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Re: fighting anhedonia by increasing reward pathwa » hok

Posted by Ilene on January 26, 2003, at 20:21:04

In reply to fighting anhedonia by increasing reward pathway, posted by hok on January 24, 2003, at 13:19:37

> Unfortunately, I still have found that frequent dosings of coffee and nicotine are superior to Focalin or Adderal XR, and cause less adverse effects (besides the obvious health probs caused by the smoking). Most stimulants cause me way too much hyperfocus, agitation, and rebound effect.
>
Interesting that you find smoking helpful. So do many schizophrenics. Unfortunately, the effect is so transitory they become chain smokers. When I did a casual pubmed search on it, I found a few abstracts that said, in essence, "This is interesting, someone should explore it."

> If anybody else is battling treatment-resistant depression and has found success with some sort of dopamine augmentation via supplements or medication, I'd like to know about it.
>
You and me both.

> Specifically, has Dex been more effective in fighting anhedonia or is Methylphenidate the obvious winner still? I've never tried Dex and remain curious.
>
No. I took small amounts of dexedrine (10-20 mg.) for a couple of years. It kept me awake and somewhat more alert, but had no effect on my other symptoms. My pdoc at the time finally diagnosed a sleep disorder, which I now control (sort of) with light therapy and provigil (modafinil).

I took ritalin (methylphenidate) first and it was *awful*.

It was very difficult to buy the dexedrine, because I needed to get a new script every month--no refills--and the pharmacies didn't always keep it in stock. And then when I changed pdocs the new one just sat and stared at me for a long time, until I got so flustered I started yammering like an idiot. He finally wrote script for two weeks, and when I came back for the 2nd appt. as fat as before he interrogated me about my appetite and sleep. He finally admitted he wasn't familiar with dexedrine but figured I wasn't "abusing" it. Argh.

> As for the Wellbutrin angle, I tried it for a couple of weeks and found it way too agitating.
> Don't think it was for me but might be open to another trial down the line.
>
> Any suggestions?

I tried wellbutrin a few years ago and couldn't tolerate it. Then I started taking the sustained release formulation last year and found it tolerable. I switched to the regular version because I can take 50 more mg. a day. (Many of the original clinical trials used dosages that are higher than the current maximum.) It makes it easier to resist lying in bed for most of the day. Plus it helped counter the anorgasmia I had with ssris.


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poster:Ilene thread:137341
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030125/msgs/137672.html