Posted by houstongirl on October 13, 2001, at 10:25:30
In reply to Seeing my Pdoc on Monday and..., posted by MM on October 13, 2001, at 7:51:11
MM -
Both Paxil and Depakote can cause weight gain. To me, it seems like your doses are fairly low - you could go up on both. It might be worth some weight gain to stabilize, however. For me, it was. If you're not sure it's helping after a month and a half, it's not. Is talking to a different pdoc a possibility? It sounds as though he might not be responding to what you're saying. My advice (for what it's worth) is to get as informed as possible and be agressive with your own treatment. It really helps me to write down everything I want to talk about before I go in there and make him talk through various options with me. (BTW, I've been on up to 40mg Paxil and now I'm on 100mg Celexa + 1500mg Depakote.) You CAN feel better. It may take some time, but I have no doubt that you can. I really hope this helps a little.
Cristy
> I'm still not sure if the combo he has me on is helping (10mg paxil + 500mg depakote ER) after at least a month and a half.
> My diagnoses at this point is Bipolar II, but basically I'm agoraphobic. I've had this same type of uncertainty with all the meds I've tried (which are SSRI's, serzone, effexor, wellbutrin, paxil, prozac) and so far I haven't been getting out of the house much on this combo. Two or three times I've been able to overcome my agoraphobia or whatever (not that I felt too stable or anything, but I got out) for a few months. SUPPOSEDLY the AD's made me hypomanic, which in turn made me do stupid things, that made me embarassed, that made me start staying home again.
> I'm losing hope here. I'm mentally prepared to live the rest of my life at home, alone most of the time, in a miserable haze, beating myself up constantly for being such an inept freak.
> I have moments where I feel "normal", but then a sadness sets and I don't really know why. It's kind of like I don't want to go back to my normal, because my normal was miserable too, just in a different way, if that makes any sense.
> Anyway, the things I DO know about this combo is that I've gained about 10lbs, I have a mild tremor sometimes, some of my hair falls out in the shower (a LOT more than used to, but I'm taking zinc and selenium,, so it's not too bad), I'm not exactly hallucinating, but I see trails, and spots, and what looks like a bug out of the corner of my eye, but then I look and it isn't, just all around weird eye things. I don't know exactly how I FEEL though. Sort of like I did on serzone, which wasn't the best. This IS helping with my anxiety somewhat (I think), but I'm not wanting to leave the house and I sort of feel flattened (apathetic), lazy, and I'm kinda bitchy too, but I honestly have no idea if that's a difference. I also hate it that I don't feel like me. I'm noticing memory/concentration/thinking/cognitive difficulties, and definitely have some vertigo/dizziniess/lightheadedness, but that's gone away some.
> I was thinking about trying neurontin, but when I asked my pdoc he basically said it was weak and wouldn't work, so I guess that's out. I think we asked him about benzos, but he's convinced I have BPII, so that's not the way to treat me. I guess I just don't know what to tell him. I mean, I haven't felt a whole lot less like a psycho, and with the terrorist stuff, I'm not exactly living in a world of bliss here. I don't know if I'm better. I'm different I guess. I liked what another poster here said; something like, everyone got a copy of "How To Be a Human Being" except me. THAT'S how I feel.
>
> I don't really know what I want to ask. I haven't posted in a while so I'm not used to it anymore. I'm sorry, I went on and on without saying anything. I just keep thinking that maybe something's NOT right here, and it COULD, POSSIBLY, MAYBE get better, and I could go to college, or GET A JOB and not be such an unhappy freakish loser or not be afraid of the world and everyone in it or be able feel like I belong or something.
> Maybe I should try something besides paxil along with the depakote? Could that be causing the weight gain? How toxic to the liver is my dose of depakote (rather be crazy than having to get dialysis in 10 years)?
>
> Anyway, sorry again for rambling and I appreciate any comments. Thanks in advance.
> MM
poster:houstongirl
thread:81178
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011007/msgs/81187.html