Posted by barbaracat on January 1, 2005, at 16:32:48
In reply to Re: Dysthymia versus Bipolar type 2 » Mr.Scott, posted by King Vultan on January 1, 2005, at 11:57:51
Have you noticed any weight gain? Do you have early morning grogginess? I tried Seroquel (which I understand is a powerful histimine antagonist) and it was tough to wake up. I imagine all ATs are different from each other and I certainly don't understand their action. Have you tried others?
> I guess my suggestion would be to consider an atypical antipsychotic, if you haven't tried one already. Agitation and restlessness on SSRIs and other drugs that increase serotonin transmission may be caused by stimulation of the 5-HT2A receptor, which all of the atypicals blockade. Judging how well even a tiny dose (0.25 mg/day) of Risperdal is working for me in reducing my own agitation, I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that one of my major issues is that I simply have too many 5-HT2A receptors. All of the atypical antipsychotics also blockade dopamine D2 receptors at higher dosages, which I believe can help prevent mania or hypomania; although, I am not an expert on bipolar disorder.
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> I must admit to not understanding the pharmacology of mood stabilizers and tending to look askance at them, and I used to feel the same way about atypical antipsychotics, but I've become convinced that this is a very useful class of meds, even in some instances for people who are neither bipolar nor schizophrenic. I have long term unipolar depression, with associated social phobia and ADD symptoms, and while Parnate works relatively well for these things, I still find myself suffering from a chronically low libido and an agitation/anxiety/getting ahead of myself that is fairly distracting and impairs my ability to enjoy activities. I'm looking forward to my next visit with my psychiatrist to discuss going up in dosage on the Risperdal, perhaps to 0.5 mg/day, given how noticeable the positive effects have been at this dosage, with no detectable side effects.
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> Todd
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poster:barbaracat
thread:435630
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041228/msgs/436417.html