Posted by Lia Mason on March 22, 2002, at 21:54:25
In reply to that light switch? MAOIs etc, posted by JohnX2 on March 21, 2002, at 13:44:33
For what it's worth... I had that "light switch feeling" twice--the first time I took Prozac and with Parnate also which I stopped within days due to side effects.
For me, though, the "light switch" was a false, nearly hypomanic thing--very nice, but not real in the final analysis. I had a therapist call it "flight into health". I felt suddenly light and energized and compelled to call everyone and do everything I hadn't done in so long. And that ended within a few days. I'm not sure the med pooped out so much as reality set in. You come out of a depression and, ultimately, have to face the consequences of that depression--the lost time, relationships, etc--which is hard. But there is that window of relief before reality that is great.
It's kind of (I think) like people I've seen give up drinking. It's not that hard at first. They're firm in their conviction, energized by the newness and the drama. It's only later that it gets hard. That's the psych side. On the bio side, I firmly believe some people get hypomanic with these meds before they settle into working the way they're supposed to.
Don't get me wrong--med poop out is real. Prozac broke my heart over and over again. What I'm talking about is more new med honeymoon flush which I think is different--unrealistic and necessarily fleeting.
Or maybe I'm full of it, but that's my hypothesis after 15 years of riding the pharmaceutical rollercoaster.
L
poster:Lia Mason
thread:99229
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020322/msgs/99563.html