Posted by banga on January 5, 2005, at 11:11:51
In reply to Help me understand unipolar disorder..., posted by woolav on January 5, 2005, at 9:26:30
If you haven't responded to an antidepressant fully, it doesn't mean you don't have depression. Drugs are effective for only part of the sufferers. If you look at studies, you will see that approx. 1/2 people aren't helped by the med studied. And sometimes another class of drugs helps more, but it doesn't mean you have THAT disorder instead, you just have a certain flavor of depression that is better treated with a different recipe.
I am similar to you. I have had some success on antidepressants, but I found I did so much betteron the tricyclic meds as opposed to the SSRIs and SNRIs. Neuroleptics have helped me in the past for agitated anxiety. And now I am solely on a mood stabilizer--Lamictal--and I feel it is at least as effective as an antidepressant for me.
It of course doesnt rule out that I have some form of bipolar. Sometimes I wonder if I am bipolar and simply never experienced the "ups". For instance--I have multiple environmental allergies. Their effect on me is lethargy, tiredness. Who knows if that keeps me from becoming manic?
And depression can have different "flavors", according to twin studies, it seems like one type of unipolar depression is related to bipolar (runs in the family tree along with bipolar) while another is not at all (is only passed on to further generations as unipolar and never as bipolar). So you could have unipolar depression, but it has biological kinship to bipolar and responds better to mood stabilizers.From the bit you describe, you could perhaps have unipolar depression (yes it can also lead to irritability)
, but it may respond better to another class of medications than SSRIs or SNRis. Have you tried mood stabilizers? TCAs?
poster:banga
thread:438070
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050103/msgs/438089.html