Posted by Mitch on December 17, 2001, at 10:29:21
In reply to It's been awhile...need some help, posted by Mr. Scott on December 16, 2001, at 21:56:06
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> Hello friends and fellow sufferers,
>
> I am chronically depressed (the lethargic, rejection sensitive type), easily overstressed, and always anxious and obsessing. Every time I take an (ssri/Effexor)antidepressant I notice an immediate improvement in the rejection sensitvity, and the feeling of total helplessness, as well as the obsessing. At the same time I tend to get angry more easily, I feel agitated, I act "goofy" or giddy and immature even. Something definately happens along the lines or irritability and agitation that isn't right. At the same time that I feel physically & mentally agitated, my brain is eaasily dulled by ssri's (not so much Effexor)My face also swells which really bothers me.
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> My quality of life is truly depleted and it seems I can do nothing about it. I am watching the world and my life go by, and it is so saddenning.
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> I have had many many diagnoses including BPII by one supposed expert in the field, and an odd diagnosis by a maverick psychiatrist who believes that my response to ssri's is indicative of some kind of neurological/seizure disorder. This latter doctor is unconvinced of any bipolar stuff probably because my sleep in consistent (all the time).
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> I feel I'm out of answers, and the motivation to keep going on.
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> Does anything I said above make anyone think of anything? I'll try anything and entertain any hypothesis at this point.
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> Scott
Scott,I experience the EXACT same response to SSri's (can't seem to live without them-can't shoot 'em). If I go without taking any of them my cycling settles down, but I become humorless, asocial, and start having OCD/GAD-like ruminations and situational panicky feelings. The doc that thinks it may be something to do with a seizure disorder may really be onto something. I have to push the dose of SSRI down,down,down... otherwise I get a lot of temporal lobe symptoms such as grouchiness, spaciness, music playing in my head all the time, etc. BUT, if I stop the SSRI I feel like crap. So, I take Neurontin and a tiny amount of Celexa (2mg/day). The Celexa, even at that small of a dose creates a "night and day" difference. I also can relate to the "goofy" and "giddy" reactions that you mention. They feel like mini-hypomanias that only last a few hours at most. Something else I noticed-if someone tells a joke and I laugh loudly and suddently (while taking SSri), I get intensely dizzy and nearly pass out. I noticed it the most on Luvox. With Luvox I would also turn intensely red in the face and my face muscles would clench and I would feel panicky-then it would fade. With Celexa it was just intense brief dizziness (maybe 3-5 seconds)with spots in front of my eyes (like white-noise on a TV), and I am OK. With Zoloft I noticed it a lot less. Thanks for asking about that-it may be a more common experience than we think.
Anybody else have these sort of reactions to SSRI's??Mitch
poster:Mitch
thread:87146
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011213/msgs/87202.html