Posted by Wendy B. on September 7, 2001, at 7:50:57
In reply to Re: Any Success Stories?, posted by JohnL on September 7, 2001, at 5:03:42
> I am one of the few success stories that still hangs around. There have been many success stories right here at psychobabble, but unfortunately they mostly seem to stop coming around once they are well.
>
> There was a guy named WayneR, who after 20 years of everything under the sun, found a complete cure with Prozac+Naltrexone.
>
> There was a girl who said something like, "What is this 6 week wait stuff? I feel great on my first day on Wellbutrin".
>
> A guy named Adam had good success when he entered a clinical study for Deprenyl in a skin patch version of the drug.
>
> A regular here named St James has had success with Effexor+Remeron.
>
> My success, after ten years of trying everything, came from Prozexanil. There is no such thing as Prozexanil, however. It is my home made term for my cocktail of Prozac+Zyprexa+Adrafinil.
>
> There have been plenty of other success stories. I do believe that 95% of psychiatric cases can reach almost 100% improvement when the correct meds are tried. Each person has uniques chemistry, unique flaws in that chemistry, unique genes and unique circumstances, so success stories usually involve different drugs from one person to the next.
>
> Generally I feel that for success, the drug must target the real underlying chemical problem directly. Clues can be gathered from medication reactions to help identify what the underlying problem is. For example, if someone has tried three SSRIs and only got worse on them all, then it is a pretty fair guess that they do not have a low serotonin chemistry, and that the likelihood of another SSRI working is greatly diminished.
>
> In casual observation, anecdotal evidence, and clinical evidence, what are some of the very best drugs out there with the highest potential for success? They are...
> Prozac+Adrafinil
> Prozac+Zyprexa
> Other SSRI+Zyprexa
> Tricyclic+Zyprexa
> Prozexanil :-)
> SSRI+Risperdal
>
> Also noteworthy, though not quite as impressive as the above list, are...
> SSRI+Wellbutrin
> SSRI+Nortriptyline or Desipramine
> SSRI+Remeron
> SSRI+Naltrexone
>
> What are some of the lowest odds for success?
> Anti convulsants.
>
> Of course, clinical studies show just about anything to be 70% effective. So research does not jive with my own casual observations over the years. Research for example shows anticonvulsants to be good drugs for psychiatric symptoms, but in the real world here at psychobabble, it is very hard to find anyone who loves their anticonvulsant.
>
> For the highest odds for success though, I have seen nothing as impressive as Zyprexa in combination with an antidepressant. If everyone could go straight to that first, I believe many people would no longer be struggling. And to make it even better, a touch of Adrafinil is icing on the cake.
> JohnHey, JohnL,
I'm a long-time fan of yours... I appreciate the fact that you encourage people and stick around, even though you seem to have found drug-nirvana. I also admire your stick-to-your-guns mentality re: ordering meds from other countries, even though there is a BIG resistance to it on this board. I think you are right, for all the reasons you've gone into several times (especially lately, with the big backlash against SalArmy and his recommendation that people order their own drugs from alternate sources), and which I won't repeat here.
However (you knew there was going to be a 'however', didn't you?), in total opposition to your statement: "in the real world here at psychobabble, it is very hard to find anyone who loves their anticonvulsant," I just want to say that I am very fond of my anti-convulsant neurontin. I take 2400 mg every day (seems like I pop 'em like candy, hey! maybe they'll make orange-flavor chewables!). This augments the happy pill wellbutrin (used to take zoloft, but it pooped out after 3+ years on the stuff). The doseage is 300 mg of the Sr version. But I don't know what I'd do without the neurontin, it keeps me on roughly the same level throughout my day, a seemingly impossible task a year ago... My dx is BP I, so you know. If I weren't on neurontin, I'd probably be on depakote or something stronger, and I'm not ready for the side-effect profile of depakote. And lithium would seem too strong for what I have: one manic episode, otherwise, just a little on the hypomanic, heavy on the depressive end of the scale. So, Hattree, it is a success story of a certain kind - the meds keep me at a pretty stable level, so that the good effects of talk-therapy have at least a fighting chance... I am not cured, but there is hope that my second 40 years will be a little brighter.
This is, of course, just my own experience, I sure wouldn't like to have my scrip for neurontin taken away tomorrow...
Keep on truckin', and best wishes,
Wendy
poster:Wendy B.
thread:78048
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010907/msgs/78140.html