something's wrong.
And by the way, there ARE side-effects to this Buspar. I'm going to ask you about them later on....
> > stuff. But I'd rather have someone "lesser" who was more knowledgeable and open to trying different combos.
> And to be sure, some non-physicians probably do know enough that they can prescribe safely. But it's sort of sleazy for them to do something that's really outside the scope of their practise. Also, the doctor who's signing off on these prescriptions could get in serious trouble if anything bad happened.I could argue that if they DO do it all the time then they probably know the drugs better than most MDs, but I won't start that again. I know they have only certain drugs available, so maybe that plays a part in the way it's run too. Actually, maybe she didn't HAVE klonopin, it's a schedule something-drug right? More controlled?
> > (we even discussed the use of Zyprexa for my ruminations...when I suggested that to the MD before she looked like I'd suggested beheading chickens by moonlight!!)
> Zyprexa is *awfully* sedating.*heh* But she didn't say that. She just turned and gave me this wide-eyed stare like I'd pulled a dead rat out of my shirt or something. But she was lousy anyway. :P
> > But one of you thinks it's addictive (yes, REALLY, requiring more and more to get same effect!) and one thinks it's not.
> Tolerance isn't the same as addiction, either. (The definition I'm using is the one in DSM-IV, "substance dependence.") Anyway, I wouldn't say that Klonopin is not addictive at all, but I think the risk is minimal. I *don't* think youOkay, I see. So it could be used with extra care. I mentioned it to my friend and he said "my gf has a bottle laying around from last summer, they gave it to her to sleep and it knocked her out for 14 hours!". I thought about asking him to send it, but ...well, I'd really rather go legal, y'know??
> should have to wait several weeks for Buspar to kick in (or some other antidepressant that could make your anxiety worse before it made it better).
*heh* That might also be part of the reason. She knows that I'm already on Wellbutrin and it works for me, so the depression isn't there, just the nagging worry and ruminations. (I avoid thinking about certain things so the things that DO get stuck are fairly benign, but it'd be nice to let my mind wander!)
> > their mother or something??
> < g > No, I just leave a message saying I'm looking for a psychiatrist and would like to speak to them to find out if we'd be a good match.Hrm. I saw one lady once, I said we didn't click, and they tried to insist I see her again to make sure. Bleh.
I never get the opportunity to choose, anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter how I'd go about it. I'm jobless and probably will be right til school starts and then I'll be a student. :/
> > I've never spoken to my doctor directly on the phone, I always talked to her nurse.
> I see a psychiatrist who's in private practise. If I leave a message he either calls me back or gives his receptionist a message to give to me and she calls me back.That's nice of him. I remember once I had a psychiatrist who had an office downtown, and I'd just drop in and pick up sample meds, but eventually it came time for anotehr appointment and I couldn't afford it. :(
> [re medical records:]
> Ahh, that makes sense. Hopefully your records aren't full of glaring errors, so they will actually give her a good idea of what your story is rather than a distorted one!*heh* I'm afraid the file is rather thick.
Allergies and chronic depression (dysthymia?) do that and there used to be big stomach problems that I now control with diet. :P I hope she skims the most recent parts tho.> > > That's cool. (I think you should read about the use of higher doses for depression and severe anxiety, of course. :-) )
> > Yes. Will do some more research on that tomorrow. :) I've decided that I'll go up to 30mg/day eventually and see how I feel then.I didn't see much specifically about treating depression with BuSpar. I did see that I could take up to 60mgs.
> 30 mg is enough for some people. I'm worried that it will take too long to work (especially if you're increasing the dose slowly) and you'll get impatient and want to give up on it, and then you'll be back to square 1.I'm increasing the dose about every other day, since the side-effects are ...well, different.
And we still won't be at square one, we'll have ruled out ONE option.
> > Umm...not to me. They're strips divided by 5mgs, scored into thirds, but then there's a side-score for breaking them in halves.
