Posted by Pfinstegg on December 2, 2004, at 21:54:13
In reply to Nardil Side Effects: The Sequel, posted by gardenergirl on December 1, 2004, at 22:46:27
I'd suggest, that, if you want to try a drug-free interval, go VERY slowly downwards- over months, and maybe taking a tiny bit for quite a long time.
It's such a great thing if we don't have to take these drugs, but it's not so easy once we've started on them. My own experience has been taking SSRI's SNRI's, Zyprexa and Wellbutrin in various combinations over 8 years. Once I had gotten well into analysis and was trying to learn to deal better with the depression and affect dysregulation, I slowly went off everything- except that i still take a very small dose of Wellbutrin (37.5mg). The reason for that is because of the lowered dopamine which my pdoc and I thought I would probably have after all those years of SSRI's.
I can't say I'm completely depression free, but I'm a lot better. I try to exercise and meditate every day. Being off all those meds gives me a chance to really deal with my real feelings- they are a lot more painful without any drugs to dull them down, but with as much help as I'm getting, it's OK.
I do think, though, that we all have to respect the brain changes that occur with major depression- the HPA axis over-activity, the absence of neuronal new growth and the shrinkage in the hippocampus,the changes in neurotransmitters, the underactive blood flow to the frontal lobes- these are such big things, and the Ads we have do help these things to an extent. So going off the meds is a big deal, and if it fails, no-one should feel like they have somehow failed.
Wish you luck!
poster:Pfinstegg
thread:423175
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041201/msgs/423562.html