Posted by Else on October 10, 2001, at 21:13:27
In reply to Re: I'm defective » Else, posted by SLS on October 10, 2001, at 15:41:21
Actually I think you are right. My doctor first diagnosed me as Bipolar II but there are no cases of manic-depression in my (very large) extended family and bipolar disorder is supposed to be highly hereditary. I should probably worry about diabetes more.
Anyway, I never really feel THAT good (manic or hypomanic). All my symptoms point in the direction of ADD associated with some nondescript anxiety disorder: a mixture of social phobia, GAD along with some mild OCD symptoms (which would better fit my family history anyway). My doctor has actually admitted that this is probably my problem, as I have already mentionned, even though such a diagnosis often involves prescribing some very nasty (why, downright evil!) addictive drugs like tranquilizers and stimulants.I am already on 3mg/daily Klonopin to control my anxiety and it has worked much better than any other drug I have taken before (Prozac, Zoloft, Depakote, Effexor, Neurontin, Desyrel, etc.). I have already tried Wellbutrin and Effexor for ADD. Wellbutrin produced nasty neurological side effects (tremors, neck twiches, partial seizures... I did quit smoking with it though, so I can't dismiss it completely, it did help). It stopped helping me with my ADD symptoms after one month (possibly when the stimulant effects wore-off). Effexor was horrible. It kept me awake for three or four consecutive days until I could manage to get 5 or 6 hours of very poor sleep until I was up again for another couple of days(which was NOT good for my concentration or attention at all). Some people would think spending more time awake makes you more productive. I suppose it would if you had some sort of euphoric hypomania. This was not the case for me, however. I was too mentally tired to do anything but too physically agitated to sleep. It was quite awful. But I am sure a lot of people here have been through the same. I couldn't stop moving but all I could think about was "Sleep,sleep,sleep,sleep,...", nothing else. How Effexor can be an effective med for Generalized Anxiety Disorder puzzles me though. Maybe I wasn't on it long enough. Who knows? It made me much, much worse in any event.
But I know Effexor has helped a lot of people on this board and I don't want to dismiss it just because I reacted badly to it. The same goes for every other drug I have named. I go to a support group and some people have found drugs like Effexor or Depakote tremendously helpful. My point is, they are not better simply because they are less addictive. And they do produce withdrawal symptoms. The main difference is that they will not produce cravings the way stimulants and benzos can. I believe this is what society condemns. If it feels good, DON'T do it. I don't know you and I don't know what your philosophy is but I personnally strongly disagree with the main current in western thought that says pleasure is to be earned by effort. Pleasure may be a consequence of effort and if that is the case than this is great. This is how we have evolved. But should hapiness (or a mere chance at it) have a price?For some people, drugs that have potential for addiction simply work better. I don't think it matters, anyway, if you're going to take the drug for years and years. Why pick Paxil over Xanax for anxiety if you're going to take these pills for the rest of your life? Why is addiction even an issue? Some would say you would have to increase your dose of Xanax indefinitely while you could stick with 20mg die of Paxil forever. This is not true. Benzos looze their effectiveness as hypnotics, anticonvulsants, antispasmodics and sedatives rather quickly, but they maintain their effectiveness as tranquilizers over extended periods. Conversely, SSRIs can and do "poop-out". Anyway, I am sort of rambling now so don't mind this part if you are already bored to death but anyway. My doctor has admitted ADD was a "likely" diagnosis in my case and has said that there were three drugs that were customary for adult ADD (in Canada, we are less evolved, you see): first Wellbutrin, then a high dose of Effexor and finally Ritalin when all else failed. Last time I saw him he seemed relatively openned to the idea of prescribing it. He said he just wanted to make sure my distractibility wasn't due exclusively to my anxiety (hence the Klonopin). I know it isn't. But I have waited 25 years, I can wait another couple of weeks.
> Sorry.
>
> I forgot.
>
> Adult ADD can result in various behavioral and emotional changes of which some of your experiences might be the product. It would not be fair to expect of you the same abilities to set boundaries and improve your social interactions than what might be capable of someone without ADD. You would have to work with your mental health professionals to identify any ADD tendencies and how to treat them medically and work with them behaviorally and emotionally.
>
> I'm just throwing out a few thoughts. They are probably not all applicable or sensible.
>
> SEE... I'm not being mean to you, am I?
>
> :-)
>
> - Scott
poster:Else
thread:80808
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011007/msgs/80932.html