Posted by Ritch on March 11, 2002, at 23:19:20
In reply to Re: medication compliance with painful S.E's? » Ritch, posted by Chloe on March 11, 2002, at 19:02:26
> Hey, Mitch,
> I am so depressed today. The lack of 100 mgs of N makes a huge difference in my affect. I am also trying to get my 200 mg dose of neurontin in the evening (instead of the am), so I can sleep. I have lost the ability to sleep soundly without my 200 mgs at night :(.Yes, I have to admit that Neurontin did the best for depression of any mood stabilizer (that I have tried). I wonder since it works on anxiety so well for most if that isn't the core of my depressions (ruminating during depressions). Depakote works good for hostility (so does Li), Lithium works #2 for depression as a mood stabilizer for me (but I do get the "spacey-scaley" stuff). BTW, I had to stop the dex. for a while. I took just 2.5mg yesterday and I had to go get copies of my taxes done. Well, it was just *too* intense. I went up to get a "store card" for the copy machines and I felt so amped. Kind of like the scene in "Fear and Loathing.." where Johnny Depp walks up to get a room at the beginning of the movie and the clerk has her scarf all up in the air flapping rapidly. Whew! Just too much. It just tends to set off panic. Nuff said. I will stash it for when I need it for real depressive stuff and tell my pdoc what happened.
>
> I do plan to bump up the li. I do think that will help with mood. But, I am having pretty bad scalp pain now, so I am reluctant to add some more li today...Any thought on if I can take all 225 in the am, or is it best to divide it?Since you were only on 112.5mg you might want to take it in smaller steps. The next logical small step would be to jump to 150mg instead of 225mg. You can do that with generic Li 300mg scored tabs.
>
> >Wow, you are doing so well on such "Victrola" meds. It is really amazing.
>
> I am not sure exactly what you mean by this...
> But I can tell you that my mood is like a moving target. When I finally think I got it in my sights, something comes up, a side effect, a psychotic episode, whatever. So I have to constantly be titrating a tiny bit here and there to have *some* semblence of stability.I just meant that you were using Li and Amitrip. and those have been around so long.
>
> Oh, I had such a nice stretch. I hate it when I crash and burn. I made so many plans for this month (when I was feeling great!), that involve alot of responsibility and money. I really hope I can hold it together...
>
>
> > Just an FYI, but doxepin was the first AD I was on and that got pushed all the way to 150mg/day during a bipolar depressive summer episode and it did... diddly squat. Amitriptyline has much more potent AD activity. I was on 20mg/day for a while, but it made me *too* flat, and my friends complained that I wasn't fun to be around anymore so I stopped taking it. Maybe I shouldn't have in retrospect...
>
> When I was fourteen, after my first hospitalization, I was put on amitriptyline. I got up to 125 mgs for a couple of years. God did I feel *flat* too! I remember not caring about anything. Blah, blah, blah than I would have these wild rages. My mother was totally freaked by me!
> 150 mgs of Doxepin, Wow! How did you walk around? I heard that stuff is very sedating, but clearly less potent, I guess. It's interesting that your friends noticed that you didn't have a funny side anymore. How did you experience yourself? I get the impression you rather liked the feeling.Yep, doxepin is the *most* sedative TCA. I was just very depressed and taking 75mg/day... and nothing was getting any better. So, they told me to double it (that was back in '83). When I was trying the Amitrip. it wasn't during the middle of a depressive episode-more of an "in-between" period. But, I must say that 20mg day-and I was more energized. That is the nice thing about low-dose amitrip. or nortrip. you get lowered anxiety and more energy at the same time. I will probably be back on nortrip. soon. It would be kind of nice if I could ditch TCA's and Celexa and just take duloxetine. It is supposed to be like Effexor with much less cardiovascular sfx. Well, effex. made me want to puke and gave me weird dreams and hypomania... The proof will be in the pudding.
>
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> > It is doing OK, I think I could probably get by without the pstim until summer and do just fine otherwise.
>
> Glad to hear you are doing ok...Is the pstim too stimulating? Maybe nortrip would feel better right now, pre summer?
>You hit the nail on the head I think.
Mitch
poster:Ritch
thread:96004
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020307/msgs/97537.html