Posted by Dinah on April 23, 2003, at 10:10:41
In reply to Re: Where to go from here? » Dinah, posted by Ritch on April 23, 2003, at 0:00:29
:-) Ron
Luvox helped with my OCD and with my tendency to get overstimulated. It may have spaced the meltdowns farther apart but didn't make them less intense. And oddly I was less able to control my self injury urges on Luvox. So the meltdowns caused more physical harm.
I'm not even sure I'm characterizing them correctly as dysphoric hypomanias. They may be the week long tempertantrums of someone with the nervous system of an overtired two year old.
I'll look into all the meds you mentioned and bring them up with my pdoc next time.
I readily admit that much of the fault is mine. The problem is this. My mood cycles are eight to ten weeks in length barring excess stress. Approximately one of those eight weeks is spent in meltdown. Appproximately two weeks are spent in grogginess, where thoughts struggle to make it through the quicksand of my brain and where staying awake is a challenge. I don't feel bad or depressed, just stuporous. The remaining five or so weeks are fine, maybe even better than fine. Depakote has done a pretty good job controlling better than fine, and that rarely happens any more. I find that I am unwilling to affect the five weeks of feeling fine, or worsen the two weeks of stupor, in order to lessen the week of meltdown. Most drugs seem to extend those two weeks to most of the time. Apathy and unproductivity reign. And I'm not who I'd like to be with my family. Increasing the Depakote does that.
That's why I liked Risperdal. It was slightly energizing, worked directly on the symptoms of the meltdown, and since I only took it as needed, didn't affect me the rest of the time.
Perhaps I should just accept the very slight risk of movement disorders.
poster:Dinah
thread:221270
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030423/msgs/221721.html