> Those are the 15 mg ones, then? I was thinking of the 5's and 10's.Yeah, I read the pamphlet, I've got the Dividose ones. The jar is 60 15mg strips, so that meant to me that they think I should take 30mg/day too. ;)
> > Well, the other meds will be done then, and it's 3 wks til the next appointment.
> Wow. If you only have six weeks to lick this thing, you're cutting it close.*sigh* Well, I can try. If it's not gone...well, we'll keep working on it. But as long as the depression is treated successfully, it should be okay to let the anxiety slide a little.
> The problem with that is that 15 mg isn't really all that likely to do anything. So if you base your decision on whether 15 mg helps, you're most likely just going to give up on it.
No...I'm going up to 30mg. Depending on what you say about the side-effects....which're weird. I read the pamphlet, set it aside so I wouldn't lose it, and I don't remember where I put it, so I can't check the incidence of this in the study, but I think it was 1%.
I remember looking at "Urinary Hesitancy" and thinking "gee, that's what that problem was called when I had it on Effexor." But that was mild and now it's...bad. It takes me like 30 seconds and CONCENTRATION to pee, even if I need to badly!
I drink a lot of water to combat the dry mouth from Wellbutrin, and well...I pee a lot! Especially when it's god-awful hot like it's been here lately.Now to make this embarassing revelation relevant:
Does that seem like a side-effect that'd fade away after longer use? Should I be waiting til that gets better before I up the dosage, like I would with more standard side-effects? Will it get worse if I don't wait?The other thing seems to be that I'm hungry all the time, and it takes a LOT of food to fill me up. I ate a big pb&j for dinner 3 hours ago, and an hour later I could've eaten again. I'm not a big person, I don't take that much food to maintain, so I gotta wonder if I'll gain mega-weight on this stuff....some of it is the Wellbutrin, that I know, but it was never this bad before. It was bad enuf earlier today that I was glad I threw out my leftover Effexor, or I would have been tempted to take a little for the appetite-suppressant effect!
> > *laugh* that's what I wanted Klonopin for. But I do know that I can take herbal sleeping pills and sleep okay most of the time, too.
> I never got anything out of "herbal remedies" -- other than morphine, of course. Which one(s) do you use?I used a blend called "Nighttime herbs" from NOW. It had valerian and I think hops and some other stuff. But I ran out, and I can't afford the $7 to get a new jar. *heh* I've had that dilemma before...OTC stuff that I have to pay for, or heavier prescription-stuff that I can get free. :/
> I moved recently and I had a hard time finding a pdoc in the area who would consider prescribing
buprenorphine, which I really need.I don't know what that is, but that just means some docs would rule it out straight-off cuz THEY wouldn't know what it was either. :P
But any doc worth his degree should know that you don't stop psychiatric meds cold turkey anyway, and give you at least enuf to taper off safely!
> > If there's anything I've learned in my time on this board and dealing with psychiatric meds, it's that if you've got a good thing, go with it!
> I'll drink to that! (err)*giggle* I'll have one for you. ;)
That's a nice thing about Wellbutrin. I can drink socially. :)> > it works, it'd be such a waste to throw that out.
> Yeah, I don't know what you can do that's legal if you have pharmaceuticals that you don't want to waste but for which you have no use. (If "legal" isn't of concern to you, you could give them to someone else who needs them, of course.)*heh* I thought of sending it to someone who was already taking it, cuz then it'd just be the crime of sending drugs thru the mail instead of the crime of dispensing without a license. :P
> >name brand. Once there's more competition -- once more companies are marketing buspirone -- the prices of generics will go down.
Hope so. Everything is so expensive.
> Desipramine is cool because it's *cheap*.
*heh* That was on my list when I was looking for something to replace wellbutrin (before I realized it had helped MORE symptoms than it'd missed). But Nortrip made me so damn stupid, I'm almost afraid to try another tricyclic. But the good news is I finished the Nortrip last night and I finish the Prozac Saturday night. *dance*
sl
PS even if you don't have time to respond to the whole post right away, please respond to the side-effects questions ASAP so I know if I should still be titrating or stalled.... THANKS!
poster:sl
thread:70523
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010714/msgs/70974.html