Posted by Ritch on October 30, 2004, at 9:56:39
In reply to Re: MAOIs and anxiety, confusing! my life an apology, posted by ravenstorm on October 29, 2004, at 17:36:19
Wow! You have really been through the ringer with SSRI's. What's very odd is that your reaction over time is similar to mine. It is like some sort of "reverse" intolerance of SSRI's that is similar to the reverse intolerance to amphetamines that you hear about (smaller and smaller quantities causing worsening adverse effects). When I first tried an SSRI it was Prozac and started off with 20mg a day for nearly two weeks with just a little nausea as a side effect (along with lithium). But quickly became too agitated and reduced to about 5mg a day for a while, and then... needed to get that down to about 2.5mg/day and stayed on that for years. Later I was getting allergic reactions that could have been attributed to the Prozac and was switched to Zoloft.. then Celexa. I started the Celexa at 10mg then went to 20mg and developed shortness of breath. I got that with Prozac at a constant dose, when my depression remitted in the Spring. Eventually settled on about 2.5mg/day of Celexa for a couple of years. Then went to Effexor for a couple... blahblahblah. Anyhow, the bottom line was that: 1) The new serotonergic drugs worked remarkably well for anxiety, 2) My tolerance of the side effects got very short-fused over time, 3) They aggravated my bipolar cycling, BUT 4) If I stop them I slowly start getting more anxious and panicky and I feel worse off and end up back on them again. This all feels VERY physical-maybe it's my enteric nervous system and my central nervous system engaged in a royal battle of sorts? The SRI's chill out my head, but work over my body. Jeez. The SRi's really are anxiolytics for me.. I don't really consider them antidepressants. They reduce the stress-induced precursors to depression in some way, but don't seem to really 'solve' the depression. Only the noradrenergics like Stratterra or Wellbutrin seem to work. I'm currently on Depakote/clonazepam/tiny bit of Cymbalta (been on for over a month now). We thought the Cymbalta (tiny 1-2mg) would be the ideal thing, but it is more agitating than Effexor or Strattera! Whoa, sorry for the rant. Over all the years it looks like Depakote-or-lithium + benzo(clonazepam) + Wellbutrin + Effexor-or-Zoloft + fishoil + L-tyrosine has probably been the best overall combo that I've been on for wintertime/summertime recurrent depressions. I'm running to the porcelain bus if I take lithium, Zoloft, and to a lesser extent the Effexor, and I'm jittery, avoidant, and grouchy on the Wellbutrin, but hey I'm NOT depressed! The serotonergics lighten up the anxiety, the noradrenergics lighten the 'dark thoughts' and wake me up. I would really like a TWO MED solution here. (thinking out loud) Could I just take Depakote and low-dose moclobemide and be done with it? I understand your frustration all too well. I don't think it is just being too obsessed with meds-I'm just fed up with being depressed 50% or more out of ever year that I live-- it might not be BAD depression all that time, but it IS depression nevertheless. Well, I hope you have some luck with this problem-- I'll be back in a few days and catch up. TTYL
poster:Ritch
thread:405309
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041029/msgs/409127.